According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), certain U.S. government employees born abroad will no longer be automatically considered U.S. citizens.
“For them to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship, their U.S. citizen parent must apply for citizenship on their behalf under INA 322, by filing Form N-600K, and show they meet the qualifications under that provision,” said a representative in regards to the new policy.
In accordance to the previous policy, children that were born to U.S. citizen parents while in foreign countries were automatically granted citizenship under the Immigration Nationality Act 320.
With the new policy in place as of October 29th 2019, the children born in facilities such as U.S. military hospitals that are not in the U.S. would not automatically be considered U.S. citizens.
The children of government employees that fall into this category will be required to experience a more thorough process than certain children of U.S. service members.
“Certain children of U.S. service members may complete the process outside of the United States without having to travel to the United States. However, children of U.S. government employees must enter the U.S. lawfully with an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa and be in lawful status when they take the Oath of Allegiance, which completes the process,” the policy states.
Following the release of the new policy, Acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli tweeted his official statement as promised; “The policy manual update today does not affect who is born a U.S. citizen, period. It only affects children who were born outside the US and were not US citizens. This does NOT impact birthright citizenship. The policy update doesn’t deny citizenship to the children of US gov employees or members of the military born abroad. This policy aligns USCIS’ process with the Department of State’s procedures for these children – that’s it. Period. US laws allow children to acquire US citizenship other than through birth in the US. Children born outside of the US to a US citizen parent or parents may be US citizens at birth under INA 301 or 309, or before age 18 through their US citizen parent(s) under INA 320.”
Click here to read the details
