> U.S. law also states that a child born outside of the U.S to a U.S. citizen parent who previously spent sufficient time in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen at birth, regardless of whether the child also has the citizenship of the country of birth or another citizenship. U.S. citizens married to fellow U.S. citizens can transmit U.S. citizenship to their children if either parent has ever had a residence in the United States (without any minimum time limitation on how long they held that residence.) However, for U.S. citizens married to non-U.S. citizens, the required period of residence is longer; under the Nationality Act of 1940 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the required period of residence was set to ten years, five of which had to be after the age of 14. The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1986 reduced this to five years, two of which had to be after the age of 14.
So you're automatically a citizen if you're born in the USA, if both of your parents are citizens (and at least one has resided in the USA), or if either of your parents is a citizen and lived in the USA for 5 years (2 of which after the age of 14).
As someone who meets the third condition (one parent a US citizen and lived there for more than 5 years), it was really hard to convince the US that I was a US citizen. Every one I talked to told me to go to a country I hadn't been in since I was 5 and apply for citizenship through family sponsorship. This was more than 20 years ago and no one threatened to deport me.
After trying to get citizenship without leaving the country for about a year, I went to the post office and applied for a passport again, with every document that could possibly be relevant. The post office person looked through my pile of documents, declared my mother's passport good enough, stuffed it in the envelope, and a passport came in the mail for me. I think you may have explained to me how that worked out.
Oh sorry, I meant this person specifically (they seemed really angry about it and/or surprised). I don’t find any of the rules surprising, so I’m genuinely curious which one is so offensive!
I'm a US expat living in Canada, and a parent of Canadian children. They are eligible for US citizenship, but don't become US citizens unless I go through a procedure to register them as such.
That's not true; they are in fact citizens under US law. They may not have an SSN or a passport, but neither is a condition for citizenship.
Also, at least from a tax perspective, if you plan on remaining a US citizen, you might benefit from getting SSNs for your kids so you can claim the child tax credit and stimulus payments for 2021.
And if they don't want to be citizens, renouncing citizenship in the 6 months immediately after they turn 18 can avoid tax complications.
> U.S. law also states that a child born outside of the U.S to a U.S. citizen parent who previously spent sufficient time in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen at birth, regardless of whether the child also has the citizenship of the country of birth or another citizenship. U.S. citizens married to fellow U.S. citizens can transmit U.S. citizenship to their children if either parent has ever had a residence in the United States (without any minimum time limitation on how long they held that residence.) However, for U.S. citizens married to non-U.S. citizens, the required period of residence is longer; under the Nationality Act of 1940 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the required period of residence was set to ten years, five of which had to be after the age of 14. The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1986 reduced this to five years, two of which had to be after the age of 14.
So you're automatically a citizen if you're born in the USA, if both of your parents are citizens (and at least one has resided in the USA), or if either of your parents is a citizen and lived in the USA for 5 years (2 of which after the age of 14).
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_American