U.S. Citizenship

Overview. United States citizenship is a legal status created by the Constitution and by acts of Congress. It arises in only a few ways: by birth within the United States, by birth abroad to a citizen parent, by operation of law during childhood, and by naturalization. This page maps the subject in outline and points to the pages that treat each route in detail.

Citizenship and nationality. The two terms are not interchangeable. The Immigration and Nationality Act defines a national of the United States as a citizen, or as a person who, though not a citizen, "owes permanent allegiance to the United States," 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(22). Persons born in an outlying possession, defined as American Samoa and Swains Island at 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(29), are nationals but not citizens at birth under 8 U.S.C. § 1408, and may document that status under 8 U.S.C. § 1452.

Birth in the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment provides that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside. Congress restated the rule at 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a). The Supreme Court applied the clause to a child born in this country to parents who were not citizens in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898). The recognized exclusion is narrow: a child born here to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not born subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire citizenship, although long-standing regulations allow such a child to register as a lawful permanent resident from birth.

Territories and possessions. Separate statutes confer citizenship on persons born in particular territories: Puerto Rico at 8 U.S.C. § 1402, the Canal Zone and Panama at § 1403, Alaska at § 1404, Hawaii at § 1405, the U.S. Virgin Islands at § 1406, and Guam at § 1407. Citizenship connected with the Northern Mariana Islands rests not on those sections but on section 301 of the Covenant, Pub. L. No. 94-241, set out at 48 U.S.C. § 1801 note.

Birth abroad to a citizen parent. This route is controlled by statute rather than by the Fourteenth Amendment. The transmission rules at 8 U.S.C. § 1401(c) through (g) turn on the citizenship of each parent and on the citizen parent's prior residence or physical presence in this country; where one parent is a citizen and the other is not, the citizen parent must have been physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for five years, at least two of them after age fourteen, 8 U.S.C. § 1401(g). Section 1409 governs children born out of wedlock. The sex-based distinction that once allowed an unwed citizen mother to transmit citizenship on one year of continuous physical presence was held unconstitutional in Sessions v. Morales-Santana, 582 U.S. 47 (2017); the text of § 1409(c) has not been amended, but the agency applies the five-year rule to births on or after June 12, 2017.

Citizenship acquired by children after birth. A child born abroad who did not acquire citizenship at birth becomes a citizen automatically once at least one parent is a citizen, the child is under eighteen, and the child is residing in the United States in that parent's legal and physical custody as a lawful permanent resident, 8 U.S.C. § 1431, enacted as the Child Citizenship Act; a parallel provision covers children living abroad in the custody of a citizen parent who is a government employee or service member stationed there. A child who remains abroad may instead be naturalized on a citizen parent's application under 8 U.S.C. § 1433. The implementing regulations are 8 C.F.R. parts 320 and 322. Children's Citizenship develops these rules, and Adopted Children and Citizenship takes up adopted children, whose treatment depends on the definition of child at 8 U.S.C. § 1101(b)(1).

Naturalization. Naturalization is the conferring of nationality after birth, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(23), and the authority to naturalize rests with the executive branch rather than with the courts, 8 U.S.C. § 1421. The general requirements are five years of continuous residence following lawful admission for permanent residence, physical presence for at least half of that period, three months of residence in the state or district where the application is filed, continuous residence from filing until admission to citizenship, and good moral character throughout, 8 U.S.C. § 1427, read with the disqualifying classes at 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f). An applicant must also show an ability to read, write and speak ordinary English and a knowledge of the history, principles and form of government of the United States, 8 U.S.C. § 1423, subject to a waiver for those unable to comply because of physical or developmental disability or mental impairment and to age-and-residence exemptions from the English requirement. Naturalization Requirements sets out the details.

Shorter and special routes. A permanent resident who has lived in marital union with a United States citizen spouse may qualify after three years rather than five, 8 U.S.C. § 1430. Military service opens separate routes: one year of qualifying service under 8 U.S.C. § 1439, active-duty or Selected Reserve service during designated periods of hostilities under § 1440, and posthumous citizenship for those who die as a result of such service under § 1440-1. The governing regulations are 8 C.F.R. parts 316, 319, 328 and 329. Naturalization Information for Military Personnel treats the service-based routes.

Application, examination and oath. The process runs from the application under 8 U.S.C. § 1445, through the investigation and examination under § 1446, to the oath of renunciation and allegiance under § 1448, whose wording is prescribed at 8 C.F.R. § 337.1; a denial may be reviewed under 8 U.S.C. § 1447. The procedural regulations are 8 C.F.R. parts 334, 335 and 337. Citizenship takes effect on the taking of the oath in a public ceremony, not on approval of the application.

Status and documentation are not the same thing. A person who acquires citizenship at birth or by operation of law is a citizen from that moment, whether or not any document records it. A certificate of citizenship issued on Form N-600 or Form N-600K, 8 U.S.C. § 1452 and 8 C.F.R. part 341, and a certificate of naturalization evidence a condition that already exists; they do not create it. A passport carries the same force and effect as proof of citizenship as those certificates, but only during its period of validity, 22 U.S.C. § 2705. Expiry ends a document's usefulness as statutory proof without touching the citizenship it recorded, and the evidentiary weight of any of these papers should not be mistaken for the legal entitlement behind them.

More than one nationality. United States law does not oblige a citizen to hold only one nationality, and a person may be a United States citizen and a national of another country at the same time. The practical consequences depend on the law of the other country as much as on United States law. Dual Citizenship takes up the subject.

Loss of citizenship: two distinct mechanisms. Expatriation under 8 U.S.C. § 1481 reaches citizens by birth and by naturalization alike. It requires one of the acts listed in that section, such as obtaining naturalization in a foreign state or taking an oath of allegiance to one, performed voluntarily and with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality; the party claiming that loss occurred bears the burden of proving it by a preponderance of the evidence. Revocation of naturalization under 8 U.S.C. § 1451 is a different thing: a court proceeding brought by the United States to set aside a naturalization that was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation. The two should never be blended.

Immigration Topics

Citizenship