My girlfriend who is an Attorney has a client that had a child in the U.S., but the Cllient himself was here Illegally...Does he have any or gain rights or have the opportunity to become a U.S. citizen if the child born in the U.S. is a naturalized U.S. citizen now? The attorney was working on a custody case to get the child out of foster care and back to the father, but now found out that the father has a valid working permit, but is still here Illegally. What is the law when it comes to the Child being a naturalized U.S. Citizen, but the parent is not? Can the father become a citizen or does he get deported?


Thx,


MrNiceguy

Children born in the US are US citizens at birth (barring a few unusual circumstance like the parents are foreign diplomats) regardless of the citizenship or nationality of the parents. The illegal father cannot benefit from the child's status until the child is 21 and can petition for the father. 5 years after the father has been a legal permanent resident (I think) he can become a citizen.

The fact that his child is a USC does not affect his ability to get deported. (Have you seen the very controversial story about the woman in Chicago who is holed up in a church, refusing to leave, because there is an order for her deportation? Her son was born in the US and therefore a US Citizen and her argument is that she should not be deported because of this. But if this were the case, zillions of illegals in the US would no longer be illegal just because their children were born here. That's not the way it works).

If the father is illegal in the US, chances are extremely high that his work permit is not valid unless, perhaps, his illegal status is due to the expiration of a valid work visa. That part sounds very fishy to me.

I don't have an answer to your questions, but I think it's funny that your girlfriend is a lawyer and you are here asking questions.

You read my mind.

Not very good trolling, Mr. Nice Guy.

dammit - why do I ALWAYS fall for it? I had the same thought - any good lawyer would be able to find a quick, simple answer to this question. But then I thought, maybe she's a criminal lawyer or something like that and just didn't feel like checking. . . UGH - this is getting embarrasing.

I seriously doubt an attorney working on a child custody issue within the Foster Care system would also be an immigration attorney

I wasn't questioning the post being legit as much as some guy is paying his girlfriend to be his lawyer and her boyfriend is on a Website asking questions about his case. That's what I thought was funny.