Our US passports were renewed no trouble at all but I do hate parting with the original documents and despise that we must do that for them but not for DD by birth. It’s true these kids should never let their US ones expire.
We would like to give our kids the option of keeping dual citizenship so we need to renew the birth country ones. It may come in handy at some point being able to show a non US passport.
I did overlook the expiration date on my D’s (adopted from China in 1998) passport, but it was renewed with no problem even though it was at least six months beyond the expiration date.
One point of order - children’s passports are not renewed. Each one is a new application. They will take the old passport to meet several requirements, such as proof of citizenship and date of birth, but when the child’s passport expires, you have to do a new application, in person. One of my kids had 3 child passports, the other 2 then her first adult passport. I never had any trouble using the old one to get a new one, even when it had expired. Since the first one, I’ve never had to show anything but the old passport.
Only an adult passport can be ‘renewed’. You can get an adult (10 year) passport at age 16.
Well, you can’t just tell them ‘Child Citizenship Act’. You have to show them the visa under which they entered the country, the foreign passport, the “A” number which should be in that old passport (used to be on the Green Card but usually you don’t get those anymore, you get a Certificate of Citizenship".
I still stand by my statement that the Certificate of Citizenship is the golden ticket when it comes to matters of citizenship. It doesn’t expire. I keep it in the safe deposit box, but have a copy at home, too.
I don’t regret getting them, even thought it was even more paperwork and expense. I understand they are even more expensive now (and probably have more onerous paperwork, not sure).
I have yet to have to show anything proving anything for either daughter other than their state birth certificate (which clearly states they were born in China). That could be because I live in a smaller town (you’d think it would be the opposite?).
If you have to prove citizenship for something, you won’t be able to use a birth certificate and will need either the C of C or a passport.
The only place I ever used the C of C was at the SSA as she had a SSN and card (which actual said VALID for work as we all joked that now I could put her to work at age 2) to change her status from resident alien to citizen, and then to get the first passport. Her college has never asked for any proof of citizenship. She’s received federal aid and aid limited to citizens.
It seems that a lot of people are having trouble because they did not follow through with their paperwork. Our children were adopted from China in 1992 and 1998. Upon arrival in the US they were issued green cards. We applied and received SS cards for them. We readopted through the court system in our county and applied and received Revised Birth Certificates for both our daughters. We also applied for Citizenship for both our daughters. After receiving their Citizenship papers we turned in their green cards at the SS office and received new ones in the mail. My eldest daughter has graduated college and my youngest is in her 2nd year. We have never had any of these problems as mentioned on this thread. Parents of children who were made automatic citizens should have received some form of paperwork. Find out why your child’s application has been flagged and correct the paperwork . Renewing a passport is not a permanent solution.
Chumom, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (enacted in 2001) was a complicating factor for many families. I was the most “on it” person I know when it comes to paperwork. Within two weeks of coming home with our daughter from China in 2002, I sent off her original documents off to get her US passport, then turned around and used the passport to get her social security number. Then we readopted her in the state we were living in at the time so she would have a birth certificate issued by a US government entity. Despite being made an “automatic citizen”, the only paperwork she received from USCIS was a green card designating her a permanent resident alien. Had she been adopted in 2004 or later, she would have received a Certificate of Citizenship automatically. Had we adopted her prior to 2001, we would have been required to apply for a CoC. Those “gap years” between 2001 and 2004 caught a lot of families in their net: their children were “automatic citizens” with no bureaucratic trail from US immigration to prove it. Until recently, that didn’t seem like a big deal. Right now it feels like a big hairy deal.
I adopted my daughter from China in 1998. Paid for and got her citizenship certificate in 1999 or 2000. We were asked for proof of immigration status when she accepted her admission to college in 2014 and they accepted a copy of her passport.
Because she had been born in China, they requested documentation of TB infection. As it happens, she had had a positive PPD and was treated with INH when she was 5. The pediatrician’s office faxed her treatment history to the college.
Interestingly, a friend in her 60s who was born and grew up in Columbus, OH and my niece, now 41, who was born and grew up in Milford, CT had positive PPDs in their teens and the niece was treated with INH but neither of them was ever asked for documentation of TB status.
