The Certificate of Citizenship (Form N-600)

What This Filing Actually Does

Form N-600 is an application for a Certificate of Citizenship. USCIS puts the point plainly in the form instructions: filing it is not a request to become a U.S. citizen, it is only a request to obtain a certificate recognizing that you became a citizen on a particular date.

That framing matters for how you should think about the case. If the underlying facts are what you believe them to be, you have been a citizen since some date in the past — possibly since birth, possibly since a day in your childhood when the last of several conditions fell into place. The certificate does not change your status on the day it is issued. It documents something that already happened.

It also means the work of the case is evidentiary rather than persuasive. We are not arguing that you deserve citizenship. We are assembling the records that establish a chain: your parent was a U.S. citizen, you have a qualifying parent-child relationship with that parent, and the conditions the law attached were met when the law required them to be met.

Who Should File

USCIS states two situations for this form. The first is a person requesting a certificate because they were born outside the United States to a U.S. citizen parent. The second is a person requesting a certificate because they automatically became a citizen after birth but before turning 18.

Either way, you must be the child of a U.S. citizen parent. USCIS recognizes several parent-child relationships for this purpose: the biological child of a U.S. citizen parent who is also the legal parent; the adopted child of a U.S. citizen parent; the child of a non-genetic gestational U.S. citizen parent who is also the legal parent; and the child of a U.S. citizen parent who was married to the genetic or gestational parent at the time of birth, where both are legal parents.

Where the U.S. citizen parent is the biological father, there is generally an added step: establishing that you were born in wedlock or were legitimated, or in some cases providing a court order establishing paternity or evidence that your father acknowledged paternity in writing under oath.

One category is expressly excluded. USCIS states that stepchildren cannot acquire U.S. citizenship unless adopted.

An adult may file on their own behalf. A U.S. citizen parent or legal guardian with legal and physical custody files on behalf of a child under 18. There is a separate, lower threshold for signatures: if the applicant is under 14, a parent or legal guardian may sign for them.

Why We Cannot Give You One Rule

This is the most important thing to understand about citizenship through a parent, and it is the reason this guide does not contain a chart you can check yourself against.

USCIS says it directly in the form instructions: citizenship law has changed over the years, and different laws apply to determine whether you automatically became a citizen. If the claim is citizenship at birth abroad, the law in effect on the date of your birth applies. If the claim is citizenship after birth, the governing law is generally the one in effect before you turned 18.

The consequence is that two people with what sound like identical family stories can have different outcomes because they were born in different decades. The USCIS Policy Manual handles this with charts organized by period of birth, walking through the parents' citizenship at the time of birth, the residence or physical presence the citizen parent had to have accumulated before the birth, and — for people born before a certain point — retention requirements that a person could fail years later.

Whether a child was born in wedlock or out of wedlock also selects which provision applies.

None of this is a reason for pessimism. It is a reason not to self-assess from a summary. Bring the dates and the documents, and we will work out which law governs before anything is filed.

The Current Rule for Citizenship After Birth

For children whose citizenship arises after birth rather than at birth, the governing provision today is INA section 320, as amended by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. USCIS states that this version applies only to children born on or after February 27, 2001, or who were under 18 as of that date. Someone who had already turned 18 before then is governed by the earlier law, which is a different analysis.

Under the current provision, a child born outside the United States automatically becomes a citizen when all of the following have been met: at least one parent is a U.S. citizen by birth or naturalization, including an adoptive parent; the child is under 18; the child is a lawful permanent resident; and the child is residing in the United States in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent.

USCIS notes there is no required order to these conditions, so long as all of them are satisfied at a single point in time before the child's eighteenth birthday. The date citizenship attached is the date the last condition fell into place.

There is a narrower provision for families stationed abroad. Where a child is living outside the United States in the custody of a U.S. citizen parent who is a U.S. government employee or a member of the Armed Forces stationed abroad — or the spouse of one — the U.S. residence condition may be treated as satisfied. Whether it reaches your family is fact-specific.

A person born outside the United States is presumed to be an alien, and the burden of proving citizenship rests on the person claiming it, by a preponderance of the evidence. That is why the documents matter as much as the family history.

If the Child Lives Outside the United States

There is a different form for a different situation, and mixing them up is a common and avoidable error.

If the child is under 18, is the child of a U.S. citizen parent, regularly resides outside the United States, and did not acquire citizenship at birth, then the U.S. citizen parent — or in some circumstances a U.S. citizen grandparent or legal guardian — may need to file Form N-600K instead, under INA section 322.

