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OI 343a Interrogation/verification of Veterans of WW II for naturalization.
All prima facie approvable applications for replacement of naturalization or citizenship certificates will be removed for processing without an interview of the applicant. Those cases requiring an interview will be scheduled at the appropriate office and upon completion of the interrogation, the officer will complete his/her report on page 2 of Form N-565; the interrogation will cover the matters upon which findings can/cannot be made. For policy and procedures in checking Service and State Department rec
ords for possible expatriation, refer to OI 349.4. (TM 12/86)
OI 343a.2 Veterans of World War II.
If a veteran of World War II submitting Form N-565 indicates that his/her naturalization certificate was not delivered to him/her, and there is reason to believe that the certificate may be in the filed of the armed services or in the Central Office, the Form N-565 shall not be accepted but the applicant advised to communicate with either the Department of Army, Office of the Adjutant General, Washington, D. C. 20301, for his/her certificate. If the applicant fails to obtain the certificate, he/she may the
n execute Form N-567 (Request for search of military or naval files for naturalization certificate) in quintuplicte. The original and three copies shall be sent to the Central Office, the appropriate department of the armed services will be requested to endorse Form N-567 and return two copies to the Central Office with the certificate. One copy of Form N-567 will be forwarded by the Central Office to the field office with the certificate. If the certificate is not found, Form N-565 may then be accepted
and processed.
The application shall not be granted without first obtaining verification of the filing of the declaration of intention, the naturalization or repatriation, or the issuance of the certificate of citizenship. If delivery of the certificate will be made abroad by a consular officer (see OI 343a.6), a photograph of the naturalization petition or of the certificate of citizenship application and a photograph of the copy of the certificate of naturalization or citizenship in the file shall be obtained. If the
applicant's naturalization cannot be verified, he should be informed of that fact and that his case is being closed, subject to being reopened upon receipt of further information that will assist in verifying his naturalization.
The certificate in a changed name shall show only the "new" name, no reference being made on the certificate to the applicant's former name or the fact that the name was changed. When a new certificate of naturalization is issued in a changed name, the clerk of the naturalization court shall be notified on Form N-240.
(a)
Form N-570. A new certificate to replace a certificate of naturalization or repatriation shall be issued on Form N-570 and shall be numbered to correspond to the number of the paper which it replaces. Certificates issued to evidence naturalization which occurred prior to September 27, 1906, shall bear the "A" number which was assigned to the case as the file number.
Recitals in Form N-570 as to the manner in which naturalization was obtained shall be inserted in the space provided after the words "that (s)he", as follows:
(1)
(Before a naturalization court): "was naturalized by the United States District Court, Chicago, Illinois, on January 7, 1940";
(2)
(Before a designated representative abroad): "was naturalized by a duly designated representative of the Immigration and Naturalization Service at Paris, France, on January 19, 1944, pursuant to the authority contained in section 702 of the Nationality Act of 1940, as amended"; or
(3)
(Before a designated representative abroad): "was naturalized by the United States Consul at Paris, France, on May 17, 1945, pursuant to the authority contained in section 323 of the Nationality Act of 1940, as amended", or "pursuant to the authority contained in the 12th subdivision of section 4 of the Act of June 29, 1906, as amended".
If the applicant's name was changed at the time of naturalization, the reverse side of Form N-570 shall be endorsed: "Name changed by order of court from____________as part of the naturalization". The endorsement shall be authenticated by entering below it the Commissioner's signature and title, using the facsimile stamp for such purpose.
Insert in the last paragraph of Form N-570, within the parenthesis, the letter "d" if the certificate is in a new name, or the letter "b" if the certificate replaces one lost, mutilated or destroyed.
(b)
Form N-561. A new certificate of citizenship on Form N-561 may be issued to replace a certificate of derivative citizenship or a certificate of citizenship issued by the Service under section 33 of the Nationality Act of 1940 or section 341 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, if the original certificate is lost, mutilated, or destroyed.
The new certificate shall be numbered to correspond to the number of the paper it replaces. In preparing Form N-561, insert in the last paragraph, within the parenthesis, the letter "d" if the certificate is in a new name, or the letter "b" if the certificate replaces one lost, mutilated, or destroyed.
When the new document is an "AA" certificate and the applicant acquired citizenship at birth abroad through one citizen parent, the other parent being an alien, and has not as yet satisfied the retention requirement, a notation "section 301(b)" shall be entered upon the face of certificate Form N-561 in the upper left hand portion immediately under the words "Application No." If it further appears that the applicant has never been furnished Form N-603, a notice of the requirements for retaining citizen
ship, such form shall be given him.
(c)
Certified copy of proceedings. A new certified copy of the proceedings under the Act of June 25, 1936, as amended, or section
324(c)
of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or of a declaration of intention, or under the provisions of any private law shall be in the form of a certified, positive photostat of the formal application to the court containing the court order, or of the formal application sworn and subscribed to before a consul abroad, or the declaration of intention. The certification shall be made by authorized field officers
8 CFR 103.7 (d)
from relating file, or if microfilmed, shall be obtained from the Central Office by memorandum request to the Chief, Records Administration Branch. Form G-347 shall not be used for this purpose.
