Children whose adoption is completed abroad (IR3 stamp in foreign passport) will be issued a citizenship certificate free and without application 45 days after arriving in the United States. Up to this point, families have also been receiving a permanent resident card in the child's foreign name from their California CIS office shortly after arrival. All citizenship certificates are issued in Boston and will come later (supposedly within 45 days after arrival) in the child's new name. If you experience any problems with this, phone or email baas@baas.org

If you've been back with your child since anytime BEFORE January 20, 2004 or if your adoption was an "intercountry adoption" (IR4 stamp in foreign passport and you have finalized the adoption in Superior Court in your county), file your N600 anytime before the child's 16th birthday. Fee, as of April 30, 2004 is $240 (if you manage to file before April 30, 2004, the fee is $185). You can get the N600 on the web at http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/files/N-600.pdf

All adopt abroad (IR3) cases entering the US January 20, 2004 or after should receive automatic citizenship certificates from now on. All intercountry adoptions (IR4s) will still need to apply for the citizenship certificates using the N600 sometime before the child's 16th birthday regardless of when they entered the country.

Child Citizenship Application (N-600) Processing news from CIS - April 2004

We recently contacted San Jose CIS (San Francisco CIS hasn't been tracking this info yet) to ask about the processing time for this form and here's the response we got:

04/22/04
Dear BAAS,

The situation in San Jose CIS for N-600's is as follows: We have very limited officers to be able to do N-600 adjudications and we have suddenly received a huge influx of filing of N-600 forms. Therefore we are experiencing a rather large backlog at this point and will have to start giving an estimate of about 9 months to a year for adjudcation once the application is filed.

Thanks
SDAO SNJ - CIS

04/28/04
Dear BAAS,

Yes it appears that the new automatic citizenship certificate program began effective January 20, 2004. Therefore for any adopted children who entered the U.S. with their immigrant visas prior to January 20, 2004 an N-600 will have to be filed locally as done previously. Also, a "green card" will not be issued to those who receive the citizenship certificate under this new program.
FYI: Processing times for N-600's is now about 9 months to a year.

Thanks,
SDAO SNJ CIS

N-600 vs N-600K:
There's been a bit of confusion as to which form to use to apply for citizenship for your child. We asked about that too and here's CIS's response:

04/22/04
Dear BAAS,

Regarding the N-600 vs. N-600K: The new N-600 is the correct form for an adopted child residing in the U.S. The N-600K is for an adopted child residing outside the U.S.

Thanks
SDAO SNJ - CIS