petitefrancaise

Guys, my friend just became a US citizen today and she will be leaving for Sydney tomorrow. Obviously no US passport yet. Will she be ok leaving the USA with Australian passport?

tom169

Someone may correct me, but I think this is ok as there are no exit controls on the USA.

However, I was under the impression it was law that a US citizen must enter the USA on a US passport. Is your friend going to get her passport abroad if she's planning on coming back to the USA?

Pulaski

Tom is right, getting out is no problem, getting back in might be more problematic - she should expect the third degree in Secondary, and be pleased if she gets out in less than six hours. In practice there isn't much that they can do to stop her coming in, but a fine is possible and they can p!§§ her around by delaying her entry for several hours.

Can she apply for passport and get it FedEx'ed to her in Australia in time for her return flight?

With the benefit of hindsight, the best advice would have been to delay her oath ceremony until after she returned and had a few clear weeks to get her passport.

lansbury

I can see her getting messed around in Sydney as well when she tries to come back to the US. She will not have a ESTA to go with her Aussie passport and I wonder how many of the check in staff at Sydney would accept a US Certificate of Citizenship without a lot of hassle. Or know what one looks like.

BritInParis

This will definitely be the biggest problem - being permitted to board a flight to the US without a US passport or visa/ESTA. Any chance your friend can delay her trip by a week or so?

tom169

Or a random thought... Could the US consulate in Sydney help with a travel document of some sort? Not sure if this is indeed an option, but throwing out there.

petitefrancaise

It's ok guys, she was given the application forms for a US passport and will get it once she returns to Sydney where they now all live.

Just an aside but she is probably the first person in Texas to get citizenship through a gay marriage to a US citizen. She was the first one in Texas to get a greencard and she applied the minute she could for citizenship (ie 90 days before the 3 years). Now the whole family has dual citizenship - wife and kids were US citizens by birth and already had Australian citizenship.

ian-mstm

She'll probably have to travel to Canberra to get a passport... that's where the US Embassy is. Consulates, AFAIK, don't process passports. Anyway, she'll figure it out.

Ian

petitefrancaise

I'm sure she will. After everything they've been through, they know their way around the system...

The INS in San Antonio were absolutely fantastic with her - she flew back from Sydney for her citizenship interview... she got on famously with the interviewer and was chatting with him for over an hour. He then gave her an appointment within 2 days to get her oath ceremony done - she was the only one - he did it just for her! Then I went with her, along with another friend and then we told them that her family were all in Sydney so they let us do a live FB video so that the wife and kids could watch in real time! Fabulous.

tom169

Congrats to her. It's a cool story to tell!

lansbury

Glad it worked out well, and she isn't going to face the prospect of a lot of hassle trying to get back to the US.

slummymummy

That's great!

One of the reasons I'm applying for citizenship is for freedom to live abroad if I ever want to (and then return to the US). But don't you have to be currently living in the US to apply? Or is it you have to have been living there for a certain amount of time during the 3 years. Just curious.

ian-mstm

We don't know how her friend acquired US citizenship. Your questions assume it's via an N-400... but there are other methods.

At any rate, the Guide to Naturalization answers your questions... and Google is your friend.

Ian

AdobePinon

It's interesting how we occasionally have these great encounters amidst all of the more typical adversity. Many years ago, I was doing an H-1B renewal in Kraków. I dropped off the application along with everyone else in the line and was told to return later same day to collect my passport. When I went back, I was told that I was flagged for interview because I wasn't local. I was a little worried about that. After sitting around for a while, I was called in and found myself talking to the Consul General. Turned out that they'd already issued the visa, so he gave me my passport and then talked with me for a good half hour about my work in the US, my future plans, and the paths available for getting a green card and ultimately US citizenship. Most unexpected.

petitefrancaise

my friend was telling me a little bit about the very beginning of their US immigration story. These 2 women met in Sydney, one Australian, one US citizen working for multi-national there. When US citizen had to return to US, the multi-national gave them the use of their immigration lawyer to try and get Australian partner into the US so they could stay together. This lawyer gave her all this advice and forms to fill out and she went to the US consulate in Sydney where she was told very firmly and very sympathetically that the advice given was completely incorrect and if processed could make it impossible for the Australian to ever live in the US. The consulate official, a lovely woman told my friend she wasn't going to process it at all, that my friend should go away and get better advice. Late that night, the consular woman called my friend at home and told her to go through the F1 visa route and that would get her to the USA for the moment, that things regarding gay marriages would improve and she just needed to manage to get to the US and hold on.
Yes, we do all tend to hear the horror immigration stories so it's nice to hear the good ones.