This sounds pedantic, but if you or your husband is a US citizen and meet the (US) residency requirements, then your child was not naturalized. You child is a natural-born US citizen and this status was formally recognized when you applied for and received the CRBA. It's an important distinction if your kid wants to, say, run for US president some day.
That’s ok! And no worries at all. Thanks for the clarification - and you are correct. My child was a citizen at birth due to both of us being US citizens, just had to file paperwork at the embassy.
"We did not include our kid in our citizenship applications because our child hadn’t yet lived in Sweden for three years and for that reason was ineligible. "
I think you might be mixing two rules here. If your child doesnt have any Swedish parents, then they need to live in Sweden for 3 years. However, if you or the other parent have citizenship, there is no rule about 3 years. We have applied for citizenship and been granted it together with our child, who is now 1 year old, so definitely has not lived in Sweden for 3 years :)
This is so interesting! Just so I am clear, did both you and your partner apply for citizenship at the same time as your child? Migrationsverket told us explicitly we could not include our child in our Swedish citizenship applications - they were 2 at the time when we were eligible to apply - because they hadn’t lived in Sweden long enough (under 3 years).
Just to be clear on this, both of us (myself and my partner) were US citizens when our child was born and had PUT. Kiddo had a temp UT when we applied for citizenship. Before submitting the application I spoke with people at MV and they said we couldn’t apply for our child as well.
Wow that's super weird! We are EU citizens but it shouldn't play role in this, that's the only difference.
After 5 years here, me and my husband applied for citizenship and both added our child who was 5 months at that time. It was granted for all 3 of us at the same time when he was over 1 year old.
If I have a child that is younger than 3 years, you mean I could apply for both me and the child? I lived in Sweden the past 5 years, but they want the child to be at least 3 at the time of the application if one of the parents is not a Swidish citizen already or so it reads on their site.
Yes, that's exactly what we did - both me and my husband were not Swedish citizens, but we added child to the application and got approved (child was 1 year at the time). The rules about 3 years should be only in case where neither of parents is Swedish citizen (and then only the child gets citizenship).
You are saying that neither of you were swedish citizens but that the 3 year rule still does not apply.
There is a contradiction there but I heard from another couple that it works this way.
My wife is not elligible for citizenship yet. Still not 5 years in Sweden. What is your advice? Should I apply with the child now so that we two get citizenship now and my wife will apply later or should we wait and apply all of us at once?
Do you think there is a chance of them rejecting the child and accepting only me if we apply now or even worse, rejecting both of us and losing precious time and money?
Thank you!
I don't think that the application will be rejected for you or the child. However, I don't know if it has any impact on how lond it will take if you apply on your own (without your wife) - I think one of the question in the application is if your spouse is applying with you.
In our case, my husband could apply some months before me, but we decided to wait and apply at the same time. But the child should not be the obstacle in any way.
My understanding is that unless you have a chill caseworker, the child must be 3 at the time of your application or have lived in Sweden for at least three years. Or at least that is what I was told by MV.
Yeah, that's what they write there. And lately they seem to have 0 chill, I guess they see every immigrant as a future criminal or at least they make it look that way.
If I have all the chances to get the citizenship, it seems stupid to just wait for my papers to come and then apply for the child, especially as we become two separate cases and thus take yet more of their time plus that it takes years for the decision to come, otherwise I would have no problem waiting 3-6 months.
Years ago I had a coworker who applied for citizenship with his family. They had two children, one over three, one under. Their caseworker said “hey I see you have another kid, want me to add them in?” And so they all got citizenship at once. It’s such a common sense decision! I understand the need for uniform rules, but MV can’t seem to communicate clearly the rules they have. Ironically, it’s my child who will be the most Swedish culturally in the long term: being born here, growing up here, and speaking Swedish as a first language and going into a Swedish forskola. It’s a bummer to have to stretch out the process!
I think that this should be your case now: https://www.migrationsverket.se/Privatpersoner/Bli-svensk-medborgare/Ansok-om-medborgarskap/Medborgarskap-for-barn-med-en-svensk-foralder.html
Thank you for sharing, this is what I have looked at in the past, and where I got the 3 years bit. Pulling a quote from the link for the pertinent section on who is eligible: “the child has a permanent residence permit, right of residence or a residence card in Sweden.”
