Obtaining U.S. citizenship has multiple benefits. It enables you to work with the federal government, vote in state and national elections, and live outside the country for an extended duration. You become a citizen through birth to American citizen parents or through naturalization. If you are born outside America to American citizen parents or legal permanent residents who become naturalized, you automatically become a citizen. Nonetheless, you will only have the documents to corroborate your citizenship once you turn 18.
You must prove your citizenship when applying for financial aid, driver’s license, or social security benefits. A citizenship certificate is required as nationality proof to receive these government aids and services. N-600 enables you to apply for a citizenship certificate with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) if you are eligible. Below is a guide on the candidacy for the certification, application procedure, and required documents.
N-600 at a Glance
N-600’s official name is the Application for Citizenship Certificate. The form helps demonstrate to the USCIS that you automatically became a citizen before turning 18 despite being born overseas to American citizen parents. You will need the certificate when applying for an American passport, social security, or immigration benefits. Also, government organizations and employers could request proof of nationality.
N-600 Eligibility
You would qualify for the application of citizenship certificate if you were born abroad to at least one biological or adoptive American citizen parent. Also, it would help if you were residing on American soil during the application and were in the legal or physical custody of an American citizen guardian. Additionally, you should have obtained automatic citizenship before turning 18. To submit the form, you should be 18 or above. Otherwise, you will need a parent to complete the application.
1. Automatic Citizenship
The statutes in effect at the time of birth determine the question of whether or not you are an automatic citizen. These laws have been amended multiple times, and it is challenging to keep up with the changes if you are not a legal expert. Therefore, you should speak to an immigration attorney to explain the various changes in the statutes and the ones that apply to your case.
California has various ways of candidacy for automatic citizenship. These include:
- Acquisition citizenship whereby you are born overseas to one American citizen parent
- Derivative citizenship, whereby you were conceived overseas and adopted by an American citizen parent
- Derivative citizenship, whereby you were conceived outside of the country to green card-holding parents who later became American citizens through naturalization
Your American citizen biological parent should have been on U.S. soil or territories for a minimum of five years. In this stay, two years must have been spent in the country after you turned 14 years to be deemed an American citizen at childbirth when born outside of the country.
Nonetheless, when your parents fail to meet the minimum requirement for their physical presence on American soil, you can use your United States citizen grandparents to demonstrate automatic citizenship during childbirth.
Derivative citizenship is difficult to establish, primarily if it is based on the adoption or naturalization of parents who were permanent residents at the time of birth but are now naturalized because these statutes have significantly changed. Consulting with an immigration legal expert will help you understand immigration statutes and obtain legal guidance on approaching the application process. The active law at birth will determine your eligibility.
2. Birth Out of Matrimony or Wedlock
You will have challenges proving your citizenship if you base it on your American citizen father, who was not legally married to your mother at birth. The USCIS requirements you must meet under these circumstances are:
- You must furnish the USCIS with proof that you are related to your father by blood
- Your father was an American citizen during your birth
- There is proof that in your childhood, your father agreed to provide financial support until you turned 18. And if you are a minor and your parent is applying for the certificate on your behalf, your father must give a statement showing they offered financial support until you turn 18. Nonetheless, if your American father died while you were a child, this requirement is waived.
- The overseas country’s law legitimized you, and your father acknowledged in writing and under oath a paternity established by court order in your childhood.
When the certificate of citizenship application is based on your American citizen mother, and you were born out of wedlock, chances are you did not acquire automatic citizenship. If you were above 18 by 27TH February 2001, you could only become a citizen sometime after birth and without a paternity test.
Nevertheless, if you were underage by 27th February 2001, the restrictions on the acquisition of citizenship do not apply. When your mother is an American citizen during your childhood, you obtain nationality through your mother even if you were conceived outside marriage and were a permanent resident in your mother’s physical and legal custody.
