New York · est. 2013Saturday, September 5, 2026
Inside Immigration

Plain-language guides to US immigration, asylum and USCIS procedure.

Forms

N-565 Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document

Replaces a lost, stolen, mutilated, or incorrect naturalisation certificate or certificate of citizenship, and updates a certificate after a legal name change. It does not re-establish citizenship; the person is a citizen either way.

Fee
$555 paper, $505 online. $0 if the certificate is wrong because USCIS made the error.
Fee waiver
Available (Form I-912)
Who files
U.S. citizens who naturalised or hold a certificate of citizenship.
Where to file
Online through a USCIS account, or by mail to the lockbox named in the instructions.
Processing time
7.2 months (FY 2026 national median through June 30, 2026)

Usually filed with

Part of these processes

What changed in 2025 and 2026

  • A U.S. passport is usually a faster and cheaper proof of citizenship than a replacement certificate, and it is accepted everywhere the certificate is.

Official page. https://www.uscis.gov/n-565. Download the form there, never from a third-party site; check the edition date and fee before filing.