On 8/20/2021 at 10:24 PM, OmarStuck said:
I have recently complete the N-600K process for my children and would like to share the A to Z experience.
Why N-600K?
I am a US citizen father married to a non-US citizen mother. We are living overseas on a temporary basis due to employment. Our son and daughter were both born overseas.
When we applied for Citizen Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) for our first child, we were shocked to find out that my child was not born as a US citizen.
As per USCIS rules, the US citizen parent muse have lived in the US for 5 years with two years over the age of 14 for thechildren to be US citizens at birth.
I do not have the required residence time in the US so that was the reason the CRBA got rejected.
The N-600K allows your children to become US citizens if their grandparents meet the residency requirements mentioned above.However, you must be living overseas with your children!
See AlsoTip Sheet: Applying for Form N-600K, Application for Certificate of CitizenshipApplication for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322 – USCIS GuideForms N-600 & N-600K: How to Get U.S. Citizenship for Foreign-born Adopted ChildrenThe I-130 option was not suitable for us as we do not plan to live in the US in the near future. Additionally, the N-600K process takes much less time than the I-130 option.
Your children must be below 18 years old!
There are two steps to this process:
- Filing of N-600K form
- Interview
N-600K filing
The N-600K form can be submitted online and it is fairly straightforward to fill out.
First of all, you must submit proof of US citizenship for yourself (US citizen parent) and the US citizen grandparent.
You must have proof that the US citizen grandparent has met the residency requirements mentioned previously. This could include transcripts, proof of employment, etc.
In addition, you must show proof that you and your children live overseas.
You will also be required to select a field office which will do your interview. I would recommend you to choose a Field Office which has a direct flight from your country (just to make life easier). However, please take note that each field office is run differently (more on that later).
There is also a filing fee. I will not place a number here since it could change in the future.
Interview
The interview is a mandatory part of the process and must be done in the US.
Prepare your (US citizen) parent and your children's passport. If you need a B1/B2 visa for your children, make sure to apply for it ahead of time.
There will be a note on the B1/B2 visa (once you receive it) stating "Issued for Naturalization Pursuant to 9 FAM 402.2-4(B)(7)". The consular office might not be aware of this so make sure you bring all information necessary for B1/B2 visa.
Once the N-600K form has been accepted, you will be contacted by the field office to setup an interview date. Some field offices are more flexible than others with this.
The US citizen parent and the children must be in attendance for the interview.
Once you pass the interview, you will be given the Certificate of Citizenship. Congratulations!
Our Experience
We applied for the N-600K in October 2020 based on my parent's US residence. My parent and I are both US Citizens, of course.
We received a RFE from the field officeand replied promptly and they accepted our case in December 2020. They informed us that we could choose any date 1 year from the acceptance date. We originally had it in another field office that asked us to come that month (during COVID!) so we requested to be moved to a different field office that was also convenient for us.
We scheduled our interview for July 2021.
We required visas for our children and we had no issues with the embassy with this regards.
The interview was straightforward. They asked me for proof of entry for the children and they saw my children. Theinterviewerwas just cross-checking the information with me during the interview.
Within one hour of the interview, the Certificate of Citizenship was ready for us and we finished the process!
Please feel free to comment below and I will answer any questions that come up.
Hi @OmarStuck
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I have 2 questions if you could guide me. Firstly, regarding the selection of the field office, will the processing time (https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/)of the application vary depending on the field office I select (I am applying and paying online)?
I am referring to the processing times mentioned on the above shared link.
Secondly, I am applying for my two children through their mother (US citizens)and their maternal grandfather. I am not a UScitizen nor do I have a visit visa at the moment. However, currently my plan is to fill out the N-600k applications for my children and then apply for the visit visas for the three of us (2 children and myself). What do you think are the chances of them rejecting my visit visa? As I want to travel with my wife and childrenfor when they travel for the interview. Any help with this regard would be great.
