File Form N-600 to Get a Certificate of Citizenship

Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship, is the form that must be filed to get a certificate of citizenship. This does not apply to those who receive citizenship through the naturalization process but to those who derive or acquire citizenship from their parents.

People who were born outside the U.S. to U.S. citizens, have the right to claim citizenship through their parents. Those who are U.S. citizens through their parents, can get these citizenship certificates to document citizenship. Such individuals can use this form to claim citizenship at birth through their parents. However, they cannot apply for these documents at USCIS offices outside the U.S. but only at offices located within the country.

People applying for these certificates will need to file Form N-600 along with the birth certificates of their parents from whom they are acquiring or deriving citizenship. They must submit their parents’ marriage certificates and naturalization certificates. Applicants must also submit their birth and marriage certificates along with their N-600 applications.

Those born on U.S. soil can use their birth certificates issued by the government to prove that they are U.S. citizens. Likewise, naturalized U.S. citizens can use their naturalization certificates as proof of citizenship. Those who automatically became U.S. citizens before they turned 18 by operation of law after their birth, can file Form N-600 to get citizenship certificates. If the applicant is a minor child, the child’s parent or guardian can file the form for the child.

USCIS will not issue these certificates to those who were born on U.S. soil and U.S. certificates of citizenship will be issued only to those who were born abroad to U.S. citizens and to those who became citizens before they turned 18 by operation of U.S. laws.