N400 Questions

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

Hey everyone, 

 

Firsr and foremost, my wife finally got her new green card back, after waiting 18 months for approval!  Conditions have been lifted!  So now onto the naturalization process...

 

Sorry if this has been asked and repeated before.  If my wife decides to become a U.S. citizen, does that mean she will completely lose her Brazilian citizenship?  Also, how do we go about getting citizen for her son who is under the age of 18?  Is that a different form?  Or does he apply on the same N400 form as her?  Thank you for your time and help!

[Chancy 6,241]

14 minutes ago, Ed&Midori1031 said:

If my wife decides to become a U.S. citizen, does that mean she will completely lose her Brazilian citizenship?

 

That depends on the citizenship laws of Brazil.  US doesn't care whether she retains her previous citizenship or not.

 

15 minutes ago, Ed&Midori1031 said:

how do we go about getting citizen for her son who is under the age of 18?

 

Is her son also a green card holder and residing in the US with her?  And does your wife have legal custody (as in, with documentary evidence like custody papers)?

 

[Loren Y 2,755]

She will have to petition him with an I130 ( Just did the same thing for my stepson and he arrived on the 9th). Since the child is under 18 you will probably need the other parents permission for the child to travel to the US, unless she has full custody already. She doesn't need citizenship to file as long as she is an LPR she can file for her child. My wife is just an LPR and we had no issues. We also waited and filed about a year before his 18th birthday, that way he was able to get his own passport, and was able to avoid any issues with his father not letting him leave the country. It was no issue, but I wasn't going to risk it. She can file the I130 all online, and it was really easy and straightforward. Should take 14-16 months for the child to have a visa, then child can travel to the US, and apply for citizenship after 5 years on his own. Age is the only factor that would change things. Child has to stay unmarried and be under 21 at the time you apply for the visa. to be safe, better child is under 21 when visa is issued.

On the citizenship question, it all depends on Brazil and if they allow dual citizenship, a quick google search should answer that, but they more than likely do allow dual citizenship.

 

Looks like your good on the dual citizenship...

https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/dual-citizenship-in-brazil

 

It's an older article, so make sure you search for something more current, but usually things like this don't change very often.

 

Also, guess I should have asked if child is already here in the US, that makes a difference also.

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Loren Y

[OldUser 6,662]

I am by no means an expert in this question, but it appears that Brazil does not actively revoke their citizenship if one naturalizes elsewhere, eventhough Brazil certainly can legally initiate the process. I don't believe naturalizing in the US should affect your wife's Brazilian citizenship.

 

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

1 hour ago, Chancy said:

 

That depends on the citizenship laws of Brazil.  US doesn't care whether she retains her previous citizenship or not.

 

 

Is her son also a green card holder and residing in the US with her?  And does your wife have legal custody (as in, with documentary evidence like custody papers)?

 

Yes, they have both been here for 4 years now.  And yes, she has custody papers, including the paper that states from his biological father granting him permission to travel (of course that was used during the K1 visa era)

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

1 hour ago, Loren Y said:

She will have to petition him with an I130 ( Just did the same thing for my stepson and he arrived on the 9th). Since the child is under 18 you will probably need the other parents permission for the child to travel to the US, unless she has full custody already. She doesn't need citizenship to file as long as she is an LPR she can file for her child. My wife is just an LPR and we had no issues. We also waited and filed about a year before his 18th birthday, that way he was able to get his own passport, and was able to avoid any issues with his father not letting him leave the country. It was no issue, but I wasn't going to risk it. She can file the I130 all online, and it was really easy and straightforward. Should take 14-16 months for the child to have a visa, then child can travel to the US, and apply for citizenship after 5 years on his own. Age is the only factor that would change things. Child has to stay unmarried and be under 21 at the time you apply for the visa. to be safe, better child is under 21 when visa is issued.

On the citizenship question, it all depends on Brazil and if they allow dual citizenship, a quick google search should answer that, but they more than likely do allow dual citizenship.

 

Looks like your good on the dual citizenship...

https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/dual-citizenship-in-brazil

 

It's an older article, so make sure you search for something more current, but usually things like this don't change very often.

 

Also, guess I should have asked if child is already here in the US, that makes a difference also.

 

So you did your spouses N400, and did the I130 for your step son at the same time? 

[Mike E 11,739]

2 hours ago, Ed&Midori1031 said:

Hey everyone, 

 

Firsr and foremost, my wife finally got her new green card back, after waiting 18 months for approval!  Conditions have been lifted!  So now onto the naturalization process...