The distinction is not just paperwork. INA 322 is by its own terms an application for naturalization on the child's behalf: the child becomes a citizen upon approval and the taking of the oath, not before. So the "this documents something that already happened" framing that governs the N-600 does not carry over to the N-600K.

N-600K is also only available while the child is under 18. USCIS states that if you are over 18, do not file it. An N-600, by contrast, may be filed either before or after the child turns 18.

We do not cover N-600K mechanics in this guide. If that is your situation, raise it at the consultation so we start on the right form.

Interview, Biometrics, and When the Interview Is Waived

The general rule is that an applicant appears in person for an interview with a USCIS officer, and where the application is filed for a child under 18, the U.S. citizen parent or parents appear too.

USCIS may waive that interview. Under the regulation, an application can be processed without an interview if the officer already has all the documentation needed to establish eligibility in the administrative file, or if the application arrives accompanied by one of three things: a Consular Report of Birth Abroad on Form FS-240, an unexpired U.S. passport issued initially for a full five or ten year period as a citizen, or the parent's naturalization certificate.

That is a practical reason to file a complete, well-documented application rather than a minimal one. A thorough filing is the filing most likely not to need an interview at all.

Separately, USCIS may require the applicant to appear to provide biometrics — fingerprints, photograph, signature — to verify identity and run background checks. Missing that appointment can result in a denial for abandonment.

If USCIS Denies the Application

A denial comes in writing with the reasons stated and notice of the right to appeal. An appeal is filed on Form I-290B and goes to the Administrative Appeals Office. The deadline is 30 calendar days from service of the decision, or 33 days if USCIS mailed it.

A denial for abandonment — typically a failure to appear when required — is treated differently. That one is not appealable to the Administrative Appeals Office, but a motion to reopen may be filed, also on Form I-290B.

One rule catches people who assume they can simply try again. USCIS states that once you have filed an N-600 and received a decision on it, a later N-600 from the same person will be rejected rather than accepted once the window to appeal that decision has run. The route forward at that point is an appeal, or a motion to reopen or reconsider under 8 CFR 103.5, not a fresh application.

Because a denial narrows your options this sharply, the first filing is the one that counts. That is the argument for getting the record right before it goes in rather than after.

Do You Have to File This at All?

No, and USCIS says so. The instructions state that you are not required to obtain evidence of your U.S. citizenship. If you want evidence, you may file an N-600 for a Certificate of Citizenship, or you may apply for a U.S. passport through the Department of State.

There is a real difference between the two documents, and it is the reason many people eventually want the certificate even after getting a passport. A valid, unexpired U.S. passport is evidence of citizenship — but once it expires it is no longer conclusive evidence. A Certificate of Citizenship does not expire. Neither does a Consular Report of Birth Abroad.

So the practical question is usually not "am I required to do this" but "do I want a permanent document." People tend to want one when a job, a benefit, a security clearance, or a family member's future filing will depend on proving the relationship and the status years from now.

There is no deadline. USCIS states you can file at any time if you became a citizen at birth or before you turned 18.

What It Costs

The N-600 filing fee is currently $1385 filed on paper or $1335 filed online.

Two categories pay nothing. There is no fee where a current or former member of any branch of the U.S. armed forces is requesting a certificate for themselves — and USCIS is explicit that children of service members do not qualify for that exemption. There is also no fee for a filing on behalf of someone who is the subject of a final adoption for immigration purposes and who meets, or met before turning 18, the definition of child under INA sections 101(b)(1)(E), (F), or (G).

Certain applicants may also be eligible for a fee waiver, requested on Form I-912.

One interaction is worth planning around. USCIS does not accept online filing from someone applying from outside the United States, someone requesting a fee waiver, or a service member or veteran filing on their own behalf. So the two groups who would pay nothing are the same groups who must file on paper — the online rate and the fee exemptions never overlap.

These are government fees paid to USCIS and are separate from any attorney fee.

Fees current as of September 7, 2026, taken from the USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055, edition 05/29/26) — confirm the current amount at uscis.gov/forms/filing-fees before filing.

Who This Guide Is Not For

If you are a green card holder applying to become a citizen, see our N-400 guide. That is naturalization, with its own eligibility requirements, interview, civics test, and oath ceremony.

If you have a Certificate of Citizenship or Certificate of Naturalization that was lost, stolen, or damaged, this is not the form. Replacement runs on Form N-565.

If you already filed an N-600 and USCIS decided it, a second N-600 will generally be rejected once the appeal window has passed. Talk to us about an appeal or a motion instead.

If the child is under 18 and regularly resides outside the United States, the filing is likely N-600K rather than N-600.

If your claim to citizenship does not run through a parent at all, none of this applies.