I have read 1401 over and over again, but no matter how many times I read it, I still can’t find the word “natural”, let alone “natural born”. I see the word “nationals”, but not “natural”. Are you perhaps confusing the two?
Please cite for me the exact section in 1401 you are relying upon to support your statement: “Two parents who are U.S. citizens is a requirement only when born outside the United States, like McCain was.”
Thank you.
ex animo
davidfarrar
The law tells you who is a citizen at birth. The Constitution is the only place that uses “natural born citizen.”
Again, who is a citizen at birth is set forth in the law (Section 1401).
That tells you what a child’s citizenship status is at the moment of birth.
That’s it. There is nothing else. No secret provision somewhere. Just the U.S. law about who is a citizen at birth. All of it.
I did make an error, though, in the way I put it. If two parents are U.S. citizens and a child is born abroad, the child is a natural born citizen WITHOUT QUESTION. If one parent is a U.S. citizen only, the child MIGHT BE a natural born citizen, but it depends on the age of that parent.
Just read the law. Remember that you will not find “natural born citizen” anywhere but in the Constitution and in Supreme Court decisions, but also remember that those Supreme Court decisions never intended to be DEFINING what natural born citizen meant — they were simply using the term.
In 1961, the law was virtually as it is today. There was only a minor difference.
This page is from the American Citizens Abroad website and gives pertinent information about the law over time: http://www.aca.ch/hisuscit.htm