US Citizenship by Birth Abroad 2026: CRBA and Certificate

How Citizenship Is Transmitted at Birth

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born outside the United States may acquire citizenship at birth when three things are true at the moment of birth: the person is a child of a U.S. citizen parent or parents; that parent meets the residence or physical presence requirement that applies to the particular provision; and every other requirement of the applicable section is satisfied. Officers apply the law as it stood on the date of birth, because these provisions have been rewritten many times.

The two main scenarios for a married couple, in 8 U.S.C. 1401, look like this:

Two details of the five-year test matter enormously in practice. First, it is counted in aggregate, not as one continuous stretch, so childhood summers, school years, military postings, and employment add up. Second, time spent in honorable service in the Armed Forces, in U.S. Government employment, or as the dependent unmarried child of someone serving or so employed may be included to satisfy the requirement.

Marital status at birth determines which rule applies, and the rules for unmarried parents are stricter. For a child born out of wedlock to a citizen father, 8 U.S.C. 1409(a) applies the 1401 provisions as of the date of birth only if the blood relationship is established by clear and convincing evidence, the father held U.S. nationality at the birth, he agreed in writing to provide financial support until the child turns 18, and, before the child turns 18, the child is legitimated, the father acknowledges paternity in writing under oath, or a court establishes paternity. For a child born out of wedlock to a citizen mother after December 23, 1952, 8 U.S.C. 1409(c) confers the mother’s nationality at birth if she was a U.S. national at the time and had previously been physically present for one continuous year.

One historical trap: retention requirements once applied to some children of one citizen parent, but Congress eliminated them for persons born after October 10, 1952. Older files — a parent born in the 1940s, for example — can still raise the question, and USCIS will ask for evidence of the parent’s or even grandparent’s own citizenship before deciding the child’s claim.

The Consular Report of Birth Abroad

A Consular Report of Birth Abroad, Form FS-240, is the State Department’s formal certification that a person born abroad acquired United States citizenship at birth under the INA. It is issued by a U.S. embassy or consulate, and posts increasingly handle it electronically: at posts running eCRBA, applications are accepted electronically only — scan and upload every required document before the appointment, then bring all of those originals to the interview, where they are returned.

The deadline is absolute. CRBA applications must be made before the child’s 18th birthday, and the embassy recommends applying as soon as possible after birth. The interview itself is in person and attended by the child and both parents, and the package must be complete before you arrive: the online application and the $100 fee paid online, a passport photo taken within the last six months, and — if you are applying for the child’s passport at the same appointment — Form DS-11 printed single-sided, unsigned, with its fee paid online and the payment confirmation printed.

If one parent cannot attend, bring a notarized statement of consent on Form DS-3053 from the non-appearing parent together with a copy of the identification used at the notary. If the child does not yet have a Social Security number, the post’s statement confirming that fact must be signed and included. Everything in a foreign language needs an English translation, and the post accepts unofficial translations when they are submitted with the originals — certified translation services are not demanded for the CRBA itself.

What you receive is durable: neither a CRBA nor a Certificate of Citizenship expires. A U.S. passport, by contrast, is valid only for the limited time the Department of State sets, and once it has expired it is no longer conclusive evidence of citizenship. That is the core reason to obtain the CRBA in childhood rather than rely on a passport alone.

The Documents That Prove the Claim

The CRBA file answers four questions: are the parents U.S. citizens, is the child really their child, where was the child born, and did the transmitting parent meet the physical presence test. The table maps each question to the evidence posts ask for.

The birth document is where families most often fall short. A hospital birth certificate from a local hospital generally does not satisfy the requirement. You must register the birth with the host country’s government and bring the government-issued birth registration — the national registration office’s certificate, not the clinic’s paperwork. The exception is a birth at a U.S. military hospital on a U.S. military base, where the military hospital birth certificate is accepted on its own. The same original-document rule governs the marriage certificate: bring the original or a certified copy for the current marriage and for every previous one that ended in divorce or death.

Physical presence is usually the hardest element to document decades later, which is why the standard advice applies: keep school transcripts, military records, employment records, and old passport stamps as soon as a family realizes a future child may need them. If only one parent is a citizen, that parent’s file is the whole case — begin assembling it before the pregnancy rather than after the birth. Our visa document checklist and visa timeline calculator both help sequence this work.

