USC child automatically USC?

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

Hope this is the right forum...

My husband is the USC (from Arkansas, if it matters), and I am a dual Irish/ Swiss citizen. We live in Dublin, Ireland and have been for the last 3 years. I am expecting twins in early 2008. Now, I always thought the kids would be automatically US citizens and we could go to the embassy for US passports for them as soon as they are born; I know they will automatically get Swiss and Irish citizenship. However, reading the Child Citizenship Act, it seems that our children will only become US citizen when we move to the USA, is this correct? I'd rather they have US passports right away, even if we do not move to America for another year or two after the birth, in case my husband needs to travel with them alone or something.

Second question: my husband mentioned that he thought once the kids turn 18 (at which time we will most likely live in the USA), if they have more than one citizenship. they will have to decide if they want to keep the US citizenship or the non-US ones. This seems improbable to me because I know I will be alowed to retain my triple citizenship, so why wouldn't they? But he says it is because natural born citizens such as our kids have more rights than naturalised citizens like me.

[MarocAmer 0]

Your children will be US citizens at birth providing your husband goes to the embassy to register their birth abroad.

[MargotDarko 0]

Hope this is the right forum...

My husband is the USC (from Arkansas, if it matters), and I am a dual Irish/ Swiss citizen. We live in Dublin, Ireland and have been for the last 3 years. I am expecting twins in early 2008. Now, I always thought the kids would be automatically US citizens and we could go to the embassy for US passports for them as soon as they are born; I know they will automatically get Swiss and Irish citizenship. However, reading the Child Citizenship Act, it seems that our children will only become US citizen when we move to the USA, is this correct? I'd rather they have US passports right away, even if we do not move to America for another year or two after the birth, in case my husband needs to travel with them alone or something.

Second question: my husband mentioned that he thought once the kids turn 18 (at which time we will most likely live in the USA), if they have more than one citizenship. they will have to decide if they want to keep the US citizenship or the non-US ones. This seems improbable to me because I know I will be alowed to retain my triple citizenship, so why wouldn't they? But he says it is because natural born citizens such as our kids have more rights than naturalised citizens like me.

Hello there! Am I correct in thinking that aside from the past three years, your husband has spent his whole life in the states? If so, then yes, the twins will automatically be USCs and you just have to register their births at the embassy and apply for US passports for them. What you were reading about is for USC parents whose children do not automatically qualify - a USC parent needs to have spent 5 years in the US, at least two of those years after the age of 14, in order for the kids to automatically be USCs no matter where they are born.

It is simply not true that natural born citizens have more rights than naturalised citizens. There is no difference. Your kids will not have to decide which citzenship to keep at any point in their lives. I have no idea how the Swiss citizenship would work, but they could certainly claim both US and Irish citizenship all their lives and should carry both passports.

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

Hi,

thanks for your replies. Yes, my husband has been living in the USA from the time he was born to USC parents until the age of 27 when he came here to marry me. I have found this about newborns getting citizenship abroad just now:

http://travel.state.gov/family/family_issu.../birth_593.html so it does look like the twins will be able to get citizenship right away.

Thanks also for putting my mind at rest about the dual/ triple citizenship. I would just feel better, and I think it'll make their lives easier, to have dual citizenship with a European country, in case they want to come and study here or something.

[Chris Parker 11]

Second question: my husband mentioned that he thought once the kids turn 18 (at which time we will most likely live in the USA), if they have more than one citizenship. they will have to decide if they want to keep the US citizenship or the non-US ones. This seems improbable to me because I know I will be alowed to retain my triple citizenship, so why wouldn't they? But he says it is because natural born citizens such as our kids have more rights than naturalised citizens like me.

If the kids are citizens born abroad based on their parent's U.S. citizenship, they are natural born citizens (citizens at birth). It does not matter if they were born outside the U.S.