Reuters :
Some children born to U.S. citizens stationed abroad as government employees or members of the U.S. military will no longer qualify for automatic American citizenship under a policy change unveiled on Wednesday by the Trump administration.
Effective Oct. 29, certain parents serving overseas in the U.S. armed forces or other agencies of the federal government must go through a formal application process seeking U.S. citizenship on their children’s behalf by their 18th birthday, the policy states.
A government fact sheet, however, listed several caveats appearing to exempt many such children from the new requirement, including those with at least one U.S. citizen parent who lived in the United States before the child’s birth.
Currently, children born to U.S. citizens stationed by their government in a foreign country are legally considered to be “residing in the United States,” thus allowing their parents to simply obtain a certificate showing their children acquired citizenship automatically.
But in an 11-page “policy alert,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency said it found the prevailing rules contradictory and at odds with other parts of federal immigration law and State Department procedures.
Some children born to U.S. citizens stationed abroad as government employees or members of the U.S. military will no longer qualify for automatic American citizenship under a policy change unveiled on Wednesday by the Trump administration.
Effective Oct. 29, certain parents serving overseas in the U.S. armed forces or other agencies of the federal government must go through a formal application process seeking U.S. citizenship on their children’s behalf by their 18th birthday, the policy states.
A government fact sheet, however, listed several caveats appearing to exempt many such children from the new requirement, including those with at least one U.S. citizen parent who lived in the United States before the child’s birth.
Currently, children born to U.S. citizens stationed by their government in a foreign country are legally considered to be “residing in the United States,” thus allowing their parents to simply obtain a certificate showing their children acquired citizenship automatically.
But in an 11-page “policy alert,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency said it found the prevailing rules contradictory and at odds with other parts of federal immigration law and State Department procedures.
