My mother is a US citizen and I live in Canada. Does that mean I am eligible for US citizenship?
If so, does that mean I can apply as a US citizen for universities?
I’m looking at MIT, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, all the ambitious CS ones.
Without financial aid, I simply cannot afford it without taking out huge loans.
It depends. Were you born in Canada? Were your parents married at your birth? What is your father’s nationality? Did your mother ever live in the US?
My father lived in Canada all his life and my mother lived in the states all her life before they got married. They both went to school in the states and married there. My parents then bought a house in Ontario, Canada, where me and my 3 siblings were born. I’ve lived in Canada my whole life and we frequently travel to my mother’s parents’ house on holidays.
If I am eligible for US citizenship, does that allow me to apply as a non-international student and receive that financial aid?
http://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-parents
Looks like you can obtain citizenship through your mother, but you have to apply for it:
Oh okay, thanks I haven’t seen that before.
So if this all works out and I eventually get US citizenship before January, I should be able to apply as a domestic applicant to these schools, correct?
Processing time for N-600
https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do
So do you want to be a US citizen for any other purpose aside from college applications? Just curious.
Aren’t you already a US citizen now, since birth, but you just need to file that form for proof/documentation?
IMHO you should apply now to colleges as a US citizen, though I am no expert.
I believe so. However, it looks like it would take a while for that form to process. Somewhere along the lines of 5 months, and the deadline for most college applications is the first week of January
You need to think long & hard, as a citizen from a “desirable” country, whether u really want US citizenship. It’s a decision not to take lightly. Being a US citizenship has a lifelong onerous taxation burden associated w it for people who live/work outside the US.
As a US citizen, u will be subject to US income taxation on income earned outside the US (including Canada) for the rest of your life. That means if u work in canada or sell a house in canada or have any income derived outside the US, u could be owing taxes to Uncle Sam in addition to owing taxes to the country in which u earned the income. Even if u meet the 'foreign earned income exclusion", u will likely still be stuck with filing a US income tax return. U will also have to declare to the IRS all your foreign banks assets yearly.
Acquiring US citizenship is attractive to citizens from developing & third world countries. But generally, people from other 1st world countries want to avoid it.
If u are going to fill out a FAFSA form, is your American mother current on her US tax reporting requiements? Does she earn income outside the US? Is she filing a US tax return and filing a FBAR firm yearly, to declare the balances in her non-US bank accts?
http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartH-Chapter4.html
The only issue I see is that I’m not currently residing in the US.
^But that’s for the “after birth and before age 18 method”.
The following is the “at birth” method which appears to apply to you:
Edit: I see now, you were quoting a section on obtaining citizenship automatically without having to file the N-600.
Wait, I think you’re correct. I was looking at the wrong section. According to the “at birth” section here, I became a citizen at birth.
http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartH-Chapter3.html
If I’m not mistaken, then this means that I don’t have to file for the N-600 because I’m already a citizen. I just need to apply for a passport as proof as my US citizenship which is a matter of weeks rather than months.
You still need to weigh for the LONG TERM whether US citizenship is worth it. I can’t imagine any of my Canadian friends wanting it. Acquiring it just for better college tuition rates in the US, esp when good-value, excellent quality college options exist in Canada, seems terribly short sighted.
I have a british friend who is married to a US citizen. The Brit doesn’t even want US permanent residency because it will burn her taxwise on her earnings outside the US.
Sorry, no. If you are under 18 your parents have to first file for a Certificate of Citizen Born Abroad, including the documentation that your mother met the physical presence requirements; if you are over 18 you have to file for a Certificate of Citizenship, with the same info (see [here](http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/abroad/events-and-records/birth.html)). Then you submit the certificate with your passport applications
I agree with @GMTplus7, though: you should think hard about this decision: you will be responsible for filing taxes on your worldwide income for the rest of your life. If you are that good, consider taking a look at Oxford or Cambridge (warning: application deadline is the 15th!), UCL, Imperial, etc.
Yes, you can claim citizenship under the child citizenship act. You can prove your citizenship with a Certificate of Citzenship, issued by the USCIS, or a passport, issued by the state department. One of the requirements to get the passport is to prove you are a citizen, and since you are claiming it through your mother you’d have to submit her proof of citizenship too (her birth certificate or her passport). An original passport must be applied for in person, so you’d need to come to the US or go to a consulate or embassy in Canada with all your documentation, and if you are not yet 18 then one parent (the parent you are claiming citizenship through) must be with your too. You can get a copy of the passport application online and it tells you exactly what you need (ID, proof of birth, proof of citizenship, money, photo) and exactly which documents will satisfy each requirement. Originals are needed, no copies.
What extra aid are you hoping for as a citizen? Pell grant (if you qualify based on income) and federal loan might be the only ‘extras’. All the schools you listed are private, and they will either meet full need or they won’t, but I don’t think they give more aid to citizens. You wouldn’t need a visa or a work permit if you are a citizen, so that’s a benefit. You might need to pay taxes (although there is a $95k exemption on income).
If you apply for a SSN before you can prove you are a citizen (and your friends at the SSA will not accept that you are claiming citizenship under the Child Citizenship act, they need a C of C or a passport) they may issue you a SSN but it will not list you as a citizen and when you apply for FA your application will get kicked back.
Think long and hard about whether you want to be a US citizen before you claim it. There aren’t just buckets of student aid available to students here.
Alright I am definitely considering your points, and I’m gonna put a lot more thought into this decision, so thanks.
I’m not only looking at the FA, but the admissions rates. For example, MIT only admits <150 international students. There’s a ridiculous amount of competition applying as an international student.
I’m considering schools in Canada too like UW, so my mind isn’t completely set, but leaving Canada and going to the states for college at one of the best tech schools in the world would be awesome. Plus I’ve spent all this time on SATs and essays.
So basically, I have the option to apply for these schools as a US citizen, but then I would commit to paying US taxes for the rest of my life, and I may not even be accepted.
Hmm. Not sure what to do now.
There is an exclusion amount (currently $95000).
You might end up in the US permanently anyway via the same way your mom ended up in Canada! 
Canada does have some fine universities, doesn’t it?
International students in US universities more commonly come as PhD students, when they tend to be funded.
That’s a poor justification for shackling yourself to the US Internal Revenue Service for the rest of your life.