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

We recently celebrated some big wins in federal district court. As the REAL ID Act goes into effect, more people encounter problems with the inconsistency of their date of birth in the naturalization certificate and their birth certificates. Our firm is pleased to successfully petition the federal court to restore our clients' corrected vital information. 

Our clients filed form N-565 Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) to correct their dates of birth on the Certificate of Naturalization. USCIS denied their N-565 applications due to lack of jurisdiction. Clients then retained our office.

Correcting dates of birth on Naturalization Certificates is a challenging and difficult process for many, especially clients that arrived to the U.S. as refugees or asylees seeking humanitarian protections. For many reasons, which may be no fault of their own, dates of births were recorded incorrectly on clients’ Naturalization Certificates. 

Pursuant to the current Federal Regulations, USCIS is only permitted to change the date of birth on the Naturalization Certificate if USCIS committed a clerical error in preparing the certificate. See 8 CFR 338.5(a). If it was not rendered USCIS’s error, the government’s position was to deny any and all requests for obtaining a replacement. Subsequent forms of relief after a denial may include submission of an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Office  (“AAO”), or to seek various civil remedies through State Court. Most of these efforts result in very little success to achieving a date of birth correction on Naturalization Certificates.

The implications of having an incorrect date of birth on one’s Naturalization Certificate can result in severe loss of benefits and raises eligibility determinations for clients seeking a REAL ID driver's license. Fortunately for clients naturalized by the federal district court, the federal court retains sole authority to amend naturalization orders. We are very pleased that we were able to successfully obtained favorable court orders correcting clients' date of birth.

Clients faced with this dilemma should consult with an experienced Immigration attorney to review the facts of the case and to determine whether the case merits a viable action in federal court to correct this important vital biographical data. 

Resources:

• How To Correct Your Date of Birth on U.S. Passport or Certificate of Naturalization?
• Successfully Overturned USCIS's N-565 Denial Decision and Obtained Court Order Correcting Dates of Birth on Naturalization Certificates (December 2020)
• Successfully Corrected Dates of Birth on Naturalization Certificates in Northern District Court of California (July 2020)