Many Brazilian families here in the US live with a doubt that no one ever explained properly: the father or mother naturalized as an American citizen, the children were still minors and had a green card — and now what? In many of these cases, the child has already automatically become an American citizen, on the very day the father or mother received the certificate. The problem is that no one hands you a paper saying so. That's where Form N-600 comes in.
What is the N-600
The N-600 is the Application for Certificate of Citizenship. It's important to understand one thing before anything else: the N-600 does not turn anyone into a citizen. It serves to prove a citizenship the person already has. This is the opposite of the N-400, which is the path for someone with a green card who wants to become a citizen through naturalization.
Under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, a child generally acquires American citizenship automatically when certain facts come together, even before turning 18: at least one parent is an American citizen (by birth or naturalization), the child is a permanent resident (has a green card), and lives in the US in that parent's custody. When these facts line up, citizenship happens on its own — no ceremony, no proof, no letter.
And that's exactly the trap: the family feels like they "received nothing." The child is a citizen, but has no document showing it. The Certificate of Citizenship issued by USCIS is exactly that official proof.
What changes for you
If you're Brazilian and naturalized while your children were still minors and had a green card, it's worth calmly looking at each of their situations. Many people discover years later — when getting their child's first American passport, enrolling in college, or proving status for a job — that the document was never obtained.
In practice, there are two paths to prove that a child is already a citizen: the Certificate of Citizenship (via N-600) and the American passport (via the Department of State). Both are evidence of citizenship. Many families get the passport because it's faster and works for travel; the certificate is a permanent document that doesn't expire and is often requested when definitive proof is needed. Which one makes sense for your family depends on your case — and that's a decision for you to make, not one we make for you.
What Prime does here is what it has always done: help organize and prepare the paperwork so the application arrives complete and in the correct format. The decision about eligibility and strategy belongs to each family, with support from someone qualified for that.
In practice
- Confirm the timeline before any paperwork. What matters is what was already true before the child turned 18: who was already a citizen, when the green card was issued, and where the child lived. Dates rule this process.
- Gather the documents that connect the facts. Generally these include the parent's naturalization certificate, the child's green card, the birth certificate proving the relationship, and proof that the child lived in the US in that parent's custody while still a minor. If there was a divorce or custody arrangement, custody documents too.
- Always use the current edition of the form and check the fee on the official website. USCIS changes form editions and fees from time to time, and the wrong version gets returned. Check uscis.gov/n-600 before printing anything.
If you're not sure whether your child fits this situation, this is a conversation worth having calmly and with information in hand — not something to rush into. Prime prepares the documents; you decide the next step.
Sources
Educational information, not legal advice. Prime Immigration Office is a paralegal service — document preparation only. For legal advice, consult a licensed Texas attorney or DOJ-accredited representative.