Passing on American Citizenship

Legislation covering the passing-on of US citizenship is highly complex, enshrined in the 14th amendment and in numerous laws dating back to the early Congresses and, most recently, in an act passed in 2000.

• Your child is an American citizen if he or she was born in the USA.
• Your child is also a citizen if he or she was born abroad and both parents are US citizens, at least one of whom resided in the US or a US possession.
• If only one parent is a US citizen, that parent must have been physically present in the US or possession for a period of at least five years prior to the child's birth, at least two of which were after the age of 14.
• Different rules apply for children born out of wedlock or born before 1986.

The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 made it a bit easier for minor children (foreign-born and adopted abroad), who would not otherwise qualify, to become citizens of the US. It provided that an adopted or natural-born minor child of one or both citizen parents becomes a US citizen as soon as s/he arrives on US soil, assuming proper adoption and immigration procedures are fulfilled. However, it does NOT apply to children of civilian expatriates who do not live in or immigrate to the US or to a child who arrives as a tourist or other visitor to the US. It is NOT retrospective to the child's birth and it does NOT apply to children over 18.

It is possible for private US citizens residing permanently abroad and not intending to return to the USA to obtain US citizenship for their children (natural or adopted), not otherwise eligible to be citizens, through a special naturalization procedure that allows them to file the papers from abroad. The American parent(s) must then travel to the chosen District Office in the United States with their child(ren) to finalize the process on the day of a previously arranged appointment. Naturalization is not possible outside the USA.

For more information on US citizenship, go to the American Citizens Abroad (ACA) website.  A useful summary of US Nationality Law may be found in Wikipedia.

If you have been, or may be, affected by this legislation, ACA would appreciate your comments and observations. Read their most recent paper, Passing On U.S. Citizenship, in pdf format. Contact them at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .