Similar Case to Mine Anyone?

ello,

I have a bit of a situation that I may have acquired U.S. citizenship at
birth. Right now I'm dealing with the U.S. Consulate in Calgary as I currently reside in Canada. I'm awaiting the decision on my U.S. Passport application to the U.S. Consulate. It's been over 9 weeks since I applied and haven't heard anything from them, not even an RFE. Here's
my scenario:

My mom just obtained her U.S. passport. My mom had found out that she had been a U.S. citizen since the day my grandparents became naturalized citizens in 1964. My mom was 14 years old and had a Green Card at the time. By law, according to the Calgary Consulate, of the time says any
minor with a Green Card automatically becomes a citizen once the parents are naturalized. Now I'm just wondering, since she would've been a citizen since the day her parents were naturalized, is it possible that I may have acquired citizenship from birth? I was born
November 15, 1978 and my parents were married.

My mother provided letters that my parents wrote back and fourth to each other from '64 to '68. My mother lived in the U.S. from May 1958 to August 1968. She
married my father (a Canadian citizen) when she was 19. My mother also provided high school and elementary school records to the Consulate. My grandparents lived and died U.S. citizens after their naturalization in 1964. My grandparents resided in Minneapolis from 1958 till their
deaths respectively in 1974 and 1984.

I've been trying to consult with the Department of State and USCIS but either doesn't seem to know anything about anything. My mother encountered this same frustration when she first began
looking into her situation. USCIS even went so far as to tell my mom that there's no way she's a citizen. And yet, the Calgary consulate total contradicted that and treated her like one even before approving her passport application.

We decided on dealing with the Consulate directly since USCIS initially had misinformed my mother and the State Department is telling me that since my mother wasn't herself naturalized
that there's no way I could claim it through her and there's no way of verifying that she was a citizen at the time of my birth. But there IS verification, my grandparent's naturalization papers and my mother's alien #, such and such. Otherwise the Consulate would never have approved my mother for a passport. The State Department also commented that if I was going through my Grandparents that I would have to contact immigration.

Is there a good chance that I'm a U.S. citizen or is our proof not enough to prove my mother's physical presence? If I get denied what's my next step? Will it hurt my chances at a visa? I also have an employer whose willing to sponsor me for a Visa.

Also does the USC parent need to be a USC for the entire 10 years of their residing. She was a PR from the age of 8 to the age of 14, then became a USC.

Hi janurabi and welcome!

I actually had a very similar case, my Mother was also a U.S. citizen (from birth) as she was born before 1934 and her Mother was a U.S. born citizen.

Once we applied for and received her U.S. passport, the next hurdle was proving my claim to U.S. citizenship, it took about a year. The most challenging part was proving my Mother's residence as she had never 'formally' lived in the U.S., just resided there at different periods in her childhood with relatives (as her Mother passed away when she was 3 years old).

I actually managed to prove that my Father also had derivative U.S. citizenship, that's where my situation differs from yours a bit.

So for you, if we look at the USCIS nationality charts, you fall in to this date range:

On/after 12/24/52 and prior to 11/14/86 - one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent.

The residency requirement for that time period, for your Mother is:

US Citizen physically present in U.S. or OLP 10 years, at least 5 after age 14

You mention that your Mother became a citizen in 1964 (at age 14) and she lived in the U.S. until 1968, which would only be 4 years after the age of 14.

Looking only at that fact, it looks like you may not have a claim to U.S. citizenship. Did she ever go back to reside in the U.S. for any period of time after 1968?

Also, have you looked at the possibility that your Father may also be a U.S. citizen? Does he have any American ancestors?

She actually left the states at the age of 19, in August of 1968. Her parents where naturalized in May of 1964, so she would've actually been 13 at the time of naturalization. My bad on that.

No problem.

So if she became a citizen on May 15th of 1964 and left the U.S. on August 15th of 1968 - I don't know when she turned 14, but still, that is only a period of 4 years, 3 months - part of which she wasn't yet 14, so there is no way she had physical presence for the required 5 years.

The reason I asked if she ever returned to the States after 1968 is because "physical presence" is different than "residency". It just means she had to physically be there - so no returns of any significance since 1968?

You know what I think I've gotten my facts wrong with my mother's age. She was born in August of 1949 and She's has been back to the states since her marriage which was actually 1969. They've been married 42 years this August.

janurabi wrote:You know what I think I've gotten my facts wrong with my mother's age. She was born in August of 1949 and She's has been back to the states since her marriage which was actually 1969. They've been married 42 years this August.

Ok so say she was born August 15th of 1949 and became a citizen of the U.S. on May 15, 1964 - that would have made her 14 years, 9 months old when she became a citizen.

So you can't start counting the 5 years physical presence, required after age 14, until August of 1964.

So she would have to have been physically present from August 1964 to August 1969.

Of course you can use other physical presence, since then. What exactly did you submit to the consulate in Calgary?

well my mother submitted several things when she was proving her case for her passport. She actually moved to the States in 1958. High school records, elementary school records, she also kept letters that my parents sent back and forth to each other during the time (over 4 years worth if you can believe it).

I know we can find more evidence if they require it like census records and work history as my mother did pay income taxes those years

Yes, but your problem is not proving your Mother lived there for 10 years (you probably have enough evidence of that), your problem is proving that she has physical presence of 5 years AFTER the age of 14.

If you can prove that - then you should be able to claim derivative citizenship.

I think we can. It's been over 10 weeks since I submitted my passport application. I haven't received an RFE yet, but it's still early yet.

Well good luck to you, please let us know when you hear back

Thank you for your input. I definitely will, I also got a lawyer's unsolicited opinion on the matter as well

One other thing I should have mentioned, I also had to wait several weeks for them to make a decision/issue my passport when I finally gave them all the proof I could gather. I think it was 6-8 weeks. Just so you know it's not unusual for them to take that long.