If you qualify to apply for the citizenship certificate, you should utilize a computer to complete the forms online. Completing the application online is the easiest way to submit N-600. If you cannot do it online, print out the form and fill it out using black ink. When writing or typing the form, use N/A in inapplicable items or none where your response is none. Your answers should remain in the boxes, and whenever you make a mistake, you should start afresh in a new form and not cross out the answer or use white-out.
Individuals who are not Candidates for Citizenship Certificate Application
You cannot fill out N-600 when you have other documents establishing your American citizenship, like American identification or a birth record from a consular office.
Similarly, if you were delivered in the U.S., the birth certificate becomes your evidence of citizenship, so you will not need to complete N-600.
Also, you are not required to submit N-600 if the USCIS issued the citizenship certificate in the past, but you lost it or it was stolen. You will complete N-565 to replace your citizenship or naturalization papers.
Moreover, when living outside the United States, you cannot apply for the citizenship certificate because the application happens in the State Department.
A permanent resident seeking citizenship through naturalization cannot submit an N-600. Instead, you should complete the N-400, which is the naturalization form.
Finally, you cannot complete the N-600 if your application for American citizenship was previously denied. The subsequent applications for the certificate will suffer the same outcome if the initial application is denied. You only have one chance to apply.
Therefore, when completing the forms, do not take any chances. If unsure what to do, consult a local immigration attorney for guidance. An attorney will ensure you submit the required paperwork and complete the form per the guidelines. Your attorney will ask the USCIS to reconsider its decision or file an appeal within the allotted time frame if the application is rejected.
An attorney will also help you decide whether you need the citizenship certificate if you already have another document that verifies your citizenship. Your legal counsel will also help you look into other possibilities, like applying for legal permanent residence through a relative or applying to become an American citizen after your initial request for the certificate was denied. Being ineligible for the citizenship certificate does not disqualify you from other immigration benefits. All you should do is speak to an attorney to understand your options.
Filling Out N-600
Once you have established that you are a candidate for the citizenship certificate, you should begin the application process. However, you should understand the USCIS instructions before filling out the form. The information on complex questions in the paper for the version dates of February 13, 2017, to December 31, 2018, is provided below. Although this version of the form expired in 2018, it is still in use to date.
Eligibility Information
Part one of N-600 contains eligibility questions. To demonstrate your eligibility, check one of the two boxes in the section to see if you are a natural or adopted child of an American citizen. Immigration laws treat adopted children differently based on their birthplace or their parents' naturalization period.
You must detail the physical presence of your American citizen grandparents if your parents do not meet the USCIS requirements for the physical presence requirement. This information is in the other box in Section 1 of N-600. You must explain your situation and, if necessary, attach a statement giving detailed information. However, you cannot use your relationship with your grandparents to demonstrate citizenship if you are only a stepchild or an American citizen.
Personal Information
In section two of the form, you will find questions about yourself. However, you must be 18 years old to enter personal information. If you are a minor, your parents should fill out the section with their personal data. You will fill out your correctly spelled official name, address, married status, and immigration record.
Question 14 focuses on finding your immigration standing and the date you were admitted to America. If, however, you were born outside of the United States to parents who are citizens of this country, if you have never been physically present in the country, or if you became a citizen through birth, this question will not apply to your situation. However, when you have visited America or currently reside here, you must respond to this question by providing the date of your most recent admission and the foreign identification or refugee document you used to enter the country.
In part two, the question addressing your immigration status is 14C. The question sounds strange because, in the first place, you cannot seek a citizenship certificate if you are not an American citizen. However, it would help if you answered it. Check the "other" box and choose U.S. national if you were born in the country. Before obtaining citizenship, you must provide proof of your immigration status if you acquired it because one of your parents is an American citizen. For a legal permanent resident, you should give the information on question 14D.
