Citizen Services
Consular Report of Birth Abroad
Eligibility for Citizenship
A Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) is an official record of U.S. citizenship issued to a person under age 18 who was born abroad to United States citizen parent(s) and who acquired citizenship at birth. This report is given the same credence in the United States as birth certificates issued by state authorities in the U.S.
To determine if your child has a claim to citizenship, please read Acquisition of U.S. Citizenship by a Child Born Abroad at http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html
If, having read the information, you have any questions regarding your child's possible claim to citizenship, please e-mail baghdadacs@state.gov.
If you determine that your child has a claim to U.S. citizenship, the U.S. citizen parent who is transmitting citizenship to the child must come to the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to execute an application for a "Consular Report of Birth Abroad", Form FS-240, before a consular officer. The CRBA is evidence of U.S. citizenship. We recommend that you register your child's birth as soon as possible, but you must do so before his/her eighteenth birthday or before his/her first visit to the U.S., whichever comes first. U.S. law requires that U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, travel to the U.S. on valid U.S. passports. We cannot issue a CRBA on or after the child's 18th birthday.
While we require that the child and the U.S. citizen parent transmitting citizenship appear at the time of application, we recommend that both parents attend regardless of the second parent's nationality. If you intend to apply for a passport for your child at the same time, please refer to the section below "Applying for a Passport for the Child" for information about parental attendance requirements.
Note: Please write baghdadacs@state.gov for further instructions if the following conditions exist: 1) if only one parent is a U.S. Citizen, and that parent is not presently in this country, 2) if the child is older than 18 and believes he or see may have a claim to derivative citizenship, 3) if the child was born out of wedlock to a U.S. Citizen father.
Documents Required to Register the Child's Birth
• The child’s original Iraqi Birth Certificate and English translation. The Iraqi Birth Certificate is the form issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Health in triple copies with vaccination information. The Birth Certificate MUST be certified by the consular section of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The application will not be processed without the MFA certification.
• Marriage Certificate: Full copy issued by the local authorities and English translation. The Marriage Certificate MUST be certified by the consular section of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The application will not be processed without the MFA certification.
• Both parents’ passports.
• Divorce Decrees/Death Certificates: It will be necessary to show termination of all prior marriages.
• Proof that the American citizen parent(s) meets the physical presence requirements for transmission of citizenship. For children born after 14 November 1986, five years’ proof of physical presence in the United States is required, two after the U.S. Citizen parent’s 14th birthday before the birth of the child. Please refer to http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html for details.
Proof of physical presence can take the form of bank or credit card statements showing monthly transactions, property leases, postmarked letters, motor vehicle records, medical records, military records, school and university transcripts, employment W-2 forms, letters or HR records from employers stating precise periods of employment in the U.S., passport entry/exit stamps, among others. We will consider the evidence in its totality—one document by itself will not establish proof of physical presence for time in the U.S. As income can be earned in the United States while not being physically present there, Social Security, tax, and bank records by themselves cannot serve as proof of physical presence. An affidavit of Parentage and Physical Presence in and of itself is also not sufficient to establish a citizenship claim. We understand that it is often difficult to obtain these documents, but proof of physical presence cannot be waived.
• Form DS2029: Application for Consular Report of Birth. The DS 2029 form is available here: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/83127.pdf. You should complete but not sign the form prior to your appointment.
• Affidavit of Parentage and Physical Presence. This form can be obtained at the Embassy or downloaded at http://iraq.usembassy.gov/iraq/img/assets/5816/wwwf0007.pdf The U.S. citizen parent should sign this affidavit in the presence of the U.S. Consular Officer.
• Fees: The Consular Report of Birth fee is $65.00 in cash or money order. We do NOT accept personal checks or credit cards.
Applying for a passport for the child
At the time you register your child's birth, you may also submit an application for his or her U.S. passport. If you intend to do so and the child is under 16 years of age, both parents must attend except in the following circumstances:
• If only one parent can be present, the other parent must sign a DS 3053 Statement of Consent authorizing passport issuance for the child. The DS 3053 form is available here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds3053/ds3053_846.html The statement must be notarized by a notary public. In addition to the statement of consent, the absent parent will be required to submit a valid U.S. or foreign passport or a good notarized photocopy of the identity and signature pages of the passport.
• A parent with sole custody or who is the sole parent of a child under the age of 16 must be present with the child, and must submit primary evidence of sole custody or that s/he is the sole parent, e.g. a U.S. or foreign birth certificate or a U.S. Consular Report of Birth Abroad naming the sole parent, the death certificate for the non-applying parent, a court order granting sole custody to the applying parent, a court order terminating the parental rights of the non-applying parent.
In addition to the documents required to register the birth, you will also need to submit the following:
• Two passport photographs that conform to the following specifications:
• 2x2 inches in size
• Identical
• Taken within the past 6 months, showing current appearance
• Color
• Full face, front view with a plain white or off-white background
• Between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head
• Taken in normal street attire
- Uniforms should not be worn in photographs except religious attire that is worn daily.
- Do not wear a hat or headgear that obscures the hair or hairline.
- If you normally wear prescription glasses, a hearing device, wig or similar articles, they should be worn for your picture.
- Dark glasses or nonprescription glasses with tinted lenses are not acceptable unless you need them for medical reasons. A medical certificate may be required.
• A completed, but unsigned application form DS-11 Passport Application Form. The DS-11 application form is available here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds11/ds11_842.html.
• The fee is $85 for a child under the age of 16 and $100 for a child aged 16 - 18. We do NOT accept personal checks or credit cards. We do accept USD cash and money orders.