[mlo]

"I don’t see how she isn’t born out of wedlock when the biological parents aren’t married to each other. I guess that’s too logical."

They are married. Not that it matters.

"And then there’s that pesky part, where the biological parent has to have lived in the U.S. for five years prior to the birth. Why do we have legislatures if the laws they make are just going to be ignored?"

Actually the law doesn't say the parent has to live in the US for five years. That's just a statement being made about this particular parent.

According to the law one parent (and one of them is the biological father) would be able to pass citizenship to this child. It seems like a no-brainer. I don't know what the State Department was reasoning.

[Svartalfiar]

"I don’t see how she isn’t born out of wedlock when the biological parents aren’t married to each other. I guess that’s too logical."

They are married. Not that it matters.

No, they aren't. One parent is entirely alien. UK citizen, not a US LPR or even visitor. The other parent is "married", but not to Mom. Code looks at the parents, not a parent/adopter. And yes, it does matter because only certain groups automatically pass citizenship on to their kids. Look at woodpusher's post #66. He posted the applicable US Code.


Actually the law doesn't say the parent has to live in the US for five years. That's just a statement being made about this particular parent.

Again, look at woodpusher's post. If one parent is an alien, the other has to be a citizen, and have been physically present in these US for a minimum five years, two of which must be after age 14. If Gregg never lived here (born/lived in UK) earlier, and moved to Georgia less than five years ago, he doesn't qualify to give his kid automatic citizenship. The kid's eligible for an easy naturalization, but that's it.