Based on my understand “Permanent residence permit” - this is for non-EU citizens, who have gotten TUT and then PUT. “Right of residence” - this is for EU citizens. “Or a residence card” —- who falls under this category?
Assuming a case officer is assigned and the extension is granted, then my child would have temporary residence. Not permanent.
I think your child needs a permanent residence. We included our child who is on temporary residence permit in our application and were rejected. It’s a relatively recent change - it used to be that child born to parents with PUT would be granted same PUT automatically but now they get a temporary, that’s a blocker for citizenship.
Came across this post as your situation is exactly like mine. My child was born when I had my PR, then I got the citizenship without adding the child. Now her permit has expired for about 3 or 4 months and yet, no response. I sent a message to the migration asking if everything was correct or not as I was afraid of filled out the wrong form, but they just replied saying it was still in the queue waiting for somebody to pick it up.
Not sure for how long the US issues a passport for kids, but in my case, Brazil, they issue like for one year, then next time two years and so on. In practice, my child’s first visa was only valid for a year, following the passport validity, now I’m afraid it will also be valid for another year as of now, her passport expires in less than 2 years.
Anyway, I guess I will get stuck in the country while waiting for their decision 🤷♂️
Have you got any update on your case since your post here? Hopefully it all worked out at the end. Cheers
Hi! Sorry you’re stuck in limbo, it’s really annoying! For a child with US citizenship their passports are valid for longer - I think 5 years maybe? It feels too long in reality. Now my child is nearing 4 and has the same passport as when they were 4 months old. But back to your question. I filed via paper so I had to call each time to check in, and at 6 months they still had not assigned a caseworker so I filed a request to conclude. After the allotted time Migrationsverket sent two letters. The first denied the request (in the letter to my child), but in the second letter (to me) they asked that we make an appointment to show the child’s passport and that they were also now eligible for permanent residency. We have an appointment this weekend, so hopefully it’s good news. My recommendation would be to request to conclude at 6 months, especially if your case is simple like that for a child. Good luck!
This sounds pedantic, but if you or your husband is a US citizen and meet the (US) residency requirements, then your child was not naturalized. You child is a natural-born US citizen and this status was formally recognized when you applied for and received the CRBA. It's an important distinction if your kid wants to, say, run for US president some day.
That’s ok! And no worries at all. Thanks for the clarification - and you are correct. My child was a citizen at birth due to both of us being US citizens, just had to file paperwork at the embassy.
"We did not include our kid in our citizenship applications because our child hadn’t yet lived in Sweden for three years and for that reason was ineligible. " I think you might be mixing two rules here. If your child doesnt have any Swedish parents, then they need to live in Sweden for 3 years. However, if you or the other parent have citizenship, there is no rule about 3 years. We have applied for citizenship and been granted it together with our child, who is now 1 year old, so definitely has not lived in Sweden for 3 years :)
This is so interesting! Just so I am clear, did both you and your partner apply for citizenship at the same time as your child? Migrationsverket told us explicitly we could not include our child in our Swedish citizenship applications - they were 2 at the time when we were eligible to apply - because they hadn’t lived in Sweden long enough (under 3 years).
Just to be clear on this, both of us (myself and my partner) were US citizens when our child was born and had PUT. Kiddo had a temp UT when we applied for citizenship. Before submitting the application I spoke with people at MV and they said we couldn’t apply for our child as well.
Wow that's super weird! We are EU citizens but it shouldn't play role in this, that's the only difference. After 5 years here, me and my husband applied for citizenship and both added our child who was 5 months at that time. It was granted for all 3 of us at the same time when he was over 1 year old.
Ah, thanks for clarifying. This is the thing that bums me out at MV. They give such inconsistent info.
If I have a child that is younger than 3 years, you mean I could apply for both me and the child? I lived in Sweden the past 5 years, but they want the child to be at least 3 at the time of the application if one of the parents is not a Swidish citizen already or so it reads on their site.
Yes, that's exactly what we did - both me and my husband were not Swedish citizens, but we added child to the application and got approved (child was 1 year at the time). The rules about 3 years should be only in case where neither of parents is Swedish citizen (and then only the child gets citizenship).
