No, I’m not. The FAM says that those who don’t notify that they are citizens have until such and such an age to do so. Since the same general section deals with renunciation, I’ve always thought they were saying that non-notification is the equivalent of foregoing the citizenship. And, if I recall correctly, even after the so-called age, there have been those who finally decided they wanted it and have been upheld in their citizenship.
In other words, they are not stripped of citizenship. Instead, they are treated as if you are in an inactive file.
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 7
Consular Affairs
7 FAM 1130 Page 1 of 69
UNCLASSIFIED (U)
7 FAM 1130
ACQUISITION OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP BY BIRTH ABROAD TO U.S. CITIZEN PARENT
(CT:CON-474; 08-19-2013) (Office of Origin: CA/OCS/L)
7 FAM 1131 BASIS FOR DETERMINATION OF ACQUISITION
7 FAM 1131.1 Authority
7 FAM 1131.1-1 Federal Statutes
(CT:CON-349; 12-13-2010)
a. Acquisition of U.S. citizenship by birth abroad to a U.S. citizen parent is governed by Federal statutes. Only insofar as Congress has provided in such statutes, does the United States follow the traditionally Roman law principle of “jus sanguinis” under which citizenship is acquired by descent (see 7 FAM 1111 a(2)).
b. Section 104(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1104(a)) gives the Secretary of State the responsibility for the administration and enforcement of all nationality laws relating to “the determination of nationality of a person not in the United States.”
….]
7 FAM 1131.2 Prerequisites for Transmitting U.S. Citizenship
(TL:CON-68; 04-01-1998)
Since 1790, there have been two prerequisites for transmitting U.S. citizenship to children born abroad:
(1) At least one natural parent must have been a U.S. citizen when the child was born. The only exception is for a posthumous child.
(2) The U.S. citizen parent(s) must have resided or been physically present in the United States for the time required by the law in effect when the child was born.
Note how “acquisition of U.S. citizenship” is under the power granted to Congress by the Constitution under the power to govern naturalizations and delegated to the U.S. Department of State for administration of the naturalization laws.
Note also how there are no minimum residency requirements for an actual natural born citizen or the parents of the natural born citizen, but there are such minimum residency requirements for the children born abroad with U.S. citizen parents. This occurs because the 1855 and later legislative acts granted the right to “acquire” U.S. citizenship after birth abroad with the U.S. citizenship being thenceforth retroactive to the date of birth. Until and unless the U.S. citizenship is “acquired” and not subsequently “revoked” for fraud or other cause, the person born abroad has no U.S. citizenship despite any potential right to claim and acquire that citizenship.