(d)
Destruction of surrendered certificate. A certificate surrendered by an applicant for a replacement certificate shall not be retained in a Service file but shall be destroyed and recorded as destroyed in accordance with AM 2117. In all applications for replacement certificate cases the Examiner's Report on Form I-565 shall include the statement "surrendered certificate destroyed per AM 2117."
If the application is granted, the certificate shall be delivered in accordance with
8 CFR 103.5a(a)(2)
. The certificate will have an attachment affixed by the approving office indicating that the certificate will not be valid until properly signed by the person named on the certificate. The above mentioned attachment will be affixed to all certificates until a revised certificate comes into existence. If it is impracticable for a Service employee to make delivery, arrangements may be made to have a postmaster or clerk of court obtain the applicant's signature to the certificate and receipt and to make de
livery. If the applicant is outside the United states, a Service officer stationed outside the United States may deliver the certificate (see
OI 103.1(c)
) if practicable, except that certificates which are to be delivered in (1) South America (except Venezuela); (2) areas of Asia lying to the east of the western borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan (but not including Hong Kong and adjacent islands, Formosa, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, and the Philippines); (3) Australia and New Zealand; (4) Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Iceland, rumania, and USSR; (5) Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Republic, Yemen, Aden, and Kuwait; and (6) Africa (ex
cept Egyptian region), shall be sent to the appropriate American consular officer in the area for delivery, upon the applicant's signed receipt therefore. If the applicant was not interviewed by a Service officer in connection with the application, the consular officer will conduct the interview and execute the examiner's report. The new certificate shall be forwarded to the consular office with the application and photographs of the petition and of the copy of the certificate in the file with any special
instructions needed by the consular officer to complete delivery, e.g., surrender of a mutilated certificate. The consular officer will return the application and attachments to the office of origin.
A declarant's signature is not required on a new declaration of intention and delivery may be made personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested.
OI 343a.7 Return or replacement of surrendered certificate of naturalization or citizenship.
(a)
In the United States. If a person claiming to be within
8 CFR 343a.2
is in the United States, before the certificate is returned or replaced the office of the Service having jurisdiction over the place where the person is located shall make an independent determination with regard to whether he/she is now still a citizen of the United States. State Department and Central Office records shall be consulted under procedures mentioned in AM 2772.01 and the results thereof taken into consideration in connection with the adjudication of the question of citizenship if there is an
y reason to believe that in addition to residence abroad, voting, or physical presence abroad, as applicable, the person either before or after the Schneider or Afroyim decisions, or before or after the amendment of section 301(b) of the Act, respectively, may have performed other acts possibly regarded as expatriatory by the Service.
Each such person shall be thoroughly interrogated by an examiner, and the examiner shall prepare a memorandum for the Service file setting forth what section of law as affected by the Schneider or Afroyim decision is involved and his/her resolution of that question, as well as the complete details regarding any other possible expatriatory acts performed, such as naturalization in, or taking an oath of allegiance to a foreign state; his/her resolution of their effect, and his/her conclusion and recommend
ation regarding return or replacement of the certificate.
(b)
Outside the United States. If a person claiming to be within
8 CFR 343a.2
is outside the United States, jurisdiction to determine his/her citizenship status is with the Department of State. When an American consul concludes that the person is now a citizen of the United States under the Schneider or Afroyim decisions or as a result of section 301(b), as amended October 27, 1972, P. L. 92-584, and requests that the certificate be forwarded for delivery to the citizenship claimant abroad and there is no information adverse to citizenship in the Service file, an independent adjudi
cation of citizenship need not be made and the certificate may be forwarded for delivery.
(c)
Letter officially recognizing expatriation reversal. When a request to reconsider a finding of expatriation is made with a request for the return of a surrender certificate of naturalization or citizenship, and it is concluded for any reason that the previous determination of citizenship los is no longer valid and the person now appears to be a United States citizen, the new finding shall be communicated to the citizen by letter prepared along the following lines:
Reference is made to your request for reconsideration of the previous determination that you had lost your United States citizenship by (manner and statute involved, and date of loss), and for return of your surrendered certificate of naturalization (citizenship).
Upon the basis of your sworn statement and evidence presented, and other available information, it has been concluded that you did not lose United States citizenship on the date and in the manner indicated. No other information has been adduced showing that you lost citizenship in any other manner.
The records of this Service are being endorsed to reflect the finding made. Please return your alien registration receipt card to this office for retention in the files of this Service.
Your Certificate of Naturalization (Citizenship) No. _______ is returned herewith.
If the situation does not involve the return of a certificate, the above specimen letter shall be amended by deleting the last clause of the first paragraph and the last paragraph in its entirety.
The above specimen letter shall not be used when the question of reversing an expatriation finding arises as an issue in formal proceedings before the Service. The reversal in a case such as a derivative or lost-paper one, will become a part of the proceedings, and the ultimate action on the application, amplified by an appropriate supplementary report for the file, will indicate that the reversal has occurred; furthermore, the applicant in the normal course of events will receive a document postdating
the finding of citizenship loss and will have no need for the letter.
(OI 343a.7(c) redesignated; formerly OI 343a.7(d))