US Lists 4 Conditions a Foreign-Born Child Must Meet to Get Automatic Citizenship Before 18

• The US Citizenship and Immigration Services outlined the legal pathway for foreign-born children to acquire automatic US citizenship
• The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 forms the legal backbone of the automatic citizenship rule, which took effect on February 27, 2001
• USCIS confirmed that all four conditions must be met simultaneously before the child's 18th birthday for the rule to apply

The United States government has officially outlined the specific conditions a child born outside the country must satisfy to automatically become a US citizen before turning 18, bypassing the standard naturalisation process entirely.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy manual states that the legal foundation for this pathway is Section 320 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. The provision came into force on 27 February 2001.

4 conditions for US citizenship before 18

According to USCIS, four requirements must all be satisfied at the same time before the child reaches their 18th birthday. There is no prescribed order in which they must be fulfilled, provided they all apply concurrently.

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First, the child must have at least one parent who is a US citizen, whether by birth or through naturalisation. Adoptive parents qualify under this condition.

Second, the child must be under 18 years of age at the time all conditions are met.

Third, the child must hold lawful permanent resident (LPR) status in the United States.

Fourth, the child must be living inside the United States under the legal and physical custody of the US citizen parent.

USCIS emphasised that the requirement for physical and legal custody is firm. The child must actually reside with the citizen parent within the country for the automatic acquisition of citizenship to take effect.

Burden of proof and who qualifies

Because any individual born outside the United States is legally presumed to be a foreign national, the responsibility of proving citizenship falls on the person making the claim. USCIS applies the "preponderance of the evidence" standard, meaning the claimant must demonstrate that it is more likely than not that all four conditions were met before the child turned 18.

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The policy covers both biological and adopted children equally, provided all other eligibility requirements are satisfied.

Source: YEN.com.gh