<p>I was filling out the CommonApp and also researching the FAFSA, when I encountered a problem. So, I'm a special case in terms of citizenship in that I didn't naturalize to get my citizenship, but derived it from my parents automatically. Only recently did I realize this, and I applied for a US Passport a couple days ago and hopefully will receive it in 4 or 5 weeks. In other words, I won't have a Certificate of Naturalization or Cert. of Citizenship, it'll just be my passport. </p>
<p>I'm planning on filling out the CommonApp Citizenship section as Permanent Resident (with an upload of my Green Card), and my question is: will I be able to change it later once I receive my Passport? Or will I have to notify each school separately? And will they request documentation to prove my citizenship other than my passport? </p>
<p>Also, since all my schools' deadlines for FAFSA are in mid-February to early March, I'm planning to wait for my Passport to arrive before filling it out (since I'll also have to change my citizenship status on Social Security). Again, do I need additional documentation to prove my citizenship when I do so, other than my passport? </p>
<p>Well…some colleges give less aid to international students than to U.S. citizens. So, yes, it would be good to be able to document your citizenship status. </p>
<p>You either are a citizen or you are a green card holder. If you were able to apply for a passport, and had all the right papers to do that, you ARE a citizen and just are getting the passport to prove it. A passport doesn’t make you a citizen, it is just proof that you are one. What did you send it to get the passport? What documents derived from your parents? Their citizenship papers with you as a minor? A certificate of foreign birth for you?</p>
<p>It happens that people are citizens without having the documentation, usually because a law makes them an automatic citizen. That happened to my daughter, but she has since obtained a Certificate of Citizenship and a passport. If she had neither of those things, she could still check ‘citizen’ on the FAFSA form because she IS a citizen and her proof would have been the old ‘A’ stamp in her passport (country of birth) plus the public law that made her a citizen. It sounds like that is your situation, that by law you are a citizen, you are just looking for documentation. If you still needed to BECOME a citizen, you’d be dealing with USCIS (department of homeland security) not just getting a passport (State department).</p>
<p>You are a citizen. That is all that matters. Check the citizen box. If/when a college/university would contact you because tax and social security records don’t show your citizenship status properly, that will be the time to find out what documentation is needed for that college/university. However, if you get in touch with Social Security NOW, and find out what they need to have to sort your records out, there might never be any issue at all. </p>
<p>@twoinanddone Yes I sent my parent’s citizenship proof as well as my proof of relationship to them. I didn’t want to get the Cert. of Citizenship because it’s too expensive and takes too long, so I thought a passport would be a cheaper alternative (not to mention I can travel with it). </p>
<p>My concern mainly is that, the two agencies (USCIS and State Dept) do not share the same database. The State Dept can issue a passport, but my citizenship status at USCIS would still be “Permanent Resident”. Same thing happens with Social Security, which I’ll have to go in person later with my passport to be able to change my status. Since I will be putting my SSN on my CommonApp and FAFSA, I want to make sure that it will be showing that I’m a citizen and not still a Permanent Resident. This is why I’ll be putting LPR on my CommonApp for now, and wait until my passport come (and change my SSN status) to fill out the FAFSA. </p>
<p>My question in starting this thread is: Will I be able to change my status later on CommonApp (after I submit it)? Or will I have to notify each school separately? And will Passport be enough documentation to prove my status?</p>
<p>Passport is all that matters. If your application dates are after the date you will have the passport, wait and apply when you have it in your hot little fist. The problem is that technically you ARE a citizen, and you can’t go around saying that you are in green card status because that is not true.</p>
<p>happymomof1, it’s not all that matters, as I know from experience. Orangemaple is correct that he/she needs to go to the SSA in person, IN PERSON, and then pray that a competent person changes the status from ‘resident alien allowed to work’ because it is the SSN that will trip up the financial aid applications at colleges, and then the colleges will think it isn’t a citizen and start requiring all kinds of visas and things. Can you tell the SSA is my favorite government agency? NOT. I know a lot of people who did go and change the status years ago, and it was never discovered until the child applied for a driver’s license or college that the change was never entered.</p>
<p>However, I would not put LPR on all the paperwork if you really are a citizen. If you are a citizen, claim it. Let them contact you to prove it. It probably won’t come up until they run the SSN for fafsa, and by then you’ll have changed the status (IN PERSON!)</p>
<p>To give SSA a little credit, it cannot change the citizenship status without proof from either the USCIS (certificate of citizenship) or State (passport); those are the only agencies that can confer citizenship. It cannot change status based on the ‘Alien Registration number’ (green card) plus the public law. The SSA can’t seem to get it right after proof is provided, so I’m still entitled to have them low on the list of favorite government agencies.</p>
<p>What I meant is that a valid US passport is sufficient evidence of citizenship. There is no need for another back-up document to verify that status.</p>
<p>As to getting the SSA to straighten out records, that is a whole other thing, and does involve a personal trip to the SSA office. We just did that last year for Happydad. SSA was also where we learned that all his financial records (banks, retirement funds, etc.) would need to be up-dated to reflect the full legal name on his citizenship papers, as opposed to the shorter version that he’d used for almost 30 years in the US. Sigh. Wish the USCIS people had told us about that one! I’m still finding places where the name hasn’t been fixed.</p>
<p>I have an adopted child, and there are many discussions on adoption forums as to whether more than a passport is needed. Before 2001, most applied for the C of C and paid the fee. Then the law changed and they weren’t required, but were not provided by the INS for free either. Then after about 2004 the C of C’s were provided free IF all the paperwork was complete before the child came into the country, but not if additional steps needed to be taken to finalize the adoption. So there are a bunch of kids in that time period, from 2000 to now, who don’t have a formal Certificate of Citizenship. The argument is over whether they will need them if they have a passport, and what if the passport expires, and what if there is the agency won’t accept a passport, etc. My daughter’s passport did expire and the state of Florida wouldn’t accept it for her driver’s license. I could have provided her C of C, or renewed the passport, but she couldn’t get it because on that day I had nothing. They wouldn’t take my expired passport either, so I needed an original, certified birth certificate or a valid passport. Three new passports and three new licenses = $$$$. Some SSA people won’t take the passport to make the change to citizen. The form says ‘certificate of naturalization/citizenship’ and that’s the document they want to see. In that case, I always recommend going to another office or finding a sane SSA employee.</p>
<p>I am a belt and suspenders type, and my child has a C of C. I have had people ask for the certificate, but most will accept her passport because I just tell them that’s all I’m providing (and give them the death stare). There are some government jobs that do want the certificate of citizenship or the naturalization certificate, mostly military or state department. Could I argue the point? Probably, but I’m going to die someday and my child is not an arguer. There are times when it is just easier to give the person the document he wants, even though he is wrong, but more importantly, I am right. A friend’s husband was killed on 9/11 and she was so happy to have all the documents she needed to just give to the person at SSA and the insurance company because she just didn’t want to argue with them, especially at that time of her life.</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess in the end a Cert. of Citizenship is inevitable (just to be on the safe side, sigh). I guess for now I’ll get the passport, hope my SSA accepts it (which they should, I mean, last time I went there they asked to see my passport). Then after I deal with college apps and financial aid, I’ll file a N600. Thank you for all your help. </p>
<p>Orangemaple, you seem much more knowledgeable about your status than my daughter. She doesn’t really care that much and wouldn’t know what a C of C is or why/when it would be useful. She knows she’s a citizen, has a passport, but wouldn’t be able to argue the laws that pertain. However, she may end up in a government job someday, so I’m glad she has all the documents. Now if she’d just learn about vaccinations and which ones she has…</p>