Posted on 11/14/2008 6:48:07 AM PST by syl799
As with McCain, the military base was considered US territory.
Not necessarily, that depends on the status of forces agreement with the host country. However, with one or both parents being us citizens, and the necessary residence time for the US Citizen parent being satisfied, in the case where only one is a US Citizen, the child is a US Citizen at birth. For purposes of the law, time spent in the military, even if not in the US,counts for US residency. Thus it's barely possible that some 18 or 19 y/o solider could have had a child with a non citizen, and the child would not be a US citizen at birth, but not since the law was changed to make the residency requirement 5 vs 10 years with 2 vs 5 years after the age of 14.
With McCain, both his parents were US Citizens, and that was itself sufficient to make him a citizen at birth, regardless of where he was born. (Although in his case, someone could just ask his mother if he was born on the base or in the hospital in Colon, which was not part of the canal zone. She was up on stage with him on election day morning, not sure if that was in Arizona or Colorado. She looked pretty good for a 90 something y/o lady).
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