U.S. Citizenship by Birth or Through Parents
You may already be a U.S. citizen by birth or naturalization and not know it.
U.S. citizenship can be obtained in one of four ways:
- birth in the United States or its territories
- birth to U.S. citizen parents (called "acquisition" of citizenship)
- naturalization (obtaining citizenship after an application and exam), or
- naturalization of one's parents (called "derivation" of citizenship).
Naturalization is discussed under Applying for U.S. Citizenship.
Some people are already U.S. citizens and don't know it. Most of these people fall into one of three groups:
People born in the United States who have lived most of their lives in other countries. If you fall into this category, you may mistakenly believe that your long absence from the country, plus voting or military activities elsewhere, have stripped you of U.S. citizenship. This is not the case.
People who have U.S. citizens in their direct line of ancestry. If your parents or grandparents were U.S. citizens, you may not realize that U.S. citizenship has been passed down the line, even if you were born elsewhere and your parents or grandparents haven't lived in the United States for a long time.
Children of naturalized U.S. citizens. When parents become naturalized U.S. citizens, their minor children with green cards gain U.S. citizenship automatically. (Children under the age of 18 cannot normally apply to become naturalized U.S. citizens.)
You will, however, need to do some research to establish your rights. Here, we'll explore each of the above three possibilities in turn.
Birth in the United States
A child born on American soil automatically gets U.S. citizenship, unless the child is born to a foreign government official who is in the United States as a recognized diplomat. Children born in certain U.S. territories -- Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam -- may also acquire U.S. citizenship. For details, see Title 8 of the U.S. Code, available at www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08.
Anyone born with U.S. citizenship retains it for life unless he or she deliberately gives it up -- for example, by filing an oath of renunciation.
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