What do you receive after the oath?

After taking the Oath of Allegiance, the new citizen receives Form N-550, the Certificate of Naturalization. The certificate is a personalized document, approximately 8.5 by 11 inches, printed on tamper-resistant paper with security features including a watermark, microprinting, and a unique alphanumeric certificate number. The certificate bears the new citizen's full name (as adopted at naturalization, including any name change approved during the naturalization process), photograph (the digital photograph captured at the biometrics appointment), a description of the citizen, the date of admission to citizenship (the date of the oath ceremony), the certificate number, the file number assigned by USCIS, and an embossed seal of the Department of Homeland Security.

The certificate also includes a brief statement that the bearer is admitted to citizenship of the United States of America, and the signature of the USCIS officer or judge who presided over the ceremony. The Certificate of Naturalization is one of three primary documents that establish U.S. citizenship for someone not born in the United States; the other two are the Certificate of Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561, issued under section 322 of the Immigration and Nationality Act for certain children of U.S. citizens born abroad) and the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (issued by the Department of State for U.S. citizens born to U.S. citizen parents abroad).

The certificate is required to apply for a U.S. passport (the State Department accepts the original certificate or, in some cases, a certified copy), to update Social Security records to reflect citizen status, to update voter registration, to apply for jobs requiring citizenship (most federal employment, military service in certain capacities, and some state and local positions), and to petition for relatives under section 201 or 203 of the Act. The original certificate should be stored in a safe place and never laminated (lamination invalidates the certificate by potentially obscuring security features). If the certificate is lost, stolen, or destroyed, the citizen can apply for a replacement using Form N-565 (Application for Replacement Naturalization or Citizenship Document) with a fee of $555 under the April 2024 fee schedule.