Question 16 addresses misplaced or abandoned green cards. If you never obtained lawful permanent residence, answer "no." The answer to this question is crucial if you were a permanent resident as a child but later became a citizen after your parents were naturalized. You are eligible for the certificate if the permanent residence was mislaid or abandoned because of living outside the U.S. for an extended duration within which your parents were naturalized.
Questions 17, 18, and 19 do not apply to you if you are not an adopted child of American citizen parents. However, if you were readopted, you must complete the section and attach additional information.
The marital status issue is addressed by questions twenty and twenty-one. If you were bred out of marriage, more information would be needed.
Question 22 is for individuals born before October 10, 1952, who acquired citizenship at birth through U.S. citizen parents. If you were born before this date, USCIS required you to live in the country for a minimum of twenty-four months between ages 14 and 28. Give the years you lived in the nation in this box to prove your residency.
Biographic Info
You must provide basic identifying information in Section 3 of the application, like your race, height, and ethnicity.
Biological or Adoptive Father Information
You will check parts four and five if you derived or acquired citizenship from your parents. Nonetheless, when claiming citizenship entirely based on your American citizen father, you should complete Section 4 and skip the next, which is Section 5. In Part 4, you will answer questions regarding your father’s marital status.
Biological or Adoptive Mother Information
Section 5 of N-600 requires you to provide information about your American citizen mother if you derive citizenship from all of your parents or your mother. Also, if you are underage, your parents will fill out this section and section four.
Living in America Until the Time of Filing N-600
You must complete Section 6 of the form if you acquired automatic citizenship by being born on U.S. soil to American citizen parents. Fill in the date of residence and the length of time your parents lived in the country here.
Military Service of an American Citizen Parent
If one or both of your American citizen parents served in the military, even if abroad, you must fill out Section 7 if you obtained citizenship by birth. The section is crucial because it helps prove the physical presence requirement.
The next part you must fill in is Section 8. Here, you will affirm that you understand the details you entered in N-600, append your signature, and enter the date. If you are younger than 18, your parents can sign this section for you. Nevertheless, from 14 to 18, you can sign the form yourself.
If you use an interpreter to complete N-600 because English is not your first language, they must provide personal details and sign Part 9 of the form.
Section 10 of the form should be completed by your immigration attorney or any other person who helped you with the application.
If your responses did not fit into the sections provided, please provide additional information in Section 11 of the form.
Refrain from filling out sections 12 and 13. Part 13 is left to the USCIS to complete.
Documents that Accompany N-600
After you have filled out and appended your signature to Form N-600, you must attach the following documents:
- Your birth or registration certificate
- Your parents' birth registration or certificate when applying on your behalf
- Your American citizen parent’s marriage certificate
- Where possible, divorce documents
- Evidence of your parents’ status as American nationals
- Proof of your American citizenship
- A full copy of your adoption order, if applicable
- Evidence of complete and ultimate foreign adoption
- Proof of permanent residence status or a document of the front and back of your green card
- Proof of official name changes, if possible
- Check or money order
As of March 28, 2022, applicants are no longer required to produce two American passport-style photos. The photos will be taken when you are called for an interview or biometrics appointment by the USCIS.
You must furnish USCIS with additional proof of physical residence if you have a single American citizen guardian. The documents you can use as proof of residence include the following:
- Work or military service records
- Tax returns records
- Deeds, utility bills, or mortgage for the U.S. home
When born outside of matrimony, you will require legitimation proof like:
- DNA test results
- Your birth certificate with your father’s name on it
- Evidence that your father provided financial support
- Birthday cards from your father showing they called you a daughter or son
Find the Right Los Angeles Immigration Attorney Near Me
When you are convinced that you or your child are eligible for a citizenship certificate, consult California Immigration Attorney to determine your eligibility. Our immigration attorneys know you only have a single shot regarding N-600 applications. Therefore, we will walk you through the process and avoid any mistakes that could deny you the certificate. Dial 424-789-8809 to arrange a meeting or obtain help completing the form.