Overview
If you have never been documented as a U.S. citizen before, you may have a claim to citizenship if you were born in the United States, or if you were born outside the United States or one of its outlying possessions to U.S. citizen parent(s). If you were born outside United States, your U.S. citizen parent(s) must meet certain physical presence requirements (please consult the “Transmission Requirements’ Table” (PDF 368.55 KB)), and you must have a biological or gestational relationship with the U.S. citizen parent(s). Please see the Department of State’s website for more detailed information on citizenship transmission requirements.
If you are an adopted child of your U.S. citizen parent, you do not acquire citizenship automatically upon adoption. However, you may be eligible for citizenship through naturalization, pursuant to the provisions of the Child Citizenship Act 2000. (Please refer to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security website or to the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs website.)
Required Documents
If you are age 18 or above and have never been documented as a U.S. citizen, please refer to our “Check List” (PDF 528 KB) for the items you will need to present in order for us to verify your citizenship claim. Please print the check list and follow the instructions closely. You will need to bring the completed, signed check list when you apply to document your citizenship. Note that you must submit both originals and photocopies of certain documents. If you do not bring photocopies as indicated, you will be charged one dollar for each page that needs to be copied. The documents should be placed in the same order as the checklist with the original documents on top of any required photocopies.
Scheduling an Appointment
Once you have gathered all required documents and completed the check list, please schedule an online appointment through our Consular Calendar. We cannot accept walk-in citizenship claim applications.
During the Interview
Depending on your circumstances, at the time of the interview the consular officer may require additional documents/evidence in order to adjudicate your application. For assistance you may consult Albanian and U.S. National Archives for early documentary evidence. By regulation you will have 90 days to submit the requested documentation or the case will be closed. Please note that passport application fees are non-refundable.