Being issued a Permanent Alien Resident card is a red flag. Go to SS and turn it in with proof your child is a citizen.
@chumom Your experience in the 90"s isn’t relevant for those of us that adopted later. As described by @begood the law changed. My son also received a “green card” when he came home. This is what they automatically sent at that time because they hadn’t figured out how to handle the automatic citizenship thing yet. We did get a US passport soon after and I visited the SS office after getting this and they said they changed it in their system so that he was a citizen in their data base.
But, I was participating in some on-line forums at the time that advised people to apply to get a certificate of citizenship even though our kids were already citizens and it technically wasn’t required. At that point he already had a US passport but we decided to do the additional paperwork anyway. I did this and am so glad I did in retrospect. He was adopted in 2001 and it was probably about 2003 that I applied for the CofC for him. I sent in the paperwork and maybe 6 months later the CofC came in the mail. I still have his old original green card - no one ever asked for it back.
@me29034, we had to surrender our daughter’s green card at the oath ceremony this past November where she received her certificate of citizenship. It took me 13 years to fully internalize why we might need BOTH a passport and a certificate of citizenship. This thread was instrumental in helping me get off my behind and get that ball rolling. And now she is listed as a US citizen with both the Dept of State (passport) and Dept of Homeland Security (cert. of citizenship). The application process was expensive, time consuming, worrying, and frustrating, but SO worth it in the end.
@begood We had no oath ceremony. The CofC just came in the mail one day. I’ll admit I was surprised by that.
@me29034, I believe that she was required to go to the oath ceremony because she was age 14. Kids under 14 do not have to attend the oath ceremony. Because she was 14, the application was hers, not mine on her behalf, and I was the “preparer” of the application. She signed it as the applicant.
You are absolutely correct all our experiences are different. But I stand by my first statement which is to follow through with your paperwork. You did and you admit that you are happy that you did so.
I will be speaking with my relative who adopted a child from Taiwan to be sure they have all their required paperwork and hopefully can avoid some of these headaches. My other relative who adopted two kids from Korea has never mentioned citizenship issues with his kids and one is nearly done with her masters in education and a tenured teacher so she’s ok.
Here’s a news story about a girl who thought she was a citizen until she applied for a license -
yet another person caught in the paperwork gap when the law changed!
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/adopted-teen-finds-she-is-not-us-citizen-when-trying-to-get-her-drivers-license
That news article doesn’t correctly summarize the Child Citizenship Act. It WAS retroactive, but the child had to have entered the US on the correct visa and the parents had to have completed all the steps necessary to have filed for citizenship. My daughter entered the US on an I-3 visa, adoption completed overseas, in 1999. I did a readoption in the US because that’s what my state recommended, and I applied for citizenship for her. While that was in process, the Child’s Citizenship Act became effective. Her citizenship papers were processed and we went to a ‘hearing’ but the date on her certificate is 2/27/01, effective date of the act. Retroactive. The hearing was nothing more than picking up the certificate.
If they would have applied for citizenship in 2001, it may have been rejected because they hadn’t completed the adoption. I’m not sure how they got a passport since their ‘A’ number either in the Guatemalan passport or on the green card would have been required to get a passport. A passport is proof of citizenship, even at the DMV.
With both of my children - adopted in 2001 and 2003 - the experience was different. With my older one we re-adopted, got her OH birth certificate, passport and CofC. With my second, we didn’t get the passport. We did, however, have to apply for the CofC because only one parent traveled.
With both, we had to appear before the INS in Cleveland and swear an oath for them. Despite the headache -and my older daughter throwing up in the INS lobby because we couldn’t reschedule it AT ALL even due to illness - it was well worth it.
Things change all the time. Those were our experiences in terms of paperwork for citizenship proof.
I didn’t do any of that and hope my kids will be ok. They came home in 2001 and 2002. They have US passports and social security cards.
I am sorry if it has been discussed. Does anyone know how to get a birth certificate for the kids. I am in NJ…I was told at one point that I have to sent the original adoption paper to our state capital…I am nervous and did not send… as of now, my kid has citizenship certificate and passport…but I think it is more it is convenient to have a birth certificate…