Acquiring or Deriving Citizenship Through Parents

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Even if you were not born in the United States, you may be a U.S. citizen. This can happen by being born overseas to a U.S. citizen parent or parents, or by having held a green card when your parents became naturalized U.S. citizens. However, the legal details have changed over the years. Find out more here.

How Acquisition and Derivation of U.S. Citizenship Works

U.S. Citizenship by Birth or Through Parents
An overview of who may acquire or derive U.S. citizenship through their parents' citizenship status or naturalization.
Acquisition or Derivation of Citizenship for Adopted Children
Adopted children can acquire or derive U.S. citizenship from parents in similar ways to biological children -- but additional rules apply.
Can I get U.S. citizenship through a grandparent?
When U.S. citizenship can pass down through generations.
When U.S. parents use assisted reproductive technology, is baby born abroad a U.S. citizen?
Longstanding U.S. immigration law creates complications and injustices when applied to modern technological possibilities.

Checking Your Birth Date Against the Laws of Acquisition

Acquiring Citizenship Through U.S. Citizen Parents (If You were Born Between 12/24/1952 and 11/13/1986)
Born abroad to U.S. citizens between 12/24/1952 and 11/13/1986? You yourself may be a U.S. citizen.
Acquiring Citizenship Through U.S. Citizen Parents (If You were Born Between 11/14/1986 and the Present)
Here's the law on who, born in recent decades, becomes a citizen automatically through a U.S. citizen parent.

Checking Your Birth Date Against the Laws of Derivation

Deriving Citizenship Through Parents (Naturalized between 10/24/1952 and 10/04/1978)
If you have a green card, check into your family history, you may discover that you're already a U.S. citizen based on your parents naturalization.
Deriving Citizenship Through Parents (Naturalized between 10/05/1978 and 02/26/2001)
For green card holders whose parents naturalized, derivation of U.S. citizenship is a possibility.
Deriving Citizenship Through Parents If You Turn 18 on or After February 27, 2001
You may already be a U.S. citizen, through an automatic process called derivation."

Applying for U.S. Government Recognition of Your Status as a Citizen

How the Foreign-Born Children of American Citizens Can Prove or Obtain U.S. Nationality
You should be able to obtain proof of your acquired or derived U.S. citizenship.
What should I get first: a Certificate of Citizenship or U.S. passport?
Citizens by acquisition or derivation can apply for a passport without first having a certificate of citizenship, and vice versa.