Collapse to view only § 338.5 - Correction of certificates.

§ 338.1 - Execution and issuance of certificate.

(a) Issuance. When an applicant for naturalization has taken and subscribed to the oath of allegiance in accordance with 8 CFR part 337, USCIS will issue a Certificate of Naturalization at the conclusion of the oath administration ceremony.

(b) Contents of certificate. The certificate must be issued to the applicant in accordance with section 338 of the Act in his or her true, full, and correct name as it exists at the time of the administration of the oath of allegiance. The certificate must show, under “country of former nationality,” the name of the applicant's last country of citizenship, as shown in the application and USCIS records, even though the applicant may be stateless at the time of admission to citizenship.

[76 FR 53803, Aug. 29, 2011]

§ 338.2 - Execution in case name is changed.

Whenever the name of an applicant has been changed by order of a court as a part of a naturalization, the clerk of court, or his or her authorized deputy, shall forward a copy of the order changing the applicant's name with the notifications required by part 339 of this chapter. The Certificate of Naturalization will be issued to the applicant in the name as changed.

[56 FR 50501, Oct. 7, 1991]

§ 338.3 - Delivery of certificates.

No Certificate of Naturalization will be delivered in any case in which the naturalized person has not surrendered his or her Permanent Resident Card to USCIS. Upon a finding that the card is destroyed or otherwise unavailable, USCIS may waive the surrender of the card and the Certificate of Naturalization shall then be delivered to the naturalized person.

[56 FR 50501, Oct. 7, 1991, as amended at 63 FR 70316, Dec. 21, 1998; 76 FR 53803, Aug. 29, 2011]

§ 338.4 - [Reserved]

§ 338.5 - Correction of certificates.

(a) Application. Whenever a Certificate of Naturalization has been delivered which does not conform to the facts shown on the application for naturalization, or a clerical error was made in preparing the certificate, an application for issuance of a corrected certificate may be filed, without fee, in accordance with the form instructions.

(b) Court-issued certificates. If the certificate was originally issued by a clerk of court under a prior statute and USCIS finds that a correction is justified and can be made without mutilating the certificate, USCIS will authorize the issuing court to make the necessary correction and to place a dated endorsement of the court on the reverse of the certificate explaining the correction. The authorization will be filed with the naturalization record of the court, the corrected certificate will be returned to the naturalized person, and the duplicate will be endorsed to show the date and nature of the correction and endorsement made, and then returned to USCIS. No fee will be charged the naturalized person for the correction.

(c) USCIS-issued certificates. If the certificate was originally issued by USCIS (or its predecessor agency), and USCIS finds that a correction was justified, the correction shall be made to the certificate and a dated endorsement made on the reverse of the certificate.

(d) Administrative actions. When a correction made pursuant to paragraphs (b) or (c) of this section would or does result in mutilation of a certificate, USCIS will issue a replacement Certificate of Naturalization and destroy the surrendered certificate.

(e) Data change. The correction will not be deemed to be justified where the naturalized person later alleges that the name or date of birth which the applicant stated to be his or her correct name or date of birth at the time of naturalization was not in fact his or her name or date of birth at the time of the naturalization.

[76 FR 53803, Aug. 29, 2011]

§§ 338.6-338.10 - §[Reserved]