Siev v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 Daniel Siev, Case No.: 22cv1700-JO-MSB 12 Petitioner, ORDER GRANTING PETITION TO 13 v. AMEND A CERTIFICATE OF NATURALIZATION 14 United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; United States District Court for 15 the Southern District of California, and 16 Does 1-100, 17 Respondents. 18 19 20 21 22 23 Petitioner Daniel Siev filed a petition requesting this Court to change the date 24 of birth on his Certificate of Naturalization from February 3, 1966, to February 3, 1960. 25 Dkt. 1 (Petition). For the following reasons, the Court grants the Petition. 26 On February 13, 1987, Petitioner, who was born in Cambodia, was naturalized as a 27 United States citizen by the United States District Court for the Southern District of 28 California. Dkt. 1-2 (“C ertificate of Naturalization”). Although his Certificate of 1 Naturalization lists his date of birth as February 3, 1966, Petitioner claims that the date 2 indicated is incorrect. His original Cambodian birth certificate lists his date of birth as 3 February 3, 1960. Dkt. 1-3. On August 12, 2021, Petitioner submitted an application to 4 the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to correct his 5 Certificate of Naturalization. USCIS denied this request on the grounds that the authority 6 to amend a naturalization certificate issued by a district court rests with the United States 7 District Court for the Southern District of California. On November 1, 2022, Petitioner 8 then filed the instant petition in this Court. In response, USCIS stated that it finds no 9 indication of fraud and does not oppose Petitioner’s requested relief. Dkt. 5. 10 Federal courts have jurisdiction to modify naturalization certificates issued by the 11 court prior to October 1, 1991. Collins v. U.S. Citizenship and Immig. Servs., 820 F.3d 12 1096, 1097 (9th Cir. 2016) (holding that federal courts have jurisdiction over a petition to 13 modify a certificate of naturalization issued by the court before the passage of the 14 Immigration Act of 1990). To amend the date of birth on a naturalization certificate, “[t]he 15 petitioner bears the burden of showing that the date on his or her certificate of naturalization 16 is incorrect.” Binh Quang Le v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigr. Servs., Dist. Director, 2011 17 WL 3678909, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 22, 2011). Generally, courts have granted amendment 18 “where the petitioner has presented clear evidence of her true date of birth and there are no 19 concerns that petitioner acted fraudulently in representing her date of birth in her initial 20 naturalization petition.” Bazouzi v. Johnson, 2015 WL 1968004, at *3 (N.D. Cal. May 1, 21 2015) (collecting cases). 22 The Court finds Petitioner has provided sufficient evidence that the date of birth on 23 his Certificate of Naturalization is incorrect and that February 3, 1960, is his correct date 24 of birth. Petitioner submitted a birth certificate issued by the Cambodian government that 25 shows his date of birth is February 3, 1960. In addition, the record does not indicate any 26 signs of fraudulent activity by Petitioner. Accordingly, Petitioner’s request to change his 27 date of birth on his Certificate of Naturalization from February 3, 1966, to February 3, 1960 28 | |}is GRANTED. USCIS shall amend Petitioner’s Certificate of Naturalization to list 2 || Petitioner’s date of birth as February 3, 1960. The Clerk of Court shall close this case. 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 5 || Dated: September 25, 2023 Qe 6 7 Honorable Jinsook Ohta 9 United States District Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28