If my child is born outside of the US, is he/she a US citizen?

[janda 0]

I ask becuase we are considering having our child in my spouse's country due to finances and logistics of taking care of the baby. Does it matter that only one of us is a US citizen and the other is a permanent resident, or it makes no difference? And if he is a US Citizen, how does that work becuase the foreign hospital would not be able to produce a "US birth certificate?" Can the US Embassy in that country make him a "US birth certificate?" Is there a lot of paperwork for us to do to make him a US citizen? Could someone tell me what paperwork that is and what it involves to do all of this?

Thanks,

janda

[Eric_and_Corinna 0]

You will need to take the child's birth certificate, as well as your US birth certificate and some other items to the nearest US Consulate and file for a Consular Birth Abroad certificate. You can also apply for the child's US passport and social security number at the same time.

[lucyrich 20]

Contact the foreign consulate in the country where the child will be born about what their requirements are for a "consular report of birth abroad".

If the child is born of one US Citizen parent and one alien parent, and, prior to the birth, the US citizen parent has spent at least five years physically present in the US, at least two of those years being after the Citizen parent turned 14 years old, then the child is automatically a US Citizen at birth. According to most legal scholars, he/she would even qualify to run for president as a "natural born citizen", though the supreme court hasn't definitively ruled on that issue.

Be prepared to prove the citizenship of the US citizen parent, and prove the fact that the US Citizen parent was in the US for the required time, and prove that the US Citizen parent is genuinely the parent of the child. Different consulates may have slightly different requirements for what documents they want to see to establish these facts, but they'll all need to establish the same thing.

Theoretically, the child can file an N-600 for a certificate of citizenship, or simply file a passport application to get a US passport. The same elements will need to be proven regardless of which way you seek proof of US Citizenship. Theoretically, it can be done at any time during the child's life, but it's probably best done sooner rather than later.