Certificate of citizenship vs Consular report of birth abroad

[Moonfire 0]

Sorry for so many questions this evening, I searched Google and the forums can't seem to find this answer- Is consular report of birth abroad a certificate of citizenship? I am the petitioner for ir1/cr1 born in Switzerland as a US citizen and have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad instead of a birth certificat, and unsure if I should be answering yes to 38/39 on page 3.

[Moonfire 0]

57 minutes ago, Moonfire said:

Sorry for so many questions this evening, I searched Google and the forums can't seem to find this answer- Is consular report of birth abroad a certificate of citizenship? I am the petitioner for ir1/cr1 born in Switzerland as a US citizen and have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad instead of a birth certificat, and unsure if I should be answering yes to 38/39 on page 3.

I realize I didn't specify- this is for i130 form

[pushbrk 12,893]

2 hours ago, Moonfire said:

Sorry for so many questions this evening, I searched Google and the forums can't seem to find this answer- Is consular report of birth abroad a certificate of citizenship? I am the petitioner for ir1/cr1 born in Switzerland as a US citizen and have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad instead of a birth certificat, and unsure if I should be answering yes to 38/39 on page 3.

CRBA and Certificate of Citizenship are not the same thing.  If you only have CRBA, you do not have the other.

[Lil bear 4,217]

1 hour ago, Moonfire said:

I realize I didn't specify- this is for i130 form

Do you have a US passport ? 

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

4 hours ago, Moonfire said:

Sorry for so many questions this evening, I searched Google and the forums can't seem to find this answer- Is consular report of birth abroad a certificate of citizenship? I am the petitioner for ir1/cr1 born in Switzerland as a US citizen and have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad instead of a birth certificat, and unsure if I should be answering yes to 38/39 on page 3.

You were born in Switzerland and your U.S citizen parent(s) (or you at some point) got you a CRBA.  Correct? Then I assume you also have a U.S. Passport.

 

You should also have a birth certificate as a birth certificate was needed to get the CRBA.  You need to get a copy of your birth certificate.  If you don't have one it may cause you issues in many things, not just the immigration petition.

 

#38, if the above is true, you put No.  Your citizenship is proven with your CRBA and U.S. passport.

[Moonfire 0]

8 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

You were born in Switzerland and your U.S citizen parent(s) (or you at some point) got you a CRBA.  Correct? Then I assume you also have a U.S. Passport.

 

You should also have a birth certificate as a birth certificate was needed to get the CRBA.  You need to get a copy of your birth certificate.  If you don't have one it may cause you issues in many things, not just the immigration petition.

 

#38, if the above is true, you put No.  Your citizenship is proven with your CRBA and U.S. passport.

It would appear at this point in my life I only have the CRBA- I wrote the government for a replacement birth certificate in 2017 and got only another CRBA. I do have a passport. More or less was trying to understand if crba is the same as certificate of citizenship but now I'm concerned I have even more to worry about? The crba has served as my birth certificate my entire life for everything including getting my passport so now I'm really confused.  In order to replace the actual birth certificate would I need to be contacting the Swiss rather than US records?

Edited January 17, 2022 by Moonfire

[Moonfire 0]

10 hours ago, Lil bear said:

Do you have a US passport ? 

Yes I do

[Lil bear 4,217]

13 minutes ago, Moonfire said:

Yes I do

K. That means you hold US citizenship then. 

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

23 minutes ago, Moonfire said:

In order to replace the actual birth certificate would I need to be contacting the Swiss rather than US records?

Yes.  CRBA is a U.S. document.  If born in Switzerland, your birth certificate would be obtained from the appropriate Swiss authority and/or hospital.

 

As far as your petition, your U.S. passport and CRBA should be fine.  You should get your birth certificate in case you need it for anything.  Everyone should have a copy of their birth certificate.

 

And as I said above, question 38 will be No.

[Moonfire 0]

59 minutes ago, seekingthetruth said:

Yes.  CRBA is a U.S. document.  If born in Switzerland, your birth certificate would be obtained from the appropriate Swiss authority and/or hospital.

 

As far as your petition, your U.S. passport and CRBA should be fine.  You should get your birth certificate in case you need it for anything.  Everyone should have a copy of their birth certificate.

 

And as I said above, question 38 will be No.

Awesome, thank you so much for your help and guidance I really appreciate your time

[carmel34 3,633]

A US passport is all you need as the petitioner for a spousal visa, as it is proof of US citizenship.  It would be a good idea to have a copy of your Swiss birth certificate, for your files, as others have said.  You can also apply for a certificate of US citizenship if you want to, the form is N-600 and the fee is $1,170, I'll put a link below.  Although your US passport is sufficient on its own to prove US citizenship, the certificate of citizenship can be a good back-up document when needed.  I was born in Canada, to my USC mother, and only discovered as an adult that I automatically became a US citizen at birth even though a CRBA was never filed.  When I applied for a F-1 student visa to enter the US from Canada as a student for grad school, my application was rejected because as a US citizen I was not eligible.  I applied for a US passport and also a certificate of citizenship at the same time, but the certificate was optional.  The only time I used it was a few years ago when I lost my US passport and had to send the certificate with the application.  Good luck with your spouse's visa process and family's move to the US!

 

https://www.uscis.gov/n-600

[Demise 1,289]

15 hours ago, Moonfire said:

Sorry for so many questions this evening, I searched Google and the forums can't seem to find this answer- Is consular report of birth abroad a certificate of citizenship? I am the petitioner for ir1/cr1 born in Switzerland as a US citizen and have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad instead of a birth certificat, and unsure if I should be answering yes to 38/39 on page 3.

CRBA is basically a birth certificate for Americans born abroad.

Certificate of citizenship is issued either if you derived citizenship via parent's naturalization or you were born abroad and your parents didn't get you a CRBA.

 

37: Parents

38: No

39a-c: Leave blank

 

You have to attach a proof of citizenship with the I-130, so in your case either a copy of the CRBA, copy of US passport (all pages), or copy of a US passport card (front and back).

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Demise

[CMJuilland 485]

I know this is not directly in response to your question, but if you ever do need an actual birth certificate, you would get that from the county in Switzerland where you were born. It’s relatively easy; the best would be to contact them directly through their website and ask how to go about this. If you ever need help with that, just PM me. 

[pushbrk 12,893]

8 hours ago, Moonfire said:

It would appear at this point in my life I only have the CRBA- I wrote the government for a replacement birth certificate in 2017 and got only another CRBA. I do have a passport. More or less was trying to understand if crba is the same as certificate of citizenship but now I'm concerned I have even more to worry about? The crba has served as my birth certificate my entire life for everything including getting my passport so now I'm really confused.  In order to replace the actual birth certificate would I need to be contacting the Swiss rather than US records?

I saw somebody mention your birth certificate.  Not sure what they were thinking.  Not sure why you would ever need your Swiss birth certificate, but certainly not as part of the process of bringing your foreign spouse to the US.  You don't HAVE a US birth certificate, because they are issued by the State of birth, and you were not born in the USA.  The CRBA is all the evidence of US Citizenship you needed to get a passport.  NOW, your passport is all the evidence of US Citizenship you'll ever need.  You have TWO forms of evidence of citizenship.  Your passport and and your CRBA.  A certificate of citizenship is an unnecessary expense, unnecessary document.  It's just something available if you WANT it.  Not sure why anybody would, but people DO get them.