American Father - I was born in Germany - can I become citizen?
Feb 21st 2001, 9:30 pm
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
I was born in Germany in 1941 and have never been in the US. My father was American
citizen, my mother German.
Can I claim citizenship? How about my son?
Thank you very much
Andreas Gille, M.D.
citizen, my mother German.
Can I claim citizenship? How about my son?
Thank you very much
Andreas Gille, M.D.
Feb 22nd 2001, 4:26 pm
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Andreas Gille wrote:
> I was born in Germany in 1941 and have never been in the US. My father was an
> American citizen, my mother German. Can I claim citizenship?
Maybe. You may have been born with US citizenship; if so, you most likely lost it when you
reached age 26, but you can probably reclaim it now via an expedited naturalization
procedure.
Here's my understanding of the relevant law -- though you definitely should discuss
your situation with US consular officials and/or with a lawyer in the US who
specializes in immigration and citizenship law. (I am not a lawyer; see the disclaimer
in my signature below.)
You said you were born in 1941. If you were born before 13 January of that year, then you
were a US citizen at birth if your father had ever lived in the US for any amount of time,
however short.
If you were born on or after 13 January, then you had US citizenship at birth if your
father had lived in the US for at least ten years before you were born -- including at
least five years after his 16th birthday. If your father was under age 21 when you were
born, there is (mathemat- ically) no way he could have met this requirement. If he was
older than that, you may have a chance, but you will be expected to provide documentation
to prove that he did, in fact, live in the US for the required length of time.
The law was changed in late 1952, by the way, to require ten years of "physical presence"
in the US. However, prior to 1952, as I understand the law, it required "residence"
(generally a less stringent require- ment, since time spent on brief trips outside the US
could still count as "residence", whereas such time definitely does =not= count under the
current "physical presence" rule).
All of the above assumes that your parents were married (to each other) at the time of
your birth. If you were born out of wedlock, then chances are you did =not= acquire US
citizenship via your American father, unless he was formally, legally acknowledged as your
father before you reached age 21. You should definitely talk to a US immi- gration lawyer
if this situation might apply to you. In this case, you should also be aware that the
applicable law (which imposes a far less stringent rule in the case of a child born
outside the US to an American mother, as opposed to an American father) is currently being
challenged on sex-discrimination grounds in the US Supreme Court; oral arguments on the
case (Nguyen and Boulais v. INS) were heard in January, and a ruling is expected sometime
between now and June.
If you didn't acquire US citizenship at birth via your father, that pretty much ends the
matter (both for you and for your son; see below). If you =did= have US citizenship at
birth, then you're still not "home free", because you probably lost your citizenship under
a law which (until 1978) said that a non-US-born US citizen needed to spend a certain
amount of time in the US or else lose US citizenship. The minimum requirement for keeping
citizenship under this law was two years of literal, physical presence in the US between
the ages of 14 and 28. If you passed your 26th birthday without ever having spent time in
the US, there would be no way for you to meet the requirement, and I believe you would be
deemed to have lost your US citizenship at that time.
This loss-of-citizenship law was repealed in 1978, but the repeal did =not= retroactively
affect people who had already lost citizenship thereby. (That is, when the law was
repealed, people whose citizenship got taken away under the old law did =not=
automatically get their citizenship restored.) Under another law, enacted in 1994, people
who lost their US citizenship under this old law could apply to get it back through what
is, in effect, an expedited naturalization procedure.
If it turns out that you were a US citizen by birth and are eligible to apply for
reinstatement of citizenship, you should definitely discuss your situation with a lawyer
in Germany who is familiar with German citizenship law, to determine what (if any) effect
acquiring US citi- zenship will have on your German citizenship. At one time, I under-
stand such an action would invariably lead to revocation of German citizenship (whether
you wanted to keep it or not); however, I believe the law was liberalized recently, and I
understand there is a procedure under which one can apply (before getting another
citizenship) to keep one's German citizenship.
> How about my son?
Maybe, maybe not. It depends, first of all, on whether you acquired US citizenship at
birth via your father (see above). If you didn't, then I don't believe your son has any
claim to US citizenship, period.
