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N-600 & N-600K: Claims to U.S. Citizenship
N-600 & N-600K: Claims to U.S. Citizenship
Claims to U.S. Citizenship are not just for people who are currently a child.
Some people don't get around to filing an N-600 until they are adults.
There are as many reasons to file an N-600 as there people filing them.
Some LPR kids apply for privately funded scholarships BUT they are rejected because the scholarship is only for Citizens.
Some LPR kids get into trouble with the law and get picked up by ICE and placed in Removal Proceedings before they assert their citizenship claim. And are they ever mad at their parents for not taking care of it for them much sooner.
Others may not file an N-600 until they retire or become disabled and have problems collecting from Social Security.
There are many laws that determine U.S. Citizenship. The oldest one still in effect is the 14th amendment to the Constitution of the United States, "birthright citizenship". This is covered in current law as section 301 of the Iimmigration and Nationality Act (INA) or section 1401 of Title 8 of the United States Code (USC).
The next law that is still in use today for just a few people and determines the citizenship of children born abroad to United States Citizens came along on April 14, 1802, it is Section 1993 of the Revised Statutes of the United States which was finally published in 1874. The Revised Statutes was the first collection of U.S. Laws that attempted to bring some order to a growing body of law being put out by the U.S. Congress as individual pieces of legislation. IT WAS A MESS BEFORE THAT! For citizenship claims it is still a mess.
The laws of the United States of America and every other country are subject to change and THESE LAWS have change many times over the years. USCIS Adjudication Officers have to follow the law. The question is "Which one?"
In cases involving N-600's, if they get denied, they get appealled to the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office at USCIS Headquarters in Washington, DC. The AAO makes decisions that can serve as Precedent Decisions which become binding upon USCIS Officers. If the AAO denies it then a person can file a lawsuit in U.S. Disttrict Court.
You must exhaust the USCIS administrative appeal process afforded under the law and appeal to the AAO before you may seek judicial review of the agency decision in the case, which would be to file a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court under INA § 360(a) [8 U.S.C. § 1503(a)] and pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201.
The existence of concurrent Removal Proceedings would preclude U.S. District Court judicial review under this section and restrict review to a Petition for Review in a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of any Removal Order following a BIA Dismissal of the order of the Immigration Judge.
The AAO notes that "[the applicable law for transmitting citizenship to a child born abroad when one parent is a U.S. citizen is the statute that was in effect at the time of the child's birth." See Chau v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 247 F.3d 1026, 1029 (9th Cir. 2000).
The general legal principle of this rule applies to all citizenship claims whether a parent was a citizen at the time of the child's birth or became a naturalized citizen later. The difference between acquiring citizenship at birth and deriving citizenship later through an action of law depends on the law that was in effect when the final condition for citizenship was met.
In order for a citizen parent to transmit U.S. citizenship to their child born abroad the parent has to qualify. The qualifications are different if only one parent is a citizen or if both parents were citizens. The qualifications for the citizen parents is the amount of time they spent in the U.S. before the child was born.
The major difference between one citizen parent vs. two citizen parents at the time of the child's birth is that for two citizen parents they merely had to have resided in the United States (or a territory or an outlying possession).
If only one parent was a citizen and the other parent was an alien or a citizen who had never been in the U.S. then the qualifying parent had to have specific amounts of time in the U.S. prior to the time of birth and some of that time had to be after a certain age but BEFORE the child was born. The amount of that time and the statutory age for the parent has changed over the years. For children born between 1934 and 1952, the CHILD had to begin residing in the U.S. by a cdertain age or esle LOSE CITIZENSHIP. This was known as retention requitrements, they have been repealed.
Another difference is whether the parents were married or not and wether it was a citizen mother or a citizen father. The unwed citizen mother merely needed to have resided in the U.S. for one year prior to the child's birth but the child could NOT be legitimated.
The unwed citizen father has to meet the residence requirement the same as a married father with an alien wife (or unqualified citizen wife who had never been in the U.S., herself being a citizen born abroad) AND the unwed father has to legally legitimate the child AND commit in writing to provide financially (or marry the mother) AND establish that he had an actual relationship with the child AND establish a blood relationship (DNA test). The unwed father has to do all that before the child reaches a certain age. Depending on the date of birth of the child, the age varied from 16, 18, and 21.
Pretty darn confusing isn't it? Well, the N-600 Officers and many immigration attorneys are confused too. USCIS uses a series of charts to aid them in adjudicating citizenship claims. Those charts are available on uscis.gov on the law tab, find handbooks and manual, then the Adjudicator's Field Manual. Chapter 71 covers Citizenship (N-600 or N-600K and old N-643). There are four charts.
The first three are for the N-600 and the fourth is for the N-600K which is really expedited naturalization of a child who is not a citizen by birth and cannot derive because they are not a lawful permanent resident.
The N-600K child normally lives abroad and has to be a LEGAL non-immigrant, they get a tourist/business (B1/B2) visa based on their N-600K appointment notice and come to the U.S. for their N-600K appointment and swear to the same Oath that an N-400 applicant swears to at their Naturalization Ceremony, before their 18th birthday.
An ILLEGAL ALIEN child does not qualify for an N-600K, they have to have an I-130 filed and either get an immigrant visa from an embassy or consulate, or adjust status, first. Then they can file an N-600.
USCIS Adjudicator's Field Manual Appendices:
71-1 Nationality Chart # 1 - Children Born Outside U.S. in Wedlock
71-2 Nationality Chart # 2 - Children Born Outside U.S. out of Wedlock
71-3 Nationality Chart # 3 - Derivative Citizenship of Children
71-4 Nationality Chart # 4 - Section 322: Natural or Adoptive Child of a U.S. Citizen
Good Luck,
Claims to U.S. Citizenship are not just for people who are currently a child.
