US ImmigrationReport of Birth Abroad
May 25, 2012
When a child is born to US citizens, that child is automatically a US citizen, even if the child is born outside the country and remains outside the US. However, in order to adopt all the rights of US citizenship - such as a passport - a family must claim the US citizenship. The child is already considered a US citizen in most cases, but the citizenship must be confirmed and made official before the child can claim any rights of citizenship.
This process can be a little complicated if someone is born to US parents outside the US and decides at some future point to visit the US. The US does not issue visas to US citizens, so in most cases the citizenship status needs to be sorted out before a visa application can be processed. If a person has a claim to US citizenship, it is better to apply for citizenship than a visa, since a visa application will generally be rejected due to the citizenship status of the applicant.
If someone is born to US parents outside the US, the process of confirming and claiming US citizenship is relatively simple. Usually, the applicant must prove that the US citizen parent or US citizen parents were present physically for a specific period of time in the US before the birth. Generally, the parent or parents who have US citizenship must have been in the US for at least five years before the child is born, and at least two of those years must have been after the parents were at least 14 years old. The parents do not need to have been citizens of the US while living in the US. When applying for citizenship, it must also be demonstrated that the parents were US citizens at the time of the child's birth and that they were the child's parents. Once all of this has been proven, the applicant will be issued a US passport and a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA). To apply for a US passport and a CRBA, applicants should turn to the US embassy in their country of origin. There is a $100 fee for a CBRA and a $105 fee for a child passport.
In cases where a child's parents obtained citizenship after the child's birth and in cases where a child's parents are US citizens but do not meet US residency requirements, the child cannot claim US citizenship via a CBRA. Instead, he or she must apply for a visa. The same is true of step-children of US citizens.
[[When a child is born to US citizens, that child is automatically a US citizen, even if the child is born outside the country and remains outside the US. However, in order to adopt all the rights of US citizenship - such as a passport - a family must claim the US citizenship. The child is already considered a US citizen in most cases, but the citizenship must be confirmed and made official before the child can claim any rights of citizenship.]]
Rooster- Do you know if a child born in the US to two us citizen parents (both NBC or native born parents) need to show a birth certificate to apply for a passport?
The reason I ask is because the main argument of birthers is that because someone born off soil must provide proof of citizenship (crba) in order to get a passport proves they ‘aren’t citizens until this act or proving citizenship by showing a birth cirtificate is completed’ or something along those lines-
I don’t see any time frame requirement in the section you posted, for example “...within 60 days...”. Also, other than not being able to get a passport,which could immediately remedied by completing the CRBA, no penalty is mentioned.
To me that would say Ted is not an “illegal” alien. Besides, the liberals tell us no person is illegal, including Ted.
snip
Officials at Citizenship and Immigration Canada said that without a signed privacy waiver
from Cruz, they cannot discuss his case.
“Generally speaking, under the Citizenship Act of 1947, those born in Canada were automatically
citizens at birth unless their parent was a foreign diplomat,” said ministry spokeswoman Julie Lafortune.
For the first time, Cruz released his birth certificate Friday in response to inquiries
from The Dallas Morning News.
Dated a month after his birth on Dec. 22, 1970, it shows that Rafael Edward Cruz was born
to Rafael Bienvenido Cruz, a “geophysical consultant” born in Matanzas, Cuba, and the former
Eleanor Elizabeth Wilson, born in Wilmington, Del.
Her status made the baby a U.S. citizen at birth. For that, U.S. law required at least one parent who was a
U.S. citizen who had lived for at least a decade in the United States.
She registered his birth with the U.S. consulate, Frazier said, and the future senator
received a U.S. passport in 1986 ahead of a high school trip to England.
Rafael Cruz, now a pastor in suburban Dallas, fled Cuba for Texas as a teen in 1957. He
remained a Cuban citizen until he became a naturalized American in 2005.
end snip