Process Help Please !!!

You can just apply for the passport, no need to have a COC for a passport except if you don't have a US Birth Certificate. HTH.

Thanks for the Info. I really appreciate it.

The answer is not quite correct. U.S. passports are granted only to U.S. citizens. Therefore, proof of citizenship is required to obtain one. For a person born in the U.S., a state birth certificate is proof of citizenship, because ANYONE born in the U.S., even if he/she was born to an illegal immigrant, is automatically a U.S. citizen. Therefore, you can use it for getting a passport. For a person born overseas, a state certificate of foreign birth is NOT proof of citizenship, because the person born overseas may or may not have been naturalized as a U.S. citizen. MOST people born overseas, who subsequently acquired U.S. citizenship, require a certificate of citizenship as proof of citizenship, when applying for a U.S. passport. HOWEVER, there is a grey area with regard to internationally adopted children. Technically, internationally adopted children who qualify for citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act -- which means either IR-3 children who were not yet 18 years old in 2000, when the Act was passed, or IR-4 children whose parents readopted them/did a recognition in their home state, and who were not yet 18 years old in 2000 -- do not require a COC to obtain a passport. In fact, when the Act took effect, in February 2001, the U.S. State Department even made a public statement about this topic. It pointed out that, since it might take up to a year or more to get a COC for a newly adopted child, parents should strongly consider getting a passport for their children as proof of citizenship, to be used if necessary before the COC arrived. You see, the U.S. State Department, which oversees the Passport Agency, is permitted by law to "adjudicate status" -- determine who is and who is not a U.S. citizen. Technically, with internationally adopted children, a person at the Passport Agency could look at the child's foreign birth certificate, foreign adoption decree, foreign passport with visa stamp, and, in the case of IR-4s, the state adoption decree, and determine that the child met the requirements for citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act. The Passport Agency, you should note, is different from the Social Security Administration. The SSA is NOT authorized by law to adjudicate status. Only the State Department and the USCIS have that privilege. Therefore, when you go to get a SSN for your child, the folks at Social Security must list him/her as a resident alien unless you show a certificate of citizenship (issued by the USCIS) or a U.S. passport (issued by the State Department). Now, that's "in theory". You SHOULD be able to get a U.S. passport for an internationally adopted child without a COC nowadays, just as you could get one when the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 took effect. Up until very recently, there was a whole discussion of this matter on the Passport Agency website. But lately, it seems that many people who try to get passports for their internationally adopted children without a COC are being turned away. The clerks point to the CURRENT website, which has no mention of the special situation of internationally adopted children, and that focuses on the need for a COC for foreign born people. Is this correct? Has the U.S. truly reversed itself on the matter of how internationally adopted children can get passports? Is the concern over terrorism so acute that the Passport Agency wants even these children, who have the documents to prove that they became citizens under the Child Citizenship Act, to obtain a COC first? Or is this simply a case where the Passport Agency HOPES that everyone will have a COC, since the staff then won't have to worry about adjudicating status? Is this simply a case where the whole issue of internationally adopted kids was forgotten? At this point, I have not seen any definitive answer. I have emailed the U.S. State Department, via the website, to see if I could get an answer to the above question. However, to date, I have not received a response. Fortunately, I got my daughter a passport back in 1999, before the passage of the Child Citizenship Act, so this whole issue doesn't directly pertain to me. However, I want to see the matter clarified because, otherwise, many people will see your response, send in their passport applications without a COC, and possibly get denied. In short, do not count on a state certificate of foreign birth to entitle your child to a passport; it doesn't. And do not count on ANYTHING, including all of your child's foreign and state documents, as being adequate to prove citizenship at some Passport Agency offices, if you don't have a COC. Talk by phone to your Passport Acceptance Site people before going in person and, if necessary, contact the State Department. Sharon