meauxna

Well, you can either give yourself a crash course in US citizenship law, or pay for someone who's already learned it and get a faster result.

$2200 is a lot of money, but when I think about the amount of time it took me to learn what little I know.... $2200 is also really reasonable. You are going to need advising above and beyond the form filing. I don't know what the lawyer is offering to cover for that amount, but there are some citizen responsibilities that he'll need to know about (filing taxes, registration with SSS etc) that you should expect coaching on or assistance with. There is a tax filing in London wiki entry here you may want to look at.

Call me an easy spender, but it's not a bad price to pay considering the level of knowledge you are starting from. Think of it as related to your E-2 savings.
You'll also need advice on how your US citizen can move the rest of the family to the US.

fatbrit

You can do it yourself if you put in the study time.

Seems Ryan is a USC. You know what you need to document to prove that. Ryan needs a US passport, social security card, and to back file his taxes. For the latter, there was recently a horror story on that one. Search the forum for it.

But then you say you have a son together. So the next step is to find out whether Ryan transmitted US citizenship to your son together. Because if he did, you can kill two birds with one stone -- the application is in the same place and you might as well do both together. The kid needs a passport and social security card. But in addition, he also needs a consular record of birth.

Meanwhile, you need to get married, Ryan needs to adopt the other kids, and you need to flog a des res.

And then you're possibly one-third of the way there. Where you head next depends on time constraints. The obvious way is for Ryan to petition for you and the 2 (maybe 3) other kids for an immigrant visa. However, this will take 6 months or so. There are other methods.

fatbrit

Further for son's application:

A person born on or after November 14, 1986, is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true:
1. One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person in question was born;
2. The citizen parent lived at least five years in the United States before the child's birth;
3. A minimum of two of these five years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday.

dreamercon

Those requirements apply only for children born in wedlock. Different requirements apply for children born out of wedlock, depending on whether the USC is the mother or the father.

fatbrit

Nope! That was pre-1986. They don't need to be married for the father to pass on citizenship nowadays. Although even in the pre-1986 days an unmarried father could pass on citizenship provided he took responsibility for the child.

fatbrit

Still no....even with the edit.

dreamercon

If you read INA 309, you will notice that for a child born out of wedlock to a US citizen father, there are additional requirements to transmit citizenship, including signing a statement of support prior to the child turning 18 and legitimating or acknowledging paternity of the child.

If the USC is the mother, the requirements are totally different - and only ONE uninterrupted year in the US is required instead of five (interrupted) ones.


It is bizarre that getting US citizenship at birth is dependent on whether certain actions were taken after birth.

fatbrit

I don't see Ryan is going to have difficulty signing a statement of support from the facts so far given, do you?

fatbrit

Further, the text from FAM is interesting.

7 FAM 1133.4-2 Birth Out of Wedlock to American Father
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86757.pdf

My quick reading is that if he marries the mother before he applies, that should now be sufficient. Failing that, sign the paternity form!

Note discussion of Old or New 309(a) INA

Rete

Yes, all that is true, Ian, but for some people an attorney is the only way to go. This is a situation where much documentation will be required to prove cititzenship. While they can get that info from the US Consulate's website, they might feel more comfortable with an attorney on their side. Only they know how paper oriented they are.

dreamercon

There are three separate issues specific to out of wedlock cases: establishing a blood relationship by clear and convincing evidence, legitimation or acknowledgement and a statement of financial support. Only legitimation is likely to be resolved by a subsequent marriage if the country of domicile permits for automatic legitimation after a subsequent marriage.

fatbrit

Paraphrasing, the instructions to conoffs for the new 309(a) are not to hassle folks over it. It's not going to be an issue provided the kid is under 18 and Ryan isn't Steve Homer's wife's brother.

meauxna

You guys provin' my point much?

fatbrit

I advised her yonks back that she had a complicated case with many options and should have a lawyer. If she ain't going with that advice, she'll have to muddle through with the amateurs.

crg

This isn't a natz chart case. Why are people bringing up being born out of wedlock with a USC father? I didn't see the OP even claim the USC male was the birth father of the child. It's a stepfather. A USC father can legitimate their own kids. This USC male adopted an alien kid. The kid had a GREEN CARD.

It's a Child Citizenship Acy 2000 case where the LPR child resided with the USC parent prior to reaching the age of 18. This isn't a derivation case from birth.

I'd save the $2200 until I tried the $100 something for the passport applications.