How to Fill Out and File Form N-600: Documents, Fees, and Filing

To file Form N-600, the Application for Certificate of Citizenship, submit it either online through a USCIS account at myaccount.uscis.gov or by mail to the USCIS lockbox that serves your state, along with the documents that prove your U.S. citizen parent’s status and your relationship to that parent. The filing fee is $1,335 online or $1,385 on paper, and there is no separate biometrics fee. The certificate you receive is permanent proof that you are already a U.S. citizen — you acquired citizenship at birth abroad or derived it automatically as a child, and this form asks USCIS to document what the law already did.

Confirm You’re Filing the Right Form

Form N-600 is for people who are already citizens by operation of law. You did not naturalize. Two paths lead here.

The first is citizenship acquired at birth abroad under Section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, when at least one parent was a U.S. citizen who met a physical-presence requirement before you were born.¹ For a child with one citizen parent and one non-citizen parent, the citizen parent must have been physically present in the United States for at least five years, with at least two of those years after turning fourteen. If both parents were citizens, only one of them needs to have resided in the United States before your birth. Section 309 sets additional rules when the child was born out of wedlock.²

The second is derived citizenship under Section 320, as amended by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. A child born abroad becomes a citizen automatically the moment all three of these conditions are met at once: at least one parent is a U.S. citizen, the child is under eighteen, and the child is living in the United States in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent as a lawful permanent resident.³

A parent or legal guardian files for a child under eighteen. If you’re eighteen or older, you file for yourself.⁴ There’s no deadline. Adults who became citizens decades ago as children can still apply.

One boundary matters here. If the child lives outside the United States and doesn’t meet the Section 320 conditions, the correct form is N-600K, not N-600. N-600K applies to children regularly residing abroad under Section 322, and it requires the child to enter the United States lawfully and take the oath before a USCIS officer inside the country.⁵

Gather Your Documents First

Assembling evidence is the hardest part of the process, and missing documents are one of the most common causes of rejection or delay.⁶ Get the full set together before you open the form.

Your birth certificate, issued and certified by a civil authority in the country where you were born. If you were adopted in the United States, include the amended birth certificate too.
Your citizen parent’s birth certificate, also from a civil authority.
Proof of your citizen parent’s U.S. citizenship: a U.S. birth certificate, a Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550), a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240), or a valid unexpired U.S. passport.
All marriage certificates for your citizen parent, and for you if you’ve been married, issued by a civil authority in the state or country where the marriage took place.
Certified decrees or certificates for any divorce, annulment, or death that ended a marriage of yours or your citizen parent’s.

If you’re claiming derived citizenship under Section 320, add your green card or I-551 stamp and evidence that you lived with your citizen parent. School records, medical files, and other documents that place you in the household help establish physical custody. If your parents divorced, a custody order showing the citizen parent had legal custody is essential.

Any document in a language other than English needs a full English translation, with the translator’s signed statement certifying the translation is complete and accurate. USCIS won’t review untranslated foreign-language records.

Photos work differently depending on where you live. If you’re in the United States, don’t submit photos with the application. USCIS will schedule you at an Application Support Center to have your photograph taken. If you’re outside the United States, including military members stationed abroad, submit two identical color passport-style photos, 2 by 2 inches, white background, glossy finish, with your name and A-Number written lightly in pencil on the back.⁷

Filling Out the Form

Download the current version of the form from uscis.gov/n-600. Older versions get rejected.⁸ The form has thirteen parts, but you won’t fill out all of them.

Part 1 is where you tell USCIS which legal basis applies: biological child of a citizen parent, adopted child, or child whose citizen parent was married to your genetic or gestational parent at birth. Parts 2 through 4 collect your information, your citizen parent’s information, and your other parent’s information — this is the longest stretch for most applicants. Part 5 is only for a legal guardian filing on behalf of a child.

Part 6, physical presence, applies only if you’re claiming citizenship at birth abroad. You list every period your citizen parent was physically in the United States before your birth, with dates and locations. Reconstructing decades of travel is often the slowest step; old passport stamps, employment records, and school transcripts help. If you can’t pin down exact dates, give your best estimates and explain in Part 11.

Part 7 applies only if your citizen parent’s U.S. military service is being used toward the physical-presence requirement. Part 8 is your signature under penalty of perjury; an unsigned form is rejected outright. Parts 9 and 10 are for an interpreter or preparer if one helped you. Part 11 is overflow space.

Leave Part 12 blank. You complete that affidavit only if a USCIS officer instructs you to at an interview. Part 13 is reserved for USCIS.