 

Sorry if this has been asked and repeated before.  If my wife decides to become a U.S. citizen, does that mean she will completely lose her Brazilian citizenship?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_nationality_law says the answer is a qualified no.  Basically once she acquired a second citizenship, Brazil is free to revoke her Brazilian citizenship but in practice rarely does. 
 

Quote

 

 

Also, how do we go about getting citizen for her son who is under the age of 18?  Is that a different form?  Or does he apply on the same N400 form as her?  Thank you for your time and help!

 

 

13 minutes ago, Ed&Midori1031 said:

Yes, they have both been here for 4 years now.  And yes, she has custody papers, including the paper that states from his biological father granting him permission to travel (of course that was used during the K1 visa era)

He will become a U.S. citizen when his mother naturalizes.  
 

1. she takes oath of citizenship before he reaches age 18

 

2. she files for his U.S. passport and passport card 

 

3. After step 2 is successful, she files N-600 to get his certificate of citizenship 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Mike E

[Chancy 6,241]

29 minutes ago, Ed&Midori1031 said:

Yes, they have both been here for 4 years now.

 

I assume the child also has a 10-year GC?  If so, no need to file a separate form for him to get US citizenship.  If he is below 18 years old at the time your wife takes her US oath, he will automatically gain US citizenship as well.

 

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

50 minutes ago, Mike E said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_nationality_law says the answer is a qualified no.  Basically once she acquired a second citizenship, Brazil is free to revoke her Brazilian citizenship but in practice rarely does. 
 

 

 

He will become a U.S. citizen when his mother naturalizes.  
 

1. she takes oath of citizenship before he reaches age 18

 

2. she files for his U.S. passport and passport card 

 

3. After step 2 is successful, she files N-600 to get his certificate of citizenship 

Thank you for the clarification and guidance! 

29 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

I assume the child also has a 10-year GC?  If so, no need to file a separate form for him to get US citizenship.  If he is below 18 years old at the time your wife takes her US oath, he will automatically gain US citizenship as well.

 

You assumed right, that's correct.  They both just got their 10 year GC.  Thank you for the clarification and guidance! 

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

36 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

I assume the child also has a 10-year GC?  If so, no need to file a separate form for him to get US citizenship.  If he is below 18 years old at the time your wife takes her US oath, he will automatically gain US citizenship as well.

 

I just thought of it.  What if he happens to be 18 at the time of my wife's oath, but we obviously filed when he was still 16 or 17? 

[Chancy 6,241]

4 minutes ago, Ed&Midori1031 said:

What if he happens to be 18 at the time of my wife's oath, but we obviously filed when he was still 16 or 17?

 

If he is over 18 years old at the time of your wife's oath, he will have to file for N-400 separately, even if he was still below 18 when your wife filed for her N-400.

 

[carmel34 3,630]

Brazil allows dual citizenship in the following two situations:

 

III. Dual or Multiple Nationalities

 

The Federal Constitution provides for the possibility of Brazilians having dual or multiple nationalities/citizens in two cases:

• when there is recognition of original nationality by foreign law. In this case, nationality derives from foreign law, which recognizes as nationals those born in its territory or children/descendants of its nationals; and

• when there is an imposition of nationality by the foreign law, through a naturalization process, on the Brazilian residing in a foreign state, as a condition for staying in its territory or for the exercise of civil rights.

 

The second situation applies to Brazilian citizens who naturalize as US citizens, for the exercise of civil rights, such as voting.  My husband, a Brazilian citizen, filed his N-400 in August and researched this question extensively prior to doing so.  Although the Brazilian government could argue in court that naturalizing in the US is voluntary and therefore not imposed, one could defend this based on the need to become a US citizen in order to vote, which is a civil right.  In reality, the Brazilian government does not pursue these cases anyway, so it is moot.

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

Hi Everyone!  In case anyone is wondering, my wife completed her citizenship interview and passed!  She was also able to do her oath ceremony that same day, just a couple of hours after the interview.  As much as we wanted some friends and family around to see it, we figured we should just get it done and over with.  The officer explained to us that her son does, in fact, have citizenship now.  Soon, we will apply for their U.S. passports.  Eventually I will apply for my stepsons naturalization certificate, but due to the cost of it, we decide to just get the passports first and then get the certificate later.  Thank you all for your help!