What legal document establishes one as a “citizen” of the United States?
Is it not their birth certificate?
It cannot be their social security number, because that is a government benefit that is applied for AFTER citizenship.
Children who are born to US citizens while overseas are considered to be US citizens... but isn’t there SOME legal document which accompanies their foreign birth certificate which grants them US citizenship on the basis of their parents citizenship??? Are not parents importing a newborn required to file for a passport or SOMETHING that identifies the child as theirs besides the foreign birth certificate?
Anyone familiar with this?
Yes, I am.
A child born abroad to American parents can be registered at the US Consulate, where, if all paperwork is in order, he will be issued with a “Certificate of US Citizen Born Abroad”.
This is a form of citizenshhip by birth, and my eldest son has one of these certificates, having been born in Indonesia in 1977. However, it is my understanding that despite his citizenship, which derives from statue law, not natural law, under a strict originalist construction of the language of the US Consitution, which I hold to, by the way, my son is NOT a Natural Born Citizen.
The Consular Report of Birth Abroad, FS-240, is the name of the document you are looking for. Application for one must include the following:
1) an official record of the child’s foreign birth;
(2) evidence of the parent(s)’ U.S. citizenship (e.g., a certified birth certificate, current U.S. passport, or Certificate of Naturalization or Citizenship);
(3) evidence of the parents’ marriage, if applicable; and
(4) affidavits of parent(s)’ residence and physical presence in the United States.