I'll have to read the post again and the related links later, but a question comes to my mind.
If two U.S. citizens (or let's say even just one of the parents is a U.S. citizen) have a baby born abroad, is that child automatically considered a citizen of the United States?
I would think that the child would be a U.S. citizen. It would seem funny to me if the child were not.
This is how I think it should work. In other words, a child born of citzens of Mexico should be considered a citizen of Mexico as well. A child inherits the family name, fortunes, etc. But the family cannot pass on what it does not have, in this case, citizenship which does not belong to either parent.
If the U.S. were invaded by an army from abroad, would children born of that army while hostily on U.S. soil be a U.S. citizen? That wouldn't make much sense.
Yes.
This is how I think it should work. In other words, a child born of citzens of Mexico should be considered a citizen of Mexico as well. A child inherits the family name, fortunes, etc. But the family cannot pass on what it does not have, in this case, citizenship which does not belong to either parent.
Here is the key distinction: The parents need to be naturalized to be citizens and so should their children, born here or not. The child of naturalized parents may choose to become an American citizen at the age of majority, but must himself go through the same process as the foreign born.
Frankly, I wish it were the case that even native born citizens went through a process requiring a commitment to gain full voting rights. The current practice of offering voting rights to the insane or the mentally incompetent must end. There are supposedly cases wherein the nurses hold up photographs of candidates in front of the patients and supposedly write down whatever person the patient supposedly preferred.
No. As a civilian, you'll have to contact the state department via the nearest U.S. consul and go through considerable red tape to secure a U.S. birth certificate if you have a child in a foreign country. There are processing fees, consular forms, affidavits, and the consul can even request evidence of maternity/paternity. The child is not automatically a U.S. citizen just because you are. If you do nothing, citizenship will not be conferred on the child automatically.