The Citizenship Clinic

The clinic provides legal services to intercountry adopted people who were adopted to the United States and have issues with US citizenship (or have questions about it). Services may include legal screening for citizenship status, discussion of options and advice, and legal representation to secure a Certificate of Citizenship. It may also involve referrals to other attorneys who may be able to help with issues outside of the clinic’s initial priorities, such as naturalization.

In its first phase, the clinic’s legal services will be limited to legal screenings, general advice, and legal representation to secure a Certificate of Citizenship (an N-600). We hope to expand in 2025 to provide additional services, such as representation for naturalization applications, depending on capacity, growth, and funding.

The process begins with completing a confidential intake with the Adoptee Rights Law Center. Gregory Luce, the executive director of Adoptees United and the founding attorney with Adoptee Rights Law Center, reviews the intake to determine if the matter meets the Citizenship Clinic’s priorities for legal assistance. After consultation, he will also make a decision about what legal services may be necessary—or decide that the case does not merit representation or further advice or service.

In general, the process for an accepted case may involve one or many all of the following:

• Legal screening for US citizenship issues, which generally involves meeting with the client, whether by phone or by Zoom, obtaining US immigration records, reviewing those records, and working with the client to outline citizenship or other issues that may be present;
• Receiving advice from an attorney as to next steps, if any further steps are warranted;
• Discussing those next steps, if any; and
• Legal representation to secure a Certificate of Citizenship (N-600).
• Possible referral to an attorney or other resources for naturalization (N-400) cases.

By default, legal services provided by the clinic are free. As part of the process for accepting representation, we may inquire about the ability to pay an administrative fee of no more than $150 to support the clinic’s ongoing work. No client, however, will be turned away because of an inability to pay the suggested administrative fee. The administrative fee is for adoptees who can afford a small fee to fund the clinic and its services.

Pro bono work covers only legal services that an attorney and paralegal provide. It does not include expenses that are necessary for a case and are paid by the client, such as USCIS filing fees or reimbursable expenses that exceed $25.

All services and communications between the client and attorneys are strictly confidential and are not shared with anyone other than the licensed attorney or the paralegal/assistant working under the supervision of that attorney. The only information shared with Adoptees United is non-identifying statistical information about the number of cases referred, handled, or completed, as well as the general types of cases, de-identified client demographics, and the number of cases accepted or declined for representation.

Legal services are provided only after the client and the attorney agree to and sign a retainer agreement. To understand the content of a retainer agreement, a sample clinic retainer agreement is here. The sample agreement involves legal services to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship. It is a representative agreement; other agreements will vary by type of service and any considerations that may be unique to the client or situation.

While no two cases are identical, the most frequently used forms for intercountry adoptees who may have US citizenship issues include:

• N-600 (Application for Certificate of Citizenship)
• N-400 (Application for Naturalization)
• N-565, Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document
• I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Green Card)

These forms are often completed and filed online through the attorney’s USCIS account. Citizenship Clinic representation requires online filing unless circumstances require paper filing.

Note: current priority cases involve obtaining USCIS records, providing advice about options, and filing N-600 forms on behalf of clients. The clinic does not currently include legal representation for naturalizations or other more complicated cases.

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