Who issues citizenship

If your birth abstract does not meet all the requirements above, we may also need you to submit a long-form birth certificate showing a copy of your original birth record. Delayed birth certificate filed more than 1 year after birth It must include the following: List the documentation used to create it preferably early public records - see below Signature of the birth attendant or an affidavit signed by the parent s If your delayed U.

Letter of No Record If a U. Early public or private documents. If you were born outside the United States and acquired U. Please see U. If you were born outside the United States and acquired citizenship through adoption by a U.

Please see Child Citizenship Act of for more information. Citizenship if:. Please fill out Request for a File Search and include it with your application. DS Application for a U. Vital Records. Birth Abroad. File Search. Citizenship Law and Policy. You are about to leave travel. Department of State. Links to external websites are provided as a convenience and should not be construed as an endorsement by the U. Department of State of the views or products contained therein. If you wish to remain on travel.

Cancel GO. Skip to main content. Gov Travel. Generally, a permanent resident child automatically becomes a U. As long as the child is residing in the United States in the custody of that U.

A child born on U. When U. A child born outside of the United States generally becomes a U. You can replace a certificate for the following reasons:. The Certificate of Citizenship contains information identifying the person and confirming his or her U.

Specifically, the certificate contains:. The document also includes a Department of Homeland Security seal as well as a statement and signature by the USCIS Director indicating that the applicant complied with all the eligibility requirements for citizenship under the laws of the United States. When applying for a U. Did you know minor mistakes on your Form N application can cause costly delays and rejections?

Prepare your N quickly and correctly with CitizenPath. The attorney-reviewed software guides you through the application and provides help to answer questions like this one.

And personalized filing instructions help you to file your application today knowing that you did everything right! No credit card or signup required to try it. Get Help with Form N I Petition for Alien Relative. I Application for Travel Document. Often petitioners went to the court most geographically convenient for them.

As a general rule, the National Archives does not have naturalization records created in state or local courts. However, a few indexes and records have been donated to the National Archives from counties, states, and local courts. Researchers should contact the National Archives facility serving the state in which the petitioner resided to determine if records from lower courts are available. In certain cases county court naturalization records maintained by the National Archives are available as microfilm publications.

Records from state and local courts are often at state archives or historical societies. Beginning September 27, , US naturalization law imposed a fee structure that encouraged the transfer of naturalization to Federal courts. It took time for the lower courts to let go of the practice, so researchers may need to look at lower courts if the National Archives does not maintain a record of naturalization from the early-mid 20 th century.

After residing in the United States for two years, an alien could file a "declaration of intention" "first papers" to become a citizen.

After the petition was granted, a certificate of citizenship was issued to the new citizen. These two steps did not have to take place in the same court. If a naturalization took place in a Federal court, naturalization indexes, declarations of intention with any accompanying certificates of arrival , and petitions for naturalization will usually be in the National Archives facility serving the state in which the Federal court is located.

No central index exists.