Acquisition of U.S. Citizenship by Birth in the United States

By being born in the US, a person automatically becomes a citizen of US. All that they need to do is to document this distinguished status so as to enjoy the various rights. This can be in the form of a US passport which is entitled only to US citizens. This will serve as a perfect and adequate proof of identification for any purposes.

In order to become a citizen at birth, a person should have either

• been born in the US  or its territories or any of its outlying possessions
• Had US citizen parent/parents, who were citizens at the time of their birth, if they were born outside the US, besides satisfying other requirements.

Facts about Citizenship

There are several occasions when people do not even realize that they have become US citizens. There are people who are born in the United States, but have spent most of their lives outside the US. These people believe that they have lost their citizenship status but what they tend to forget is that they have automatically acquired it by their birth in the US. Children who were not born in the US but have US citizen parents or grandparents can very easily acquire the citizenship status from their ancestors.  Children who are born to diplomats and other government officials (citizens of some other country) from foreign countries cannot become US citizens automatically even if they are born on US soil.

US Citizenship by Birth

Birth in the US is considered a great privilege as it makes that person a US citizen automatically. This is the reason why many immigrant mothers prefer to deliver their babies inside the US, even if they do not have the status of a citizen. Even if they are not able to enjoy the rights and other opportunities, they ensure that their children get it. This acquisition of the US citizenship by virtue of birth is referred to as birthright citizenship.

US citizenship is a matter of federal law and is governed by the US Constitution. The citizenship clause (after the adoption of the fourteenth amendment) states that ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’

Who can acquire this citizenship?

The US Federal Law defines the following 10 categories of people who automatically become US citizens by their birth in the US.

• A person born in the US and subject to its jurisdiction
• A person born in the US to a member of any of these tribes - Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or any other aboriginal tribe. This is a result of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
• A person, who is found in the US with unknown parentage, while still under the age of 5 until proved to have been born elsewhere before his/her 21years
• A person born in any outlying possessions of the US, with one of the  parents as a US citizen and who has been physically present in the US or the outlying possessions for a continuous period of time prior to the birth of that person.

Once a person has become a US citizen by birth, they continue to do so till their entire lifetime until and unless they get naturalized as a citizen of some other nation or voluntarily renounce it.