The Grandparent Route: Three Questions That Settle It

The grandparent route is probably the most misunderstood thing we get asked about. People arrive assuming that an American grandparent passes citizenship to a grandchild. That is not what it says, and the difference decides whether you have a case at all.

What the law actually does

This route, filed on Form N-600K under section 322 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, starts from one condition: **the child's parent must be a US citizen**. A grandparent does not stand in for a parent.

What the grandparent supplies is the physical presence the parent is short of. A citizen parent who grew up entirely in Israel may never have accumulated the years in the US that transmitting citizenship requires, and that is where the previous generation comes in. That is the whole of the grandparent's role here.

Which means: if the parent is not a US citizen, this route is closed, even if the grandparent was born in Brooklyn.

First question: is the parent a US citizen?

If not, there is no N-600K. That does not mean there is nothing at all, but it is a different route entirely and worth looking at on its own terms.

Second question: does a grandparent have five years in the US?

The requirement is specific: physical presence in the United States totalling at least five years, with at least two of them after that grandparent's fourteenth birthday. Presence is assessed on the detail, which is exactly why the file is worth examining closely before filing rather than after.

Third question: how old is the child?

Under 18, and not only at filing. **The oath has to happen before the eighteenth birthday**, and that deadline does not move for anyone.

The route also requires the child to travel to the United States for the interview, and children of 14 and over take the Oath of Allegiance. The official guidance is to file at least 90 days before the interview date you want, and to wait for the appointment notice before travelling. Booking flights before that notice is in hand is a risk with no upside.

The cost

The N-600K fee is $1,385 on paper and $1,335 filed online. Some situations carry no fee at all, including certain adoption cases. Those are US government fees; what we charge is listed separately.

If the citizen parent has died

Then the child's US citizen grandparent may file the application themselves, within five years of that death. It happens, and it is worth knowing the route does not simply close.

Where we come in

We start with a real eligibility check before anyone pays a filing fee: who holds citizenship, what the presence history looks like, and how the child's age sits against the timeline. If there is a route we build the file and coordinate the interview in the US. If there is not, you will hear that plainly, which is worth more than filing and being refused.