Giving birth outside of the U.S

[avesta 0]

Hello,

My wife is an american citizen (she became a citizen about 2 years ago) and I'm a green card holder. I wanted to know if our son is born outside of the U.S, will he get an american citizenship immediately?

[alizon 77]

I think probably not...

From the Wikipedia page on American birthright citizenship:

If one parent is a U.S. citizen and the other parent is not, the child is a citizen if

-the U.S. citizen parent has been "physically present" in the U.S. before the child's birth for a total period of at least five years, and

-at least two of those five years were after the U.S. citizen parent's fourteenth birthday

The issue would probably be whether the time she spent in the US before becoming a citizen counts toward the five years of physical presence. I would guess that it does not count, but I don't have a source for that.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Yes it does count.

The baby will be a US citizen because your wife has the 5 years of physical presence. She will need to go through CRBA.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hello,

My wife is an american citizen (she became a citizen about 2 years ago) and I'm a green card holder. I wanted to know if our son is born outside of the U.S, will he get an american citizenship immediately?

If your wife meets the physical presence requirement, then her son would automatically be a US citizen.

To pass US citizenship to her child born outside the US, your wife must have been physically present in the US for 5 years (2 years after the age of 14) prior to the birth of a child. Physical presence prior to her obtaining US citizen counts.

To claim US citizenship for her child, she needs to file a CRBA and US passport for the child at the US Embassy.

[NickD 203]

Even of both of you were hear illegally, if your child was born here, would be a US citizen, that is the way our law or our government law is. And that place of birth will be on your child's US Passport.

Grandmother, a US citizen decided to give birth to my dad in Italy, was a black mark on him for his entire life, in particular when we were at war with Italy. Don't think about yourself, think about your kid and what that kid would have to go through for the rest of his/her life.

It's that God almighty place of birth that is of all importance to the law. Even my wife and stepdaughter are forced to have dual citizenship, because of their place of birth. Not exactly the same as being born here. They did not choose to be born where they were born, but choose to live here, but that doesn't count as far as the law is concerned.

[avesta 0]

Thanks for all of your responses. She hasn't been living here for 5 years so we'll just stay here and give birth to our son

[warlord 73]

Your child and wife will be fine, you on the other hand being on at CG and living outside the US is a totally different situation...

Edited September 21, 2012 by warlord

[NickD 203]

Friends adopted, both natural born US citizens adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia. While her new birth certificate lists her parents name as her true parents, still says she was born in Ethiopia. She requires naturalization papers to get a US passport.

We don't make the laws, somebody else does, only God knows who.

My son wanted to open a college fund trust fund for my new grandson, couldn't even to that until he got an SS number for him. For that, needed a birth certificate stating he was a US citizen, in other words, born here. Republicans in our state know many minorities are born at home without birth certificates, so passed a law requiring a state ID, for that, you need a birth certificate stating you were born here. So far, the courts are striking that down, but is a battle.