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Hi,
I was wondering whether I could have a sense check on some legal advice I have been given by a friend of the family, who says that as an American Citizen I should be able to simply apply for my daughters' first US passports regardless of the particulars below, because we are all residing in the country. My understanding at this point was that I need to file an I-485 and i-130 green card applications for them both. Obviously, the 'walk into an immigration office and apply for a passport' option seems much easier and cheaper, but it seems to good to be true (and I don't want to jeopardize any next steps).
eternally grateful for any advice on the informatio0n below.
Thanks!
My mother is a US citizen (though born in Madrid, Spain, while her parents were deployed with the US State Department). My father is British. I am a US citizen by birth, and have dual UK citizenship. I am married to a UK national who has US Residency/ green card status. However, when we entered the country with our two children (now aged 7 and 9) in July 2012 both born in London – my husband was on an L1A intra-company visa, and my children were on L1B visas in their UK passports. My husband has since applied and been granted residency in the US. At the time, we were planning to directly apply for citizenship for our children (under the Citizenship Act that indicates that all children born to US-born citizens can qualify for citizenship). In October 2016, I submitted N-600 forms for both children to obtain Certificates of Citizenship.
I received a letter last week which seems to indicate that without the 5 years of residency I cannot get US citizenship for my children at this time. My parents moved out of the US very soon after I was born, and after that the only time I resided in the US was between April 1982 until December 1983. After that I lived in Spain and the UK, until 2012 when we moved as a family to the US (ie. I had not lived in the US for 5 years – either before or after the age of 14 – prior to the birth of my children).
I was wondering whether I could have a sense check on some legal advice I have been given by a friend of the family, who says that as an American Citizen I should be able to simply apply for my daughters' first US passports regardless of the particulars below, because we are all residing in the country. My understanding at this point was that I need to file an I-485 and i-130 green card applications for them both. Obviously, the 'walk into an immigration office and apply for a passport' option seems much easier and cheaper, but it seems to good to be true (and I don't want to jeopardize any next steps).
eternally grateful for any advice on the informatio0n below.
Thanks!
My mother is a US citizen (though born in Madrid, Spain, while her parents were deployed with the US State Department). My father is British. I am a US citizen by birth, and have dual UK citizenship. I am married to a UK national who has US Residency/ green card status. However, when we entered the country with our two children (now aged 7 and 9) in July 2012 both born in London – my husband was on an L1A intra-company visa, and my children were on L1B visas in their UK passports. My husband has since applied and been granted residency in the US. At the time, we were planning to directly apply for citizenship for our children (under the Citizenship Act that indicates that all children born to US-born citizens can qualify for citizenship). In October 2016, I submitted N-600 forms for both children to obtain Certificates of Citizenship.
I received a letter last week which seems to indicate that without the 5 years of residency I cannot get US citizenship for my children at this time. My parents moved out of the US very soon after I was born, and after that the only time I resided in the US was between April 1982 until December 1983. After that I lived in Spain and the UK, until 2012 when we moved as a family to the US (ie. I had not lived in the US for 5 years – either before or after the age of 14 – prior to the birth of my children).
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