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Title 8 — Aliens and NationalityRelease 119-73not60

§1454 Documents and Copies Issued by Attorney General

Title 8 › Chapter 12— IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY › Subchapter III— NATIONALITY AND NATURALIZATION › Part II— Nationality Through Naturalization › § 1454

Last updated Apr 3, 2026|Official source

Summary

You can ask the Attorney General for a new naturalization or citizenship certificate, or for a new declaration of intention, if your original papers are lost, destroyed, or badly damaged. If the papers were damaged, you must give them back before getting a new one. If they were lost, anyone who finds them must turn them in. If your name changed after you became a citizen (by a court or by marriage), you can apply for a replacement in the new name; the Attorney General will issue it and tell the court that handled your naturalization. A naturalized citizen can also ask for a special certificate to prove U.S. citizenship to a foreign government; when issued, it goes to the Secretary of State to send to that government. The Attorney General may make official certified copies of naturalization records or certificates for use under state or federal law or in court. A court clerk may only make such a certification if the court orders it.

Full Legal Text

Title 8, §1454

Aliens and Nationality — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)If any certificate of naturalization or citizenship issued to any citizen or any declaration of intention furnished to any declarant is lost, mutilated, or destroyed, the citizen or declarant may make application to the Attorney General for a new certificate or declaration. If the Attorney General finds that the certificate or declaration is lost, mutilated, or destroyed, he shall issue to the applicant a new certificate or declaration. If the certificate or declaration has been mutilated, it shall be surrendered to the Attorney General before the applicant may receive such new certificate or declaration. If the certificate or declaration has been lost, the applicant or any other person who shall have, or may come into possession of it is required to surrender it to the Attorney General.
(b)The Attorney General shall issue for any naturalized citizen, on such citizen’s application therefor, a special certificate of naturalization for use by such citizen only for the purpose of obtaining recognition as a citizen of the United States by a foreign state. Such certificate when issued shall be furnished to the Secretary of State for transmission to the proper authority in such foreign state.
(c)If the name of any naturalized citizen has, subsequent to naturalization, been changed by order of any court of competent jurisdiction, or by marriage, the citizen may make application for a new certificate of naturalization in the new name of such citizen. If the Attorney General finds the name of the applicant to have been changed as claimed, the Attorney General shall issue to the applicant a new certificate and shall notify the naturalization court of such action.
(d)The Attorney General is authorized to make and issue certifications of any part of the naturalization records of any court, or of any certificate of naturalization or citizenship, for use in complying with any statute, State or Federal, or in any judicial proceeding. No such certification shall be made by any clerk of court except upon order of the court.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1988—Pub. L. 100–525 redesignated subsecs. (b) to (e) as (a) to (d), respectively, and struck out former subsec. (a) which read as follows: “A person who claims to have been naturalized in the United States under section 323 of the Nationality Act of 1940 may make application to the Attorney General for a certificate of naturalization. Upon proof to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that the applicant is a citizen and that he has been naturalized as claimed in the application, such individual shall be furnished a certificate of naturalization by the Attorney General, but only if the applicant is at the time within the United States.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service and

Transfer of Functions

For abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service,

Transfer of Functions

, and treatment of related references, see note set out under section 1551 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

8 U.S.C. § 1454

Title 8 — Aliens and Nationality

Last Updated

Apr 3, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60