Notes on U.S. Citizenship

The mountain of paperwork required for international adoption does not end when you bring your child home. The trek along the paper trail continues with a seemingly endless barrage of steps to perform and government forms to complete.

Let me bring you up to date … the dossier is complete, immigration forms filed, court is finalized, foreign birth certificates received, passports and visas bring you home with your child(ren); new U.S. citizens. But are they?

IR-3 Visa: Well … if you met your child(ren) prior to the adoption being finalized you get an IR-3 visa. An IR-3 visa means your child is an automatic U.S. citizen and a Certificate of Citizenship will be automatically issued.

Note: It is still very strongly recommended and required in some states for some countries, to complete the registration/adoption/re-adoption for many other reasons, including obtaining a state issued birth certificate for your child, formal legal name change, insuring rights of inheritance, and obtaining a Social Security Card with the child's American name and with U.S. citizen designation.

IR-4 Visa: If you have not met your child(ren) prior to the adoption being finalized you get an IR-4 visa. This is the most common circumstance. With an IR-4 visa, after returning home with your child, you must register/adopt/re-adopt your child according to your state's adoption laws in order for your child to attain U.S. citizenship.

Permanent residents: We came home with Ethiopian birth certificates, Ethiopian court papers, an Ethiopian passport and an IR-4 visa. The kids also received their Permanent Resident Card (“Green Card”) in the mail a few weeks after arriving home. At this point they are permanent residents not U.S. citizens.

Court validation: Fill out another handful of official forms, authorize yet another background check, part with your precious irreplaceable original copies of your foreign documents, and yes, another tasty snack for the money monster and you are on your way to the adoption being valid in the U.S.. Official name and birth date changes can also be made at this time.

With our validation complete we now have U.S. court documents and U.S. birth certificates with new legal American names, and our original foreign documents back safely in our hands. Wahoo! Yes! They are now legal U.S. citizens. But can I prove it?

Social Security / Part One: With my thick bundle of all of our documents in hand I trotted down to the local social security office, took a number, and sat down to wait. Patiently, of course. Arriving at the window and feeling ever so proud of my handle on this cumbersome process and infinite organization, the wind is knocked out of my sails when I am told by the clerk that she cannot issue the kids a social security card as a U.S. citizen and cannot issue the card with their lovely new American names. She can only issue a card with permanent resident status using their Ethiopian adoption court names. The other validation paperwork is at that point “worthless” as it does not match their immigration records - i.e. green card. Sigh! (Where did that new bald spot on my head just come from?)

My choices:

1) Get them permanent resident social security card with foreign names, and change it later. Cost per child: None. Lots of hassle. Do I really want to go through this process twice?

2) Get passports. The passport instructions say a social security number must be provided or face a $500 fine. Catch-22.

3) Get replacement green cards with their new legal names. Cost per child: $290 plus $80 biometrics (fingerprints). Yikes!

4) Get a Certificate of Citizenship. Cost per child: $420 and takes from 1-1/2 to 2 years to receive. Yes, you read that correctly. Not practical for using to obtain a social security number required to file tax returns.

5) Send frantic email to adoption agency post-adoption services. Why didn’t I do this first?! They are calm, soothing, have a handle on this cumbersome process and are infinitely organized. I am smiling again, bought some Rogaine to re-grow my hair, and am armed with wonderful checklists and information sheets to expertly guide me through the red tape.

Passports: Clever loophole. I can use all zeros for social security numbers and apply as usual. We hit up Wal-Mart for flattering passport photos (which unlike mine, actually are flattering - but of course, my kids are so beautiful!), once again part with our precious irreplaceable original copies of foreign documents, and another wad of cash. Upon recommendation we request the expedited service so our items can be tracked in the mail and our precious irreplaceable original copies of foreign documents not lost by the USPS. A few weeks later the passports arrive safe and sound in the Express envelope, and - thank you Jesus - the precious irreplaceable original copies of foreign documents arrive the very same day in a plain old USPS envelope! So much for safeguarding our treasure.

Social Security / Part Two: With just the documents my agency listed in hand - no more, no less, I again confidently trot down to the local social security office, take a number, and again patiently sit down to wait. Patience was needed that day. It was an hour and twenty minutes just to get to the window. So glad I brought a book!

FINALLY my number is called and I make my way to the window, present my documents, and smile sweetly. CLERK: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but the children must be present to apply.” What! ME: “I’ve been waiting an hour and a half. No one told me this the last time I was here and it’s not on the website!” Not my best moment for tact. CLERK: “I don’t care how long you’ve been waiting. Those are the rules.” … Pause … CLERK: “So you were here another time?” I briefly describe my previous visit. The clerk leaves and is gone for what seems like a very long time. He returns, takes my papers, and begins typing into the computer. I’m afraid to open my mouth. CLERK: “I don’t know. I don’t think I can do this. There is some special process for twins. I can’t find it.” More typing. I remain in stunned silence. He goes away again and returns to inform me there is really no special ruling, only that their policy is just to send the applications a few days apart to avoid consecutive numbers and the possibility of trading identities. The fact that I have a boy and a girl does not seem to weigh in the matter. No problem. After a mere 30 minutes at the window we are done! I comment that I was worried when he said the kids needed to appear. The clerk somewhat meekly replied that he had confused “First-time applicants age 12 or older must apply in person” with “12 or younger.”

We now have U.S. citizen social security cards and I can pay my taxes and they can get a job! Have you looked at the Adoption Expenses summary on my sidebar lately?

Adopting parents please note: Some social security office require all first-time applicants to appear in person. Please check with your local office.

Certificate of Citizenship: The instructions for this form state that you may use it, not that you must use it. The topic regarding its necessity crops up on the adoption web groups from time to time. There are those of the thought that the most commonly requested form of identification or citizenship is a U.S. Passport, as one cannot be obtained without being a citizen, so that having a passport is sufficient proof. And there are those who feel that the COC is the only legal and undeniable proof of citizenship, without which there always remains that small chance of deportation. Or there are those that just want to cover all possible bases to insure the citizenship of their child(ren). I am of the latter camp.

So this is where we are. The kids are U.S. citizens, have their legal American names, U.S. birth certificates, U.S. passports, and social security cards. As soon as I fill out the application and scrape up the dough - we may have to sell some of our Christmas presents on eBay - the application for their Certificate of Citizenship will be in the mail. They say the wait to get it back is 1-1/2 to 2 years. Perhaps we’ll see it by the next true (seasonal) blue moon appearing on November 21st, 2010.