How To Correct Your Date of Birth on U.S. Passport or Certificate of Naturalization?

We were often asked if what happen if the date of birth on Certificate of Naturalization or U.S. Passport is not correct and would it be possible to correct it. In many cases, clients filed form N-565 Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), but USCIS denied the N-565 applications.

Mistakes happen and for many reasons, which may be no fault of their own, dates of births were recorded incorrectly on our clients’ Naturalization Certificates. The good news is U.S. Immigration law does allow for the change of date of birth in some special circumstances. While there are many legal criteria for a successful action, the key questions we must ask are:

1.WHEN DID YOU APPLY FOR NATURALIZATION?

The first thing we need to determine is WHEN you applied to become a U.S. Citizen. Before or after October 1^st, 1991?

2.BEFORE OCTOBER 1ST, 1991?

• If you applied for naturalization before October 1^st, 1991, you would need to return to the Federal District Court or in some cases, state courts where you were naturalized and file a petition with the court to amend your date of birth.

• A proper petition would need to state the reasons why the date was incorrect and document any attempt have been made to correct the mistake. In general, this would be a motion based on Rule 60(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Procedure or the state court's local rules of procedures. However, in some jurisdictions, the motion would also be based on case precedents. For instance, in Northern District of California, the Court ruled that it has subject matter jurisdiction to amend naturalization certificate issued before October 1, 1991.  

• It is important to note that the petition has to be filed as soon as practically possible. The petitioner must show that there is little or no evidence that the petitioner acted fraudulently or in bad faith either when he or she later sought to amend the certificate of naturalization. And, there is reliable evidence supporting the birth date that the petitioner now alleges is correct.

3.AFTER  OCTOBER 1ST, 1991?

• If you applied for naturalization after October 1^st, 1991, you have to file form N-565 Application for Replacement Naturalization Document with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS.)

• Federal regulations provide that USCIS can only issue new certificate with new date of birth if USCIS makes a mistake.

• In some cases, you might be able to replace your Certificate of Citizenship by first obtaining certain state court orders, or other corrected vital documents, and file form N-565 with USCIS.

4.CONCLUSION

It is not uncommon to correct your date of birth on the Certificate of Naturalization and U.S. Passport. In practice, it is a complex process. If you need to correct your Certificate of Naturalization, especially when your certificate was issued by the Federal District Court before October 1^st, 1991, you should consult with an experienced immigration attorney, who had successes in this type of petition in order to avoid unnecessary mistakes.

Resources:

• Successfully Corrected Dates of Birth on Naturalization Certificates in Northern District Court of California (July 2020)

• How To Correct Your Date of Birth on U.S. Passport or Certificate of Naturalization?

• Successfully Correct Dates of Birth on Naturalization Certificates in New Jersey Federal District Court (December 2021)

• Successfully Overturned USCIS's N-565 Denial Decision and Obtained Court Order Correcting Dates of Birth on Naturalization Certificates (December 2020)