[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.

[mlo]

"The other parent is "married", but not to Mom. Code looks at the parents, not a parent/adopter"

That's what I said. "Not that it matters". They are married depending on who you mean by "they".

"And yes, it does matter because only certain groups automatically pass citizenship on to their kids..."

It matters who the legal parents are. It doesn't matter who is married.

"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..."

Yes, that's true. When I looked it up the first time I actually found a page showing US Code that said something different. But I acknowledge this version is the correct one.

So the one biological parent is a citizen, and can pass that citizenship on as long as they meet the residency requirement. The State Dept is saying they don't. But there's nothing in the code about "wedlock", so I don't know where they get that bit.

Clearly this case is about whether the second parent is the biological mother or the partner of the biological father. Who the law sees as a parent is often not a biological question though, and adoptive parents are legal parents. I don't see this case as very remarkable.