US Citizenship Question

[Cuckoomamma]

I have a relative who was born in the US to a US citizen and non-US citizen. The child only lived in the US until she was about 2 years old (35ish years ago).

The child grew up and had a child out of wedlock (father not an American). The mother and child have never lived in the US since the mother was about 2. The mother has told us that the child (13) is an American citizen and that they will be re-locating to the US now.

Is this possible? Everything I turn up on the internet says that one or the other needs to have spent time living here in the US. Does anyone know differently?

[mommy111]

Yup, the mom is a US citizen by virtue of being born to one and her child is too. There are lots of US expats who live abroad and their kids are American citizens regardless of where they were born.

[MontrealMum]

What she said. Mom was born in the US, she's a US citizen. Her child all have the right to apply for US citizenship. The only thing I have to add is that the mom would have had to apply for citizenship for the child (the 13 yo), and I think that the mom has to have maintained her own citizenship (ie, not renounced it while living in another country). Citizenship is automatically granted if you're born in the US. If you're born to a US citizen outside the country you have the right to it, but it has to be applied for. The rules regarding this are different if the child is younger than, or older than, 18. For example, I am a US citizen who gave birth in Canada, and will be living in Canada for the forseeable future. My child has the right to US citizenship, but he is not yet a citizen because I have not gotten my act together to apply on his behalf.

[kara97210]

I would definitely talk to an immigration attorney, but I think your cousin is correct.

I have a good friend who was born in France, her father was a US citizen and her mom was French. She and her siblings were raised primarily in France, but had dual citizenship and spent a lot of summers visiting family in the US. In college she moved to the US and eventually married an American, had a family here, etc. She has one sister who also moved to the US and brother who stayed in France and is raising a family there. The children of her brother have visited many times, and I believe they are US citizens, I know they travel on US passports.

I also think a lot can depend on what country she has been living in. I have another friend who is married to someone from Nigeria and from what I understand their children do not have dual citizenship, they are just US citizens.

[niccig]

Yep, we did this in reverse. I'm Australian, so DS is eligible for Australian citizenship, I just had to fill out some paperwork. DS can move there, go to college there as a resident etc.

Now DS is Australian by descent, if he's in Australia for a certain no. of days before he turns 18 yrs old (and we probably will be), he'll be able to pass Australian citizenship onto his kids.

[tropicalmom]

Not as simple as it sounds based on my experience.

I am US citizen and had DD in Costa Rica. Father was Costa Rican. Getting her citizenship involved lots of paperwork since both parents were not US citizens and I tried to do it immediately after she was born to get her passport for first trip.

I had to prove that I had lived in the US for 10 years, 5 of which were after I turned 14. I literally had to get transcripts of my high school record and of my college record to hit the number of years requirement even thought I lived there until I was 24.

I also had to get a letter from the doctor stating that he witnessed her coming out of my body. The birth certificate was not sufficient. All this had to go to the embassy and then they issued a certificate of birth abroad and with that we could get her US passport. It was so much trouble getting it all complete before taking a trip to visit my parents, at one point I just told the embassy that I would just apply for a tourist visa for her and travel on her Costa Rican passport and the told me that they couldn't guarantee she would be approved for a tourist visa!! Seriously, she was 5 months old going to see her grandparents. Ridiculous!

My friend had a baby about the same time in Costa Rica but since she was US citizen and hubby was as well, it was a complete different process for them-much easier.

This is what the rules were 7 years ago. They might not have been the same 13 years ago when her daughter was born but I can only speak to my experience.

We are now going through process to get green card for hubby since we're going to live in US for 3-4 years and that's a whole other list of requirements.

the state departement website should have information on birth abroad requirements.

It might be the case that the mother has to request a green card for the daughter before they enter the US and then continue process if daughter wants to get citizenship once stateside. If that is the case, Mom will need to show that she has filed tax returns for the past 5 years. She really needs to check things out before coming. If the daughter does not have US passport then she could have to have a tourist visa depending on country of passport. If she comes in on a tourist visa and then wants to change status, it can become a long drawn out process.

visajourney.com has information if she can't get a US passport.

I suggest she do her research to fully understand things and avoid mistakes which could be very costly.

[JdrKuhnert]

I also had to prove that I was present in the US for 5 years after aged 18 before DS1,3, and 4 were granted their citizenship. The consul general recommended that we keep all boarding passes for our boys so that they can prove presence in the US and pass US citizenship on to their children. We should also keep the boarding passes for DS2 who was born in the US. The last time that we applied for citizenship was 2012. Your friend should contact the American Citizens Service for the Embassy where she is located. The application process is fairly straight forward. It took us about a month to receive our documents.

[tropicalmom]

That's a great idea about keeping boarding passes. Now that we're going to US for a few years I will definitely start keeping those and make sure I keep her US school records as well.

[fedoragirl]

I also had to prove that I was present in the US for 5 years after aged 18 before DS1,3, and 4 were granted their citizenship. The consul general recommended that we keep all boarding passes for our boys so that they can prove presence in the US and pass US citizenship on to their children. We should also keep the boarding passes for DS2 who was born in the US. The last time that we applied for citizenship was 2012. Your friend should contact the American Citizens Service for the Embassy where she is located. The application process is fairly straight forward. It took us about a month to receive our documents.

Aren't your DC US citizens? Why then, do they need boarding passes to prove that they have been on US soil? Is it solely for their future children?
In my case, one DC was born in the US and the other in Germany. Both are dual citizens. We went through similar paperwork for DS after he was born. It was very streamlined since both parents are US citizens.
In your friend's case, she will need to prove that she has been on US soil (visits or otherwise) since she was 2. I gather that's what her child will need to do, as well. I don't think you can expect that children born to US citizens are automatically granted US citizenship. That has not been my experience and every expat I know and who has given birth abroad has had to apply for it and prove their own citizenship.

[JBaxter]

My sister in law is Japanese and my nephews hold duel citizenship until age 18. My brother told me at that time they have to choose if they want Japanese or American. It may be country specific. My husbands best friend just moved back from Thailand his girls have US passports ( 1 & 2) they were both born in Thailand but they had to go the the US consulate to get them and started paper work at birth.

[indigo99]

Some countries don't allow dual citizenship so in order to be a citizen, you'd have to give up your American citizenship. America allows it so if you're born here (I assume the parents applied for and received a social security number for their cild) then you can move somewhere else and still be a US citizen. As pp said, it's the kids born in another country to Americans that have more trouble claiming citizenship. My boys were born in America to an American and a Swede (DH), and we have until they're 18 to go and apply/receive Swedish citizenship for them.

[JdrKuhnert]

Aren't your DC US citizens? Why then, do they need boarding passes to prove that they have been on US soil? Is it solely for their future children?


My boys are all US citizens. The boarding passes are solely to prove presence on US soil for my children's children to receive US citizenship.