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Articles: Expert Advice
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Internationally adopted kids applying to college
bjkmom
Registered User Posts: 7,971 Senior Member
My 17 year old son was adopted as an infant from Korea. He was born in 1998 and arrived in the US in 1999.
In early 2000, a law was passed that made it unnecessary for infant adoptees to go to court to attain citizenship. Since that time, all that's necessary is adoption. (Though, because the law was still being passed, we did in fact go to court.)
But the kids who were adopted as infants are just now getting accepted to college.
OK, here's my point: Two of my son's schools have called, requesting proof of citizenship before they can review his FAFSA. I asked what documents they needed, and it was both his revised birth certificate and his adoption certificate. I just emailed a photo of the documents to the schools, and will probably forward the document to the other schools that have accepted him.
Anyone else in the same boat may want to be proactive and send the documentation.
In early 2000, a law was passed that made it unnecessary for infant adoptees to go to court to attain citizenship. Since that time, all that's necessary is adoption. (Though, because the law was still being passed, we did in fact go to court.)
But the kids who were adopted as infants are just now getting accepted to college.
OK, here's my point: Two of my son's schools have called, requesting proof of citizenship before they can review his FAFSA. I asked what documents they needed, and it was both his revised birth certificate and his adoption certificate. I just emailed a photo of the documents to the schools, and will probably forward the document to the other schools that have accepted him.
Anyone else in the same boat may want to be proactive and send the documentation.
Post edited by sybbie719 on
Replies to: Internationally adopted kids applying to college
A school cannot look at your adoption documents and a birth certificate and determine that your child is now a citizen and eligible for federal benefits under the Child Citizenship Act. Did the child enter on a IR-3 visa? An IR-4? Does the FA office have any idea of the difference? Only Homeland Security and the state department (through a passport agency) can do that. Even the SSA cannot determine citizenship and SSA will not change status to 'citizen' without one of those two agencies giving proof, through a passport or Certificate of Citizenship, that the person is now a citizen. Yes, I'm sure there are SSA clerks who have done it, but it is not allowed by law, and I know 100 people who stood at the SSA office with a copy of the documents and a copy of the Act and the status was not changed, even after a lot of shouting and tears. Period. The school can look at the [BOLD]original[/BOLD] C of C or passport to affirm citizenship if the SSN is not showing the correct status through the FAFSA ID, but looking at the adoption papers and birth certificate (or copies) will not comply with federal financial aid regulations.
It is not correct that all internationally adopted children automatically become citizens when they arrive in the US or when they are adopted. It depends on what type of visa they entered the US under, and whether the adoption was finalized in the birth country or needs state action in the US. That's why only Homeland security or State Dept can interpret documents to prove citizenship.
My S was adopted from Korea in 1993 and graduated last May from college. I was asked all four years to provide docs that he was a US citizen. Each spring I sent a copy of his passport. That was all they required.
"It is not correct that all internationally adopted children automatically become citizens when they arrive in the US or when they are adopted. It depends on what type of visa they entered the US under, and whether the adoption was finalized in the birth country or needs state action in the US. That's why only Homeland security or State Dept can interpret documents to prove citizenship."
I don't believe that is correct. Here is the law.
Here is the law: http://www.visaus.com/delahunt.html
To get his passport I has to send his birth certificate and his adoption papers along with his passport application. It was the same time when there was a rush on passports because of the requirement to have on if traveling to Mexico. It became a huge boondoggle and his application, along with the original docs were in a lock box somewhere in New Hampshire (iirc.) I had to get both my Congressperson's office and my Senators office to intervene as he needed his passport to go on a trip to Canada from summer camp and he wasn't driving age and his birth certificate had Korea on it as place of birth so was not proof. Thankfully when he had to get a new passport after turning 18 we didn't need to do anything.
I don't understand why the FA people are even questioning the citizenship of the applicant unless the FAFSA ID didn't match.
After getting the C of C I remember having to go to the SS office to change their status with Social Security. The number didn't change. If status was not changed their SS# would be kicked back as ineligible to work when they become employed. I was advised to take a copy of the 2000 law that confers automatic citizenship and had to speak to a supervisor to get the status change. The clerk had no idea what I was talking about.
I believe @twoinanddone is correct about the type of visa the child enters on. Somewhere I dimly remember that children from some countries enter on a different visa that does not confer automatic citizenship.
I've been told that a U.S. Passport will work as proof of citizenship. To get it you have to take the foreign adoption decree and a certified translation and their birth certificate to the passport office at the post office. The worker there can verify their citizenship and the paperwork won't have to be mailed away.
My philosophy has been to have two ways to prove they are citizens. They can easily send away for copies of their birth certificates and they have the C of C. I've been meaning to get passports. I also got them state i.d. cards issued by our DMV. Those were only $10.
My younger son had to submit a security questionnaire for the Secret Service a couple of years ago. He was visiting the White House. He had to prove citizenship and I guess he passed.
I can't believe we waded through all that paperwork. I'm sure it got worse after 9-11. Even the FAFSA does not compare.
I wonder if it's different if you only do adoption in the US (we didn't do a foreign adoption.) I didn't need to do anything special in regards to SS # and he has never had any problem when getting hired.
I wonder if they changed the requirement of having to send original docs to get a passport. S got his in 2007, iirc.
"I believe @twoinanddone is correct about the type of visa the child enters on. Somewhere I dimly remember that children from some countries enter on a different visa that does not confer automatic citizenship."
I don't see anything in the law which says children entering from certain countries or on a certain type of visa don't get automatic citizenship. Does anyone have a link to that information?
When I adopted in 1996, it was necessary for the parent(s) to apply for a certificate of citizenship for the child to become a citizen. After the Child Citizenship Act, citizenship became automatic when the conditions in paragraph 1 (lol) took affect but the parent(s) still had to apply for the certificate. Now the certificate is sent automatically a few weeks after the family enters the U.S.
We have no C of C because we were lazy and then the law was passed and S met the requirements of auto citizenship. He is obviously a citizen because the goverment granted him a passport without a C of C when he applied.
One is now a junior in college, studied abroad, the youngest has applied to numerous colleges this year.