AUGUST 28, 2019
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, JUNE ,5, 2004 – Parade in downtown Colorado Springs to honor the troops returning home from overseas service. Nathan Baca, 8, hopes to join the Pikes Peak chapter of The Young Marines at the end of the summer, and practices his salute during the parade. (Denver Post staff photo by Kathryn Scott Osler) (Photo By Kathryn Osler/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
The Trump administration said Wednesday that the children of certain U.S. military members and government employees working overseas will no longer automatically be considered United States citizens.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy on Wednesday rescinding previous guidance stating that children of U.S. service members and other government officials abroad are considered “residing in the United States” and automatically given citizenship under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The new rule will not apply to children who acquire citizenship at birth or while residing in the United States, according to the guidance. That includes children born abroad to U.S. citizens who have resided in the United States at some point in the past five years.
The new policy guidance states that USCIS “no longer considers children of U.S. government employees and U.S. armed forces members residing outside the United States as ‘residing in the United States’ for purposes of acquiring citizenship under INA 320.”
The guidance states that “U.S. citizen parents who are residing outside the United States with children who are not U.S. citizens should apply for U.S. citizenship on behalf of their children under INA 322, and must complete the process before the child’s 18th birthday.”
The new policy will take effect Oct. 29, according to the USCIS notice.
“The policy change explains that we will not consider children who live abroad with their parents to be residing in the United States even if their parents are U.S. government employees or U.S. service members stationed outside of the United States, and as a result, these children will no longer be considered to have acquired citizenship automatically,” a USCIS spokesperson told Task & Purpose.
“For them to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship, their U.S. citizen parent must apply for citizenship on their behalf.”
DEVELOPING
Courtesy/Source: The Hill
