Naturalization, Citizenship Citizen or not? Help please!

[Tanja1979]

I have a couple of questions... first I was born in Germany in 79' to a german mother and american father. When I was born my father (who was in the army) had already left my mother. He was still determined the father of me through german court and ordered to pay child support under the law that they had lived together during the time I was conceived. A paternity test was never done. And my mother is the only parent listed on my birth certificate. Does this still qualify me to be a citizen? If not, my mother married another American (army soldier) a year later and although adoption papers werent signed I have documents saying I was given his last name legally. Does this qualify me?
I had my green card before from the age of 4 to 15 years of age and when we had stayed (my family) in germany from my 12th birthday till my 15th birthday I automatically lost my green card. The INS immigration officer had my mother give her our greencards or she warned we would have to face a judge. My mother not knowing what to do signed over her card on paper just so we could get on a plane back to our home state. Yet I never did sign mine over (I was 15 at the time) does this give me any right to legally get it back?
If not I have one last resort, I am 25, I have been married 6 years to a US citizen and have 3 boys ages 4 to 9 months and I have lived in the states for over 10 years now..so I guess I can do it the long way. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[NYClex]

Hi Tanja,

let me start with the easiest answer: The relationship to the second American your mother married is not enough to qualify you for citizenship, since the adoption was never finalized, as you write.

The second easiest answer: You qualify for citizenship through "administartive naturalization" by being a Legal Permanent Resident (Green Card Holder) by marriage to a U.S. citizen and living in the States for 10 years (assuming you have no longer interruptions of this residency). You can apply for naturalization, take the test, pass the interview and be sworn in.

Third: There is a probability that you could be considered a citizen by birth. The law recognizes citizenship by birth to an American citizen father under certain circumstances. First, I assume that your mother was not married to your biological father, since his name is not on the birth certificate.

Nevertheless you could qualify if you can prove that he was a) an American citizen b) your father.

The law (§ 301(g) INA) requires the following prrof:

a) Clear and convincing establishment of parentage. This could be tricky since you said a blood test has never been provided.

b) proof that the father in fact was a citizen at the time of your birth (this should be easy if it can be established that he was born in the U.S.) He also needs to have been living in the U.S. for a certain period which I assume he did. But that needs to be established (it is 10 years of which 5 must have been after his 14th birthday, service in the army abroad counts as living in the U.S.)

c) The father has agreed in writing to provide child support until you were 18. Now you mention an German court order to pay child support. Has he ever paid? Has he agreed or tried to fight it? This could be another tricky hurdle. But if he paid willingly this should be sufficient.

d) While you were under 18 the father must have acknowledged paternity or a court must have established paternity. You mention an German court order in that aspect. That should be enough.


Now you have two ways to proceed: You can try to prove all that and apply for a certificate of citizenship. I assume that you have no contact to your biological father, that, and the fact that he is not listed on your birth certificate, make things a little difficult.

The other way is to apply for administrative naturalization as noted in the beginning of the posting. I assume that this actually will be the easier and faster way.


By the way, the INS officer at the time when they took your Green Cards was probably within the law. The green card can be taken away when you no longer have binding ties to the United States, usually proven by a residence here. If a LPR stays outside of the U.S. for more than one year(without a so called reentry permit) this establishes a prima facie case for abandonment of status. In this case you would have to prove to the office that you still had those "binding ties."

Viel Erfolg!

BTW: Have a look here, you might be interested in that forum: www.auswanderer-forum.com

 

[Tanja1979]

Actually I am not a legal green card holder. My family has been trying to re-obtain our green cards for 10 years now. Since my dad (step dad) died in 98' my mother has remarried and has already got her green card (going on 4 years now) but mine was halted due to my husband and I not having enough money to get the papers and stuff done. My I-130 has been approved for close to 3 years now. I just thought I might have a better chance going the other route since it was cheaper and seemed easier.
Thank you for your fast response though.

 

[Tanja1979]

I also forgot to write that I have been leading a normal life, I graduated high school in 1998, and I have a normal social security card that says nothing about immigration stuff on it. The card I have is the same number I have had since I was 5 years old, plus in 98" I also had a legal work authorization card and I worked for awhile until I got pregnant with my first son. Would any of this help? Or am I doing all of this green card stuff for nothing?

 

[NYClex]

hm, you write your I-130 has been approved, but you have not been issued a green card yet, because you didn't get "stuff done"? That does not sound good!

You need to make sure you are not out of status, which is the same as being in the country illegally! Being out of status would bar you from pursuing citizenship and could even get you deported.

I suggest you try to clear up the green card problem with the CIS asap! If you don't pursue things, after a while the CIS will consider your application abandoned and that would mean you fall out of status.

Once you have secured Legal Permanent Resident status you then can look into the citizenship options. The problem with the descendancy option is, as I have written above, that you need certain documents based on your biological father's cooperation. You would need official translation from all German documents. Knowing the high price of that alone I assume that it will be cheaper to apply for administrative naturalization ("the normal way"), which nowadays costs around $ 400.

To apply for a citizenship certificate based on your biological father's citizenship will cost probably at least as much, though the CIS fees are a little lower ( $ 240). But you need additional documents and I would strongly suggest that you have all this reviewed by an immigration attorney, which is usually not necessary in case of a "normal" naturalization.

Regarding that, before you can apply for naturalization you need to have fulfilled the residency requirements as Legal Permanent Resident. That is why it is very important to get your status cleared.

Actually I suggest that if your current status is not clear, to sort out all these things, you should consult an experienced immigration attorney.

By the way, the fact that you have a valid Social Security Number and work authorization does not affect the status questions discussed here.