Us Passport Application Form

Question:

Naturalization & Foreign Travel?

Answer:

I don't know about the citizenship certificate - but once your wife is a US citizen she will need a US passport. They will not take her other passport (that would be against the law) and she may use her other passport while traveling, but she must have the US passport to reenter the US. If you do decide to travel right away - you can get expedited service and get a US passport in just a few days (of course she will need the certificate to get a passport) See the passport site for details. http://www.travel.state.gov/passport_services.html Of course another option would be to have the Oath Ceremony postponed until after her trip - but you did say getting her citizenship was more important to you.

No. But she must use her U.S. passport to enter the U.S., as Shelley mentioned.

If not, can she still travel on the

By paying an extra fee, she can get a U.S. passport within a very short time.

Yes. She will be walking out of the ceremony, and there will be tables with the naturalization certificates in stacks. She will pick hers up. Often, there are tables with U.S. Passport Service people there available to take passport applications. She should be careful that if she wants the fastest passport service, she makes the application only at a place that offers the fastest service.

No, it has not changed. I should have mentioned that if your wife will return to the U.S. directly from "Mexico, Canada, or some countries in the Caribbean," she can enter the U.S. using her naturalization certificate.

Perhaps if you call a travel agent or the airline you will be using, they can tell if your wife may enter Panama and then reenter the US with just her citizenship certificate or if a passport is required. Certainly the airline can tell you what is required for her to be able to board the plane.

It is ok to use the naturalization certificate to get back to the US after traveling abroad. But do you really want to carry that important certificate around? It could be stolen or damaged. If I was you I would put it in the safe place and use the US passport only. It is very much like the title of your car. Do you carry around the title of your car or you just use the registration and proof of insurance? Think about it.

Don't bother asking INS for clarification. There is about a 50% of them giving you an accurate answer.

Actually, the reason this isn't clear may be that there are two separate aspects to it. First, US citizens must be allowed to enter the US as long as they can prove their citizenship - this is a fundamental constitutional right. So from that aspect, it would always be enough to use the naturalization certificate as long as you can prove that you are the person named in it. HOWEVER, a separate law also says that US citizens must use a US passport to enter the US, unless they arrive from a short trip to Canada, Mexico or some countries in the Caribbean. This is probably just to streamline the process; if there wasn't one standardized way to prove citizenship, INS would take far longer to verify claims to US citizenship.

If a US citizen arrives without a passport, he would of course still be allowed to enter the US after his citizenship has been verified - but he would face a fine for not using the proper document.

I'm not sure exactly which countries count as "some in the Caribbean". This would probably include the Bahamas and Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and probably most other popular tourist destinations.

Panama is generally not considered to be part of the Caribbean but rather of Central America.

She will not have to surrender her passport (from her country) as it is not US property. As I mentioned in a previous post the officer I talked to at my Oath Ceremony said she was not allowed to have/keep my passport. By law when she becomes a US Citizen (which is right after she will say: I do at the ceremony) she has to use a US passport to leave and to enter the US. She needs to have a US passport: no choice here! With the expedite (I padi around $120 more or less) application she can have it in 8 days. I applied right after the ceremony just outside the room there was a drop off box for US passort applications! I don't know if she will have this opportunity where she will have the Oath Ceremony. I am afraid she does not have much of a choice. She can postpone the Oath Ceremony and travel with her old passport if she can shows she has a ticket already. Within 60 days she would be reschedule for a new appointment!

They give you the Naturalization certificate right after the ceremony on the spot. However if she applies for a US passport she will have to put the original in the envelope and she will come out hands free as I did. I was a bit concerned but the US State Department is much better than INS!

Where is the Oath Ceremony?

Just goto this site below for more instructions Print out the application and make sure u have both the front and back printed out. Or else they will reject ur application. The back has instructions only(go figure). http://travel.state.gov/passport_services.html Then at the site above look for locations where u can apply in san Antonio. Also have your Photos ready a day before. Then Just goto one of the local post offices listed on the site for SA. Then just tell them that you need it to be expedited. You will need to have your travel itenary ready get the PP expedited. i.e. ticket or booking itenary print out from the travel agent. That's all there is to it. Don't count on a drop off box at the oath ceremony location. There was none at my friend's ceremony. I would definitely not suggest postponing the oath. This is the INS we are talking about. You can always make that trip later. You never know what might happen with your request to delay the oath. What if the INS claims it did not not get it. Then the whole application might be rejected.

While the INS will accept photocopies for their applications, the Passport does not. If you didn't see it on the instructions, look again or on their website - I know it is there somewhere. You must send original documents: birth certificates, marriage license (for name changes) and in your case citizenship certificate, in order to receive a passport. All originals sent to the Passport office are returned.

FYI - although it says on the citizenship certificate it is illegal to make of copy of this document - you can copy it for any dealings with INS (ex: filing a petition for a relative) - their website says you can and should only mail copies to them as originals will not be returned.

I just checked the check (LOL) and I paid $107.25 all included. This is my experience in San Francisco on Feb 13, 2002, so I do not know about San Antonio, TX: When I was interviewed in Jan they gave me an envelope and form DS-11 to apply for the US passport on the day of the Oath Ceremony. As per instructions I put in that envelope: -the money order, -the photos -the ORIGINAL naturalization certificate I had just received, -a request of 48 pages passport -and the Passport application I had to sign after the "I DO" (because you have to be american before signing it). At the hall of the Masonic center where my Oath Ceremony took place I just dropped the sealed envelope in a box right after the Ceremony. There was a Respresentative from the State Department who was helping people. The fee included the overnight delivery from the Sate Department, the expedite process and all the necessary fees.

As I said I came out with nothing that said I was american!!!!

Note: The passport came from New Hempshire where now they "print" the new digitized passport.

For US passports you deal with the Sate Department: they want the original as it is illegal to make copies of the Naturalization Certificate (clearly printed in red on the certificate). The representative clearly explained it right after the ceremony:

I had the form from the INS Officer after the interview and it was a DS-11 with a printing in block 22 that said something like: "Naturalization Oath Ceremony" I don't remember exactly the words.

A definition of "adjacent islands" from the U.S code is available through http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/lawsregs/INA.htm; you will have to click "Next" at the top of the first page of INA section 101.

Immigration and Nationality Act section 101(b)(5):

"The term 'adjacent islands' includes Saint Pierre, Miquelon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, the Windward and Leeward Islands, Trinidad, Martinique, and other British, French, and Netherlands territory or possessions in or bordering on the Caribbean Sea."