Acquiring US Citizenship Through the Naturalization Of Your Parents

The laws on whether you are a US citizen are simple when you are born in the United States. Unless you were born to foreign diplomats, you are a US citizen if you were born in the US whether or not you were born to US citizen parents. The birth certificate from the state in which you were born is proof of your US citizenship and no further work needs to be done to prove your US citizenship.

However, if you are born abroad the law becomes a lot more complicated and depends on a number of things including the citizenship status of your parents (and possibly grandparents) when you were born, the date when you were born, how much time your citizen parent had lived in the United States at the time of your birth, when your parents became naturalized US citizens if this was done after you were born, and whether you were born in or out of wedlock when you were born outside of the United States. This can be very confusing, but the following information should help you determine whether or not you automatically gained US citizenship after you were born abroad to non-US citizen parents who subsequently became naturalized US citizens. This will depend on when they naturalized, how old you were when they naturalized, if one or both parents naturalized and where you were living at the time of naturalization.

Specific rules apply to acquiring immigration status for children whose parents became naturalized US citizens after they were born. If one of your parents became a naturalized US citizen after February 27, 2001 and you were under the age of 18, but a permanent resident of the United States, then you automatically gained US citizenship when your parent naturalized. If, however, the naturalization occurred before that date, then both parents must have naturalized (or your only surviving parent) with the same requirement of being a minor and permanent US resident. In either case, the child must be living with the naturalized parent in order to receive US citizenship status. In this case, the child who gets US citizenship via the naturalization of his or her parent(s) does not have to participate in a naturalization ceremony in order to receive US citizenship. If, on the other hand, you were over the age of 18 when your parents naturalized, then you will have to naturalize on your own after living in the US as a permanent resident for at least 5 years.
In order to determine if a parent(s) naturalization resulted in the naturalization of the child(ren), the laws in effect when the parent(s) naturalized must be examined. The following time periods are important when determining the effect on the children of naturalized parents and it is imperative that you speak with an immigration attorney or other immigration expert when determining immigration status based on the particular circumstances of the case in question:

1. parents who naturalized before May 24, 1934
2. parents who naturalized between May 24, 1934 and January 12, 1941
3. parents who naturalized between January 13, 1941 and December 23, 1952
4. parents who naturalized between December 24, 1952 and October 4, 1978
5. parents who naturalized between October 5, 1978 and February 26, 2001, and
6. parents who naturalized between February 27, 2001 and the present.

If it is determined that, because of a parent’s naturalization, a child has a claim to US citizenship, a passport or other document that proves this citizenship status should be acquired.

For more information and advice on immigration issues, please contact my office at (949)228-3922 or email me at attorney@lawofficesofjackcsung.com to receive a free consultation with immigration attorney.  Immigration law office located at 2975 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 352 Los Angeles, CA 90010.  Click here to submit a consultation form to receive advice directly from immigration attorney.  Click here to return to the  home page.