Citizenship Issues

You may have a claim to citizenship if:

• You, your father or your mother were born in the United States; or

• You were born outside the United States or one of its outlying possessions to U.S. citizen parent(s) and your U.S. citizen parent(s) meets the *physical presence requirements.

Any of the following documents are evidence of citizenship. If you are no longer in possession of any of these documents, you must obtain a certified copy from the issuing authority.

• A U.S. Birth Certificate - For certified copies, please contact the state in which you were born. The National Center for Health Statistics maintains a list of states' contact information for this purpose;

• A Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) - For certified copies, please contact the Vital Records Section at the Department of State;

• A Certification of Birth (Form FS-545 or DS-1350) - For certified copies, please contact the Vital Records Section at the Department of State;

• A Certificate of Citizenship - For certified copies, please contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services;

• Inclusion in the passport of your U.S. citizen parent(s).

• an expired, or currently valid, full validity U.S. passport

If you were born outside the United States and have not been previously documented as a U.S. citizen, and are:

• under the age of 18: please see our instructions for obtaining a Consular Report of Birth Abroad.
• age 18 or over the age of 18, please review the following checklist. If you are found to have acquired citizenship at birth, it will be documented with a passport.

For more information on citizenship please contact our American Citizen Services Section or book an appointment on-line to come in and speak with a an ACS representative or go to: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
 
Note: Derivative claims to U.S. citizenship depend on the existence of a legal blood relationship between the applicant and the U.S. citizen parent.  Therefore, adopted children do not acquire citizenship automatically upon adoption.  However, they may be eligible for citizenship through naturalization if they have been processed for an immigrant visa. For more information on immigrant visas please follow this link.