Some people don't get around to filing an N-600 until they are adults.
There are as many reasons to file an N-600 as there people filing them.
Some LPR kids apply for privately funded scholarships BUT they are rejected because the scholarship is only for Citizens.
Some LPR kids get into trouble with the law and get picked up by ICE and placed in Removal Proceedings before they assert their citizenship claim. And are they ever mad at their parents for not taking care of it for them much sooner.
Others may not file an N-600 until they retire or become disabled and have problems collecting from Social Security.
There are many laws that determine U.S. Citizenship. The oldest one still in effect is the 14th amendment to the Constitution of the United States, "birthright citizenship". This is covered in current law as section 301 of the Iimmigration and Nationality Act (INA) or section 1401 of Title 8 of the United States Code (USC).
The next law that is still in use today for just a few people and determines the citizenship of children born abroad to United States Citizens came along on April 14, 1802, it is Section 1993 of the Revised Statutes of the United States which was finally published in 1874. The Revised Statutes was the first collection of U.S. Laws that attempted to bring some order to a growing body of law being put out by the U.S. Congress as individual pieces of legislation. IT WAS A MESS BEFORE THAT! For citizenship claims it is still a mess.
The laws of the United States of America and every other country are subject to change and THESE LAWS have change many times over the years. USCIS Adjudication Officers have to follow the law. The question is "Which one?"
In cases involving N-600's, if they get denied, they get appealled to the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office at USCIS Headquarters in Washington, DC. The AAO makes decisions that can serve as Precedent Decisions which become binding upon USCIS Officers. If the AAO denies it then a person can file a lawsuit in U.S. Disttrict Court.
You must exhaust the USCIS administrative appeal process afforded under the law and appeal to the AAO before you may seek judicial review of the agency decision in the case, which would be to file a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court under INA § 360(a) [8 U.S.C. § 1503(a)] and pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201.
The existence of concurrent Removal Proceedings would preclude U.S. District Court judicial review under this section and restrict review to a Petition for Review in a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of any Removal Order following a BIA Dismissal of the order of the Immigration Judge.
The AAO notes that "[the applicable law for transmitting citizenship to a child born abroad when one parent is a U.S. citizen is the statute that was in effect at the time of the child's birth." See Chau v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 247 F.3d 1026, 1029 (9th Cir. 2000).
The general legal principle of this rule applies to all citizenship claims whether a parent was a citizen at the time of the child's birth or became a naturalized citizen later. The difference between acquiring citizenship at birth and deriving citizenship later through an action of law depends on the law that was in effect when the final condition for citizenship was met.
In order for a citizen parent to transmit U.S. citizenship to their child born abroad the parent has to qualify. The qualifications are different if only one parent is a citizen or if both parents were citizens. The qualifications for the citizen parents is the amount of time they spent in the U.S. before the child was born.
The major difference between one citizen parent vs. two citizen parents at the time of the child's birth is that for two citizen parents they merely had to have resided in the United States (or a territory or an outlying possession).
If only one parent was a citizen and the other parent was an alien or a citizen who had never been in the U.S. then the qualifying parent had to have specific amounts of time in the U.S. prior to the time of birth and some of that time had to be after a certain age but BEFORE the child was born. The amount of that time and the statutory age for the parent has changed over the years. For children born between 1934 and 1952, the CHILD had to begin residing in the U.S. by a cdertain age or esle LOSE CITIZENSHIP. This was known as retention requitrements, they have been repealed.
Another difference is whether the parents were married or not and wether it was a citizen mother or a citizen father. The unwed citizen mother merely needed to have resided in the U.S. for one year prior to the child's birth but the child could NOT be legitimated.
The unwed citizen father has to meet the residence requirement the same as a married father with an alien wife (or unqualified citizen wife who had never been in the U.S., herself being a citizen born abroad) AND the unwed father has to legally legitimate the child AND commit in writing to provide financially (or marry the mother) AND establish that he had an actual relationship with the child AND establish a blood relationship (DNA test). The unwed father has to do all that before the child reaches a certain age. Depending on the date of birth of the child, the age varied from 16, 18, and 21.
Pretty darn confusing isn't it? Well, the N-600 Officers and many immigration attorneys are confused too. USCIS uses a series of charts to aid them in adjudicating citizenship claims. Those charts are available on uscis.gov on the law tab, find handbooks and manual, then the Adjudicator's Field Manual. Chapter 71 covers Citizenship (N-600 or N-600K and old N-643). There are four charts.
The first three are for the N-600 and the fourth is for the N-600K which is really expedited naturalization of a child who is not a citizen by birth and cannot derive because they are not a lawful permanent resident.
The N-600K child normally lives abroad and has to be a LEGAL non-immigrant, they get a tourist/business (B1/B2) visa based on their N-600K appointment notice and come to the U.S. for their N-600K appointment and swear to the same Oath that an N-400 applicant swears to at their Naturalization Ceremony, before their 18th birthday.
An ILLEGAL ALIEN child does not qualify for an N-600K, they have to have an I-130 filed and either get an immigrant visa from an embassy or consulate, or adjust status, first. Then they can file an N-600.
USCIS Adjudicator's Field Manual Appendices:
71-1 Nationality Chart # 1 - Children Born Outside U.S. in Wedlock
71-2 Nationality Chart # 2 - Children Born Outside U.S. out of Wedlock
71-3 Nationality Chart # 3 - Derivative Citizenship of Children
71-4 Nationality Chart # 4 - Section 322: Natural or Adoptive Child of a U.S. Citizen
Good Luck,
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