Something came up recently where I was required to prove my citizenship. I was born abroad to American parents (on a US army base) and was instantly a citizen but it occasionally creates paperwork headaches.
My birth certificate, IIRC, is a re-issue from the American consulate so it indicates my status as a US citizen, but unfortunately I seem to have lost it - and getting a copy is a huge hassle for me given my circumstances.
I’m still looking for it - but is there another way that I could, preferably quickly, prove that I’m a US citizen?
I haven’t had one since I was an infant - I’m assuming getting one now would require the same documentation that I’m currently missing, and would take weeks.
Driver’s license? Certified letter from the U.S. State Department (they might be able to check past passport records)? Otherwise I think you’re SOL and would need to get another copy of your birth certificate.
A driver’s license doesn’t prove citizenship apparently and neither does a social security card. There are ways of requesting by mail the information from the government department that deals with this (I forget which one exactly offhand) under a FOIA request. But it’s somewhat urgent and I’m guessing that process takes weeks at least.
It’s hard to imagine there’s not some sort of instant system that people could inquire from. For instance, I’m under the impression that the NICS background check when you buy a gun accounts for your citizenship, and those are “instant” - the data is clearly there somewhere.
Getting another copy of my birth certificate may not be possible - when my mom did it years ago when I was a kid she apparently had to write her congressman to step in and get the process rolling. The base, consulate office, hell even the country doesn’t exist anymore. Hopefully I can locate it.
This is a sort of ridiculous situation… with all the data and computers available today, for someone to be unable to do something as trivial as prove they’re a citizen seems silly…
You might want to ask the people asking the question what constitutes proof of citizenship for their purposes and proceed from there. They should be able to provide you a list of what they would accept as proof.
I too was born on a US military base overseas. I have a State Department document called a Certificate of Citizenship that indicates that the US Government considers me to have been a citizen from birth. That may be the form that you had.
It appears that this function may have been shifted to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Their website has a FAQ that discusses how to replace a lost Certificate of Citizenship. There is apparently a form that must be filled out. It may take a while, but it may be worth starting this process.
Just be sure you’ve got one by the time you run for President. If the experience of the Panama Canal Zone-born John McCain is any indication, it might come in handy.
As a side note – this is the reason I’ve had a valid passport, renewed as needed, since I’ve been a small child. My parents were refugees, so they knew the value of being able to prove citizenship, and nothing proves it better, no-questions-asked, than a valid passport.
Do you have the old, expired passport from when you were an infant?
How quickly do you need the proof?
Any chance there is a record in your parents’ military records of your birth and/or citizenship? Or that you can get a copy of your Certificate of Citizenship from someplace you’ve had to provide it to previously?
Can you get proof of your parents’ citizenship, and an affidavit from them that you are their child? What proof of citizenship is acceptable for the purpose you need it for now?
They only gave me a birth certificate or a statement from the consulate regarding the birth certificate as options. But they seem willing to work with me if I can get something official - they just weren’t sure if there were alternate means of proving citizenship.
Yeah, I have those forms. Unfortunately I’m guessing the process happens at the Speed Of Government which is too slow for my needs.
My grandma across the country has it in her document box, so I could acquire it. Would an expired passport be of use? I mean - logically it proves I was a citizen at that point - but generally people won’t respect expired documents.
As fast as possible. The details aren’t really relevant - but it’s a fairly urgent need.
I doubt my father still has his military records. I never received a certificate of citizenship, but rather a copy of my birth certificate - and they said essentially to be careful because they’re not going to get me another.
That’s an interesting idea. I have no idea if that’s a viable option. I could get my mother’s much more quickly than my father’s - would proving one parent was a citizen be sufficient to prove my citizenship or does it have to be both?
I was born in France on an US Air Force base, so I have a Consular’s Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America as my proof of citizenship. You probably have one, too. I got a fresh, certified legal copy from the Department of State, Passport Services a few years ago. I have the address if you’d like it but there is probably a way to order it over the internet now.
If you still have your passport from babyhood, that may be sufficient to get you a new passport. Check out the requirements here. You will have to apply in person, but you can pay a fee for expedited handling, which likely means about two weeks. Of course, that still may not be fast enough for your needs, but that probably exhausts your official documentation options.
Apply for a new copy of your Consular Report of Birth Abroad here They do say it will take 4-8 weeks but that an overnight delivery option is available. Even if you are able to prove citizenship another way, you probably need your FS-240.
Possibly; it depends on when you were born and how long both you and your mother resided in the United States. Probably you’d need a sworn affadavit concerning the residency if you decided to go this route. See this table for the details..
I’d be shot as a spy if that was the shibboleth.( ok, I’m stretching the definition a bit.)
SenorBeef, I’m glad you found it. Is it a long form with your parent’s passport numbers and dates of residence in the US on it, among other information? Mine has so much interesting information on it.
What is silly is that you somehow think that just because your records are digitalized and stored on a myriad of information systems those records can prove your citizenship.
Sure the records exist, but what links you to them?!