How to Submit and Pay

Online filing costs $1,335. Paper filing costs $1,385. USCIS folded the biometrics fee into the filing fee in April 2024, so you don’t pay a separate charge for the appointment.⁹ Qualifying adopted children are exempt from the fee if they were the subject of a final adoption for immigration purposes and met the INA’s definition of a child before turning eighteen.

Filing Online

Create an account at myaccount.uscis.gov, complete the form electronically, upload your supporting documents, and pay online. Your account tracks the case, sends notifications, handles requests for evidence, and updates your address.⁷ Online filing is not available if you’re outside the United States, requesting a fee waiver, or a military member or veteran filing for yourself. Those applicants file on paper.

Filing on Paper

USCIS no longer accepts personal checks, business checks, money orders, or cashier’s checks for paper filings. Pay by credit, debit, or prepaid card by including Form G-1450 with your application, or pay directly from a U.S. bank account with Form G-1650.¹⁰

Where you mail depends on where you live. Applicants in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah, plus the Pacific territories and applicants outside the United States, mail to the Phoenix lockbox. Everyone else — the rest of the eastern and central states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — mails to the Elgin lockbox near Chicago.⁷

Phoenix (USPS): USCIS, Attn: NATZ, P.O. Box 20100, Phoenix, AZ 85036
Phoenix (FedEx/UPS/DHL): USCIS, Attn: NATZ (Box 20100), 2108 E. Elliot Rd., Tempe, AZ 85284-1806
Elgin (USPS): USCIS, Attn: NATZ, P.O. Box 4088, Carol Stream, IL 60197-4088
Elgin (FedEx/UPS/DHL): USCIS, Attn: NATZ (Box 4088), 2500 Westfield Drive, Elgin, IL 60124-7836

Fee Waivers

Form N-600 is eligible for a fee waiver. File Form I-912 with the application if your household income is at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, you receive a means-tested public benefit, or you can document financial hardship.¹¹ Fee waiver requests can’t be filed online; the whole application has to go by mail.

After You File

USCIS mails a Form I-797C, Notice of Action, confirming receipt. That notice carries a receipt number you can use to check status online.¹² If you filed on paper and live in the United States, expect an appointment notice for an Application Support Center where USCIS collects your photograph and biometrics. Missing that appointment without rescheduling through your local field office can result in denial.⁶

An interview isn’t automatic. The instructions say USCIS “may request” you appear; straightforward cases with strong documentation are sometimes approved without one. If you’re called in, bring the originals of every document you submitted as copies. The officer will review them, ask about your family history and residency, and may have you complete Part 12 under oath.

Applicants under eighteen must attend with their citizen parent. If you’re eighteen or older, you can appear alone. Approved applicants over fourteen are scheduled for an Oath of Allegiance ceremony, sometimes the same day as the interview. Children under fourteen may not be required to take the oath.⁴

Processing times fluctuate. As of early 2026, reported times ranged roughly from four and a half to fourteen months, depending on the field office. Check uscis.gov/processing-times for a current estimate by entering “N-600” and your office.

Avoiding a Denial

Most denials cluster around a few preventable problems.⁶

Missing or incomplete evidence. If a required document is genuinely unavailable, explain why in writing and submit secondary evidence rather than leaving a gap.
An unsigned form, blank required fields, or missing pages. Unsigned applications are rejected on receipt.
Wrong fee, wrong payment method, or missing Form G-1450 or G-1650 with a paper filing.
A previously decided N-600. If USCIS already ruled on a prior application from you, a new one will be rejected; the remedy is a motion or appeal, not a fresh filing.
Skipping biometrics without rescheduling.
Falsification. False documents or knowing misrepresentation lead to denial and can affect future immigration benefits.

If Your Application Is Denied

You can challenge a denial by filing Form I-290B within thirty calendar days of the decision date, or within thirty-three days if USCIS mailed the decision (the clock starts on the mailing date, not the day you received it).¹³

Form I-290B lets you file a motion to reopen, a motion to reconsider, or both. A motion to reopen fits when you have new evidence that wasn’t available before, such as a parent’s naturalization certificate you couldn’t locate in time. A motion to reconsider argues that USCIS misapplied the law or policy to the record it already had. If you file both, each is evaluated on its own merits.

A pending motion doesn’t pause the denial; you remain in whatever status the denial left you in while it’s under review. Late filings are generally rejected unless the delay was beyond your control. Motions go back to the office that issued the denial, not directly to the Administrative Appeals Office.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1401 – Nationals and Citizens of United States at Birth
2
U.S. Department of State. 8 FAM 301.7 Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1431 – Children Born Outside the United States and Lawfully Admitted for Permanent Residence
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship – Frequently Asked Questions
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. N-600K, Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Application for Certificate of Citizenship
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-912, Instructions for Request for Fee Waiver
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion