Am i Eligble?

[awilliams 0]

Hi there,

My backstory is this -

My mother was born to a US Citizen who was in the Military and stationed in England where my Grandfather then met my Grandmother, my mother was born in an American Airbase in England and then moved over to the states until she was 7 years old where her parents then divorced, she met my father later on in life and had me on 2nd March 1986, she then divorced my father in 2004 and moved back to America in 2005 and remarried to an US citizen(my mother was still a US citizen as she never gave it up)

So my question is this.. i am an umarried son of 28 years old... am i eligble for a passport or a 7 year wait for a visa?

[canadian_wife 1,822]

Did your mother ever become a US citizen?

Good luck

[awilliams 0]

Yeah she was a US citizen at birth as she lived there till she was 7 and she still lives in America now as an US Citizen.

thanks,

Adam

[milimelo 4,486]

You'd need to write down exact years (and ages) when mother was in the US. It then depends when she had you as the laws have changed several times.

Montreal consulate has a good page on citizenship by birth with specific years and rules - check there:

http://montreal.usconsulate.gov/service/qualifying-for-u.s.-citizenship

[Collie 122]

Were you born in the USA?

[jan22 3,056]

Hi there,

My backstory is this -

My mother was born to a US Citizen who was in the Military and stationed in England where my Grandfather then met my Grandmother, my mother was born in an American Airbase in England and then moved over to the states until she was 7 years old where her parents then divorced, she met my father later on in life and had me on 2nd March 1986, she then divorced my father in 2004 and moved back to America in 2005 and remarried to an US citizen(my mother was still a US citizen as she never gave it up)

So my question is this.. i am an umarried son of 28 years old... am i eligble for a passport or a 7 year wait for a visa?

If I am reading this correctly -- that your US citizen mother was born outside the US, was taken to the US shortly after birth, but left the US at the age of 7 and did not return until 2005, and you are asking first about whether or not you are eligible for a US passport -- sorry, the answer is clearly NO. Your mother would have had to have lived in the US for 10 years, 2 of which were after she was 14, prior to your birth. She didn't meet either part of the requirement before you were born -- less than 10 years and none after she was 14.

As to the second part of the question, yes -- she can file a petition (I-130) for an immigrant F1 visa for you (unmarried son or daughter of a US citizen). The current wait time, as you indicate, is about 7 years, during which you must remain unmarried. IF you get married, it converts to an F3 and the wait is more than 10 years right now.

[awilliams 0]

I was born in the UK.

I thought my mum being born in an American Airbase consistuted as U.S soil?

If i do happen to be on the waiting list for 7 years and i happen to find a job in America, what would happen to the application or would i be allowed to do so?

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

I found this doing a quick search

c. Birth on U.S. Military Base Outside of the United States or Birth on U.S.

Embassy or Consulate Premises Abroad:

(1) Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and

U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities abroad are not part of the United

States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the

premises of such a facility is not born in the United States and does not

acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth.

Found it here

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86755.pdf

on page 5

[jan22 3,056]

I was born in the UK.

I thought my mum being born in an American Airbase consistuted as U.S soil?

If i do happen to be on the waiting list for 7 years and i happen to find a job in America, what would happen to the application or would i be allowed to do so?

That is not correct (re being born on US soil), but even if it were, where your mother was born is not really relevant to your questions, since you stated she is a US citizen. How she obtained that citizenship really doesn't matter. EVEN IF the US military base was considered US soil (which it is not), and she never left the base prior to going to the US, she still, at a maximum, had only about 7 years of physical presence in the US based on what you said -- and prior to your birth, none of that was after she turned 14. Your are not a US citizen, sorry.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Why does it matter if the military base is considered US soil or not? That is not what the law looks at.

The law allows the time that his mother spent as an unmarried minor child of a US military person stationed abroad to be counted for meeting the 5 years physical presence rule for passing US citizenship on to her children. (Nothing about military bases being US soil.)

http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartH-Chapter3.html#S-A

3. Child of U.S. Citizen Parent and Foreign National Parent^[8]

A child born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions acquires citizenship at birth if at the time of birth:

• One parent is a foreign national and the other parent is a U.S. citizen; and

• The U.S. citizen parent was physically present in the United States for at least 5 years, including at least 2 years after 14 years of age.

Time abroad counts as physical presence in the United States if the time abroad was:

• As a member of the U.S. armed forces in honorable status;

• Under the employment of the U.S. government or other qualifying organizations; or

• As a dependent unmarried son or daughter of such persons.

-----------

awilliams - you are not a US citizen. While your mother did spend 7 years living overseas while her father was stationed there, she does not meet the 2 of the 5 years has to be after age 14. Since she did not live in the US for 2 years after age 14 before your birth, you did not gain US citizenship at birth.

Your mother will need to file an I-130 for you. This will take 7 years for a visa. Sorry.

[Mark88 183]

...to be counted for meeting the 5 years physical presence rule for passing US citizenship on to her children

Since he was born before 11/14/1986, the old section of the law with a 10 year physical presence requirement applies to the OP.

http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-child-born-abroad.html