Prepare to Apply for a Passport Homepage

If you were born outside the United States and got U.S. citizenship through your U.S. citizen parent(s), submit:

• Your foreign birth certificate listing your parent(s)
• Your parent(s)’ evidence of U.S. citizenship
• Your parents' marriage certificate (if your parents were married)
• A statement from your parents that details when and where they lived in the United States and abroad before your birth.

Please see U.S. Citizenship Laws & Policy for more information.

I became a U.S. citizen through my parent who naturalized or through the Child Citizenship Act of 2000

If you were born outside the United States and got U.S. citizenship through the naturalization of your parent(s), submit:

• Your foreign birth certificate listing your parent(s)
• Evidence of your parent’s U.S. citizenship such as a U.S. birth certificate, Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA), or naturalization certificate
• Evidence of your permanent residence status. Examples include:
  • Permanent Resident Card/Green Card
  • Foreign passport with the original I-551 visa entry stamp
  • School or day care records
  • Utility bills
  • Employment records
  • Automobile registrations
  • Deeds or property rental leases
  • Medical records
  • Passport stamps
  • Your parents' marriage certificate dated after your birth
  • Certified court order of legitimation

  Please see U.S. Citizenship Laws & Policy for more information.

  U.S. Citizenship through Adoption

  If you were born outside the United States and got your citizenship after you were adopted, please see our Child Citizenship Act webpage for more information.

  Request a File Search

  When you apply for a passport, you should submit evidence of U.S. citizenship. If you cannot get evidence, you may request a file search if:

  • You got a U.S. passport or Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) in the past, and
  • You cannot submit it with your application

  Please complete the Request for a File Search and include it with your application.

  If your record was issued before 1994, you will need to pay a $150 file search fee. We charge this fee to manually search for your paper record.

  If your record was issued in 1994 or later, do not pay the $150 file search fee when you apply for your passport. We may ask you later to pay the $150 fee for a manual search if we cannot find your record after searching for it in an electronic database.

  You may also get copies of your passport record or your CRBA before you apply for the passport.