Children in the United States: INA 320

Children who come to the United States rather than being born abroad follow a different rule, and a very friendly one. Under INA 320, as amended by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, a child born outside the United States automatically becomes a U.S. citizen when all of the following conditions have been met on or after February 27, 2001:

• the child is a child of a parent who is a U.S. citizen by birth or through naturalization, including an adoptive parent;
• the child is under 18 years of age;
• 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.

There is no required order in which those conditions must be satisfied — they only have to all be true at a single point in time before the child’s 18th birthday. That single-point rule is what makes timing decisive: a child who gets the green card at 17 satisfies it, while a child who turns 18 first does not, even for a day. Adopted children qualify if they meet the definition of a child under 8 U.S.C. 1101(b)(1), and 8 U.S.C. 1431(c) deems the residence condition satisfied for a child residing abroad with a citizen parent who is stationed there as a member of the Armed Forces or a U.S. Government employee, or with a spouse so stationed in marital union.

Two procedural points follow. Because a person born outside the United States is presumed to be an alien, the person claiming citizenship carries the burden of proof and must establish the facts by a preponderance of the evidence — so keep the green card notice, the custody documentation, and proof of the parent’s citizenship together. And because the acquisition is automatic, no application is required; the family documents an existing status rather than requesting a benefit. Families in this position should read our green card overview for the residence step itself.

Children Residing Abroad: INA 322

The third pathway serves children who live outside the United States and do not qualify at birth — for example because the citizen parent could not meet the physical presence test before the birth but can now. Under INA 322, a child may be naturalized and receive a Certificate of Citizenship when all of these conditions are met:

• at least one parent is a U.S. citizen, by birth or naturalization;
• the citizen parent or citizen grandparent meets the physical presence requirement — at least five years in the United States, at least two of them after turning 14;
• the child is under 18;
• the child is residing outside the United States in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent, or of a person who does not object if the citizen parent has died; and
• the child is lawfully admitted, physically present, and maintaining a lawful status in the United States at the time the application is approved and at the time of naturalization.

That final condition is the one families underestimate. USCIS states plainly that in most cases the citizenship process for a child residing abroad cannot take place solely overseas: the child must travel to the United States, be admitted in any status, and remain in lawful status through both approval and the naturalization ceremony. Armed forces families again have exceptions, and a child of a citizen service member accompanying the parent abroad on official orders may be eligible without the ordinary trip.

The application is Form N-600K, Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322, and it may be filed from outside the United States. The citizen parent normally files it; if the citizen parent has died, the citizen grandparent or the U.S. citizen legal guardian may file within five years of the parent’s death. Note the difference from INA 320: 320 is automatic and requires permanent residence, while 322 is an application that requires a temporary lawful presence instead.

Documenting Citizenship: N-600 and Passports

Acquiring citizenship and proving it are separate questions. USCIS states that a person born outside the United States who acquires citizenship at birth is not required to have evidence of such status, but the person may file Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship, to document it. Practically, families choose between three proofs, each with different properties.

• Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) — issued abroad by a consulate, never expires, and doubles as the foundation for a first U.S. passport.
• Certificate of Citizenship (Form N-600) — issued by USCIS, never expires, and is the standard document for someone who acquired or derived citizenship under INA 320 or 322.
• U.S. passport — convenient and quick, but valid only for its stated term and not conclusive evidence once expired.

Filing mechanics for the N-600 are specific. You may file online or by mail, but if you are applying from outside the United States, applying for a fee waiver, or filing as a member or veteran of the U.S. military on your own behalf, you cannot currently file online — those applicants must use the mailing addresses on the form’s page. Through an online account you can pay the fee, submit passport-style photos, respond to requests for evidence, and track the case. Current fees are listed on the USCIS Fee Schedule page, and every page of the package must come from the same current form edition or USCIS may reject it.

One jurisdictional line explains why the documents come from different agencies: the Department of Homeland Security administers the Immigration and Nationality Act inside the United States, while the Department of State has jurisdiction over claims of U.S. citizenship made by persons who are abroad. That is why a consulate issues the CRBA and USCIS issues the certificate, and why the choice between them usually follows where the family lives. When the child is old enough to naturalize as an adult or the parent is naturalizing, our N-400 naturalization guide and citizenship interview questions page take over from this one.

Frequently Asked Questions