It is not uncommon to be a U.S. citizen but have no proof of your citizenship. Over the years, we have encountered many clients who automatically became U.S. citizens at birth, but had no idea they were citizens. You can read about one of those cases here.
The most common way that someone proves citizenship is if they are born here. But, you can also become a citizen at birth — even if you were born outside the country — if one or both of your parents was a U.S. citizen. The laws about transmission of citizenship have changed a lot over the years, and we will need to collect information about you and your parents to make the determination.
You can also become a U.S. citizen automatically if one of your parents naturalized while you were under 21. In rare cases, it is possible to acquire U.S. citizenship based on your grandparents, where they passed citizenship to your parents and they passed it on to you.
We may need information that is contained in your government immigration record, which is called an alien file. There are also several government databases that contain information about your entries and exits from the country, any applications you were a part of, and any times you have interacted with immigration enforcement.
Since August 2026, USCIS does not have to ask you for missing evidence before denying an application. What that means for your filing.