The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) just issued a new policy guidance stating that the federal government “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.” The new policy statement also “clarifies” that “temporary visits to the United States do not establish U.S. residence.”
USCIS confirms: As of October 29, children born to U.S. service members outside of the U.S. will no longer be automatically considered citizens.
Their parents will have to apply for citizenship on their behalf. t.co/beDHdMgqSM
— Haley Britzky (@halbritz) August 28, 2019
Full details here, courtesy of USCIS.
Both my brothers-in-law were born overseas, on or near U.S. Air Force bases in Europe. Their father was a combat veteran of Vietnam, where he flew F-4s, which sometimes came back with holes punched in them. He went on to serve several combat-ready tours in the NATO area flying F-4s and F-16s during the ’70s and ’80s.
I can’t imagine making him or my mother-in-law jump through legal hoops to make sure their sons were citizens, but apparently that’s going to be the case going forward.