Services for Americans - Reports of Birth Abroad

Children with no claim to U.S. citizenship

If you are not eligible to transmit citizenship to your child, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 provided two methods for your child to obtain U.S. citizenship:

1) Expeditious naturalization through a grandparent

Under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, a child under age 18 who has a U.S. citizen grandparent who meets the physical presence requirements  may qualify for expeditious naturalization under the Immigration and Nationality Act.  Although not entitled to U.S. citizenship at birth, the child can, through this procedure, become a U.S. citizen by naturalization without first having to take up residence in the United States.  It is, however, necessary for the child to travel to the United States for the naturalization, and all applications and documentation must be submitted and approved beforehand.  This procedure must be done through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and can take from six months to a year or more.  For more information, visit www.uscis.gov.

2) Automatic acquisition of citizenship

Biological and adopted children of U.S. citizens who are born overseas can automatically acquire citizenship provided the following requirements are met:

• One parent is a U.S. citizen by birth or through naturalization; and
• The child is under the age of 18; and
• The child is residing in the United States as a lawful permanent resident alien (that is to say has entered the U.S. on an immigrant visa and has an alien resident card) and is in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent; and
• If the child is adopted, the adoption must be final.  If the adoption is to be finalized in the United States, the child becomes eligible for citizenship once the adoption process is completed.

Children under the age of 18 who had already fulfilled the above four conditions acquired U.S. citizenship automatically on February 27, 2001. Children who have not yet fulfilled these conditions will acquire U.S. citizenship on the day that the last of these criteria has been met, provided the child is still under 18 at the time.  More information is available from the Department of State's website.

If you are not eligible to transmit citizenship to your child, and s/he cannot qualify for naturalization as described above, s/he may require a tourist visa to travel to the United States for a temporary, nonworking visit.