Question:
I became a U.S. citizen a week ago. However, when I tried to apply for a U.S. passport using my naturalization certificate, I realized that my date of birth is incorrect! How do I get a corrected certificate?

Answer:
Once you receive your naturalization certificate at the conclusion of the oath ceremony, you should take care to review it for accuracy and alert a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official of any mistakes that you find. However, if you later discover an error on your certificate, you can file a Form N-565, Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document.

Your naturalization certificate should state the place of your application, the date and place of your naturalization, and be signed (or stamped) by the Director of USCIS in order for it to be valid. There are also several pieces of personal information that must be present on your naturalization certificate:
1. Your name. (If you requested a name change on your N-400, your new name should be on your naturalization certificate.)
2. Your date of birth.
3. Your gender.
4. Your height.
5. Your country of former nationality.

If a USCIS signature is missing or if any information on the certificate is incorrect, you should mail Form N-565 to USCIS to receive a corrected naturalization certificate. If the error is USCIS’s fault, then you will not have to pay a fee. But if the error is your fault because you provided incorrect information on your Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, or you failed to update this information prior to taking the naturalization oath, you will have to pay a filing fee. For a list of current USCIS fees, see G-1055, Fee Schedule.

Make a copy of your filled-out form for yourself and attach your original naturalization certificate to Form N-565. In Part 5, explain why your information on the certificate is incorrect. You must also provide evidence of the correct information and why it was not your fault. For an incorrect date of birth, attach copies of your birth certificate, driver’s license, and other official documents stating your birthday. If the error was not your fault, also attach a copy of your signed Form N-400 showing that you provided USCIS with the correct date of birth.

It can take several months for USCIS to process an N-565. If you need your naturalization certificate immediately (because you need to apply for a U.S. passport for upcoming travel, for example), you should include a letter requesting expedited service due to this necessity.

If you are filing an N-565 because of USCIS’s error, state that in your cover letter. Once USCIS has received your application, you can request an InfoPass appointment to check the status of your application and expedite request.