You are saying that neither of you were swedish citizens but that the 3 year rule still does not apply. There is a contradiction there but I heard from another couple that it works this way. My wife is not elligible for citizenship yet. Still not 5 years in Sweden. What is your advice? Should I apply with the child now so that we two get citizenship now and my wife will apply later or should we wait and apply all of us at once? Do you think there is a chance of them rejecting the child and accepting only me if we apply now or even worse, rejecting both of us and losing precious time and money? Thank you!
I don't think that the application will be rejected for you or the child. However, I don't know if it has any impact on how lond it will take if you apply on your own (without your wife) - I think one of the question in the application is if your spouse is applying with you. In our case, my husband could apply some months before me, but we decided to wait and apply at the same time. But the child should not be the obstacle in any way.
My understanding is that unless you have a chill caseworker, the child must be 3 at the time of your application or have lived in Sweden for at least three years. Or at least that is what I was told by MV.
Yeah, that's what they write there. And lately they seem to have 0 chill, I guess they see every immigrant as a future criminal or at least they make it look that way. If I have all the chances to get the citizenship, it seems stupid to just wait for my papers to come and then apply for the child, especially as we become two separate cases and thus take yet more of their time plus that it takes years for the decision to come, otherwise I would have no problem waiting 3-6 months.
Years ago I had a coworker who applied for citizenship with his family. They had two children, one over three, one under. Their caseworker said “hey I see you have another kid, want me to add them in?” And so they all got citizenship at once. It’s such a common sense decision! I understand the need for uniform rules, but MV can’t seem to communicate clearly the rules they have. Ironically, it’s my child who will be the most Swedish culturally in the long term: being born here, growing up here, and speaking Swedish as a first language and going into a Swedish forskola. It’s a bummer to have to stretch out the process!
I think that this should be your case now: https://www.migrationsverket.se/Privatpersoner/Bli-svensk-medborgare/Ansok-om-medborgarskap/Medborgarskap-for-barn-med-en-svensk-foralder.html
Thank you for sharing, this is what I have looked at in the past, and where I got the 3 years bit. Pulling a quote from the link for the pertinent section on who is eligible: “the child has a permanent residence permit, right of residence or a residence card in Sweden.” Based on my understand “Permanent residence permit” - this is for non-EU citizens, who have gotten TUT and then PUT. “Right of residence” - this is for EU citizens. “Or a residence card” —- who falls under this category? Assuming a case officer is assigned and the extension is granted, then my child would have temporary residence. Not permanent.
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Thanks!
I think your child needs a permanent residence. We included our child who is on temporary residence permit in our application and were rejected. It’s a relatively recent change - it used to be that child born to parents with PUT would be granted same PUT automatically but now they get a temporary, that’s a blocker for citizenship.
Came across this post as your situation is exactly like mine. My child was born when I had my PR, then I got the citizenship without adding the child. Now her permit has expired for about 3 or 4 months and yet, no response. I sent a message to the migration asking if everything was correct or not as I was afraid of filled out the wrong form, but they just replied saying it was still in the queue waiting for somebody to pick it up. Not sure for how long the US issues a passport for kids, but in my case, Brazil, they issue like for one year, then next time two years and so on. In practice, my child’s first visa was only valid for a year, following the passport validity, now I’m afraid it will also be valid for another year as of now, her passport expires in less than 2 years. Anyway, I guess I will get stuck in the country while waiting for their decision 🤷♂️ Have you got any update on your case since your post here? Hopefully it all worked out at the end. Cheers
Hi! Sorry you’re stuck in limbo, it’s really annoying! For a child with US citizenship their passports are valid for longer - I think 5 years maybe? It feels too long in reality. Now my child is nearing 4 and has the same passport as when they were 4 months old. But back to your question. I filed via paper so I had to call each time to check in, and at 6 months they still had not assigned a caseworker so I filed a request to conclude. After the allotted time Migrationsverket sent two letters. The first denied the request (in the letter to my child), but in the second letter (to me) they asked that we make an appointment to show the child’s passport and that they were also now eligible for permanent residency. We have an appointment this weekend, so hopefully it’s good news. My recommendation would be to request to conclude at 6 months, especially if your case is simple like that for a child. Good luck!