If you =were= a US citizen at birth, it would still appear that your son did not acquire
US citizenship at birth through you, because you never spent any time in the US, and so
you had not fulfilled the law's requirement for physical presence in the US prior to your
son's birth.
I believe there may be one remaining possibility under which your son might be able to
obtain US citizenship now. If your son is under 18, =and= if you yourself are a US citizen
(see above discussion about how you might be able to have your US citizenship reinstated),
=and= if you can prove that your father spent at least five years in the US (including at
least two years after he turned 14), then there is a 1994 law which may allow your son to
become a US citizen via an expedited naturalization procedure. The two of you would have
to travel to the US in order to finalize his naturalization -- and my understanding is
that everything would absolutely have to be completed before his 18th birthday, or else
the window of opportunity would be lost. If this looks like a possibility, then I would
definitely advise you to talk to an American immigration lawyer ASAP.
If your son is 18 or older, then I don't believe there is any way for him to obtain US
citizenship. In fact, if the process of your getting =your= US citizenship, and then
applying for =him= to get US citizen- ship (see above), stretches out for a long enough
time that he turns 18 before the process is done, I believe he's out of luck. But before
giving up in such a case, you should still talk it over with a lawyer, just to be 100%
sure there isn't something else you can do.
As in your case, I would point out that your son's German citizenship could be affected if
he acquires US citizenship. You should check the situation out with a German lawyer who is
familiar with that country's citizenship laws.
Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.webcom.com/richw/ *Dual Citizenship FAQ --
http://www.webcom.com/richw/dualcit/ *DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional
immigration consultant, or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only
and are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.
> I was born in Germany in 1941 and have never been in the US. My father was an
> American citizen, my mother German. Can I claim citizenship?
Maybe. You may have been born with US citizenship; if so, you most likely lost it when you
reached age 26, but you can probably reclaim it now via an expedited naturalization
procedure.
Here's my understanding of the relevant law -- though you definitely should discuss
your situation with US consular officials and/or with a lawyer in the US who
specializes in immigration and citizenship law. (I am not a lawyer; see the disclaimer
in my signature below.)
You said you were born in 1941. If you were born before 13 January of that year, then you
were a US citizen at birth if your father had ever lived in the US for any amount of time,
however short.
If you were born on or after 13 January, then you had US citizenship at birth if your
father had lived in the US for at least ten years before you were born -- including at
least five years after his 16th birthday. If your father was under age 21 when you were
born, there is (mathemat- ically) no way he could have met this requirement. If he was
older than that, you may have a chance, but you will be expected to provide documentation
to prove that he did, in fact, live in the US for the required length of time.
The law was changed in late 1952, by the way, to require ten years of "physical presence"
in the US. However, prior to 1952, as I understand the law, it required "residence"
(generally a less stringent require- ment, since time spent on brief trips outside the US
could still count as "residence", whereas such time definitely does =not= count under the
current "physical presence" rule).
All of the above assumes that your parents were married (to each other) at the time of
your birth. If you were born out of wedlock, then chances are you did =not= acquire US
citizenship via your American father, unless he was formally, legally acknowledged as your
father before you reached age 21. You should definitely talk to a US immi- gration lawyer
if this situation might apply to you. In this case, you should also be aware that the
applicable law (which imposes a far less stringent rule in the case of a child born
outside the US to an American mother, as opposed to an American father) is currently being
challenged on sex-discrimination grounds in the US Supreme Court; oral arguments on the
case (Nguyen and Boulais v. INS) were heard in January, and a ruling is expected sometime
between now and June.
If you didn't acquire US citizenship at birth via your father, that pretty much ends the
matter (both for you and for your son; see below). If you =did= have US citizenship at
birth, then you're still not "home free", because you probably lost your citizenship under
a law which (until 1978) said that a non-US-born US citizen needed to spend a certain
amount of time in the US or else lose US citizenship. The minimum requirement for keeping
citizenship under this law was two years of literal, physical presence in the US between
the ages of 14 and 28. If you passed your 26th birthday without ever having spent time in
the US, there would be no way for you to meet the requirement, and I believe you would be
deemed to have lost your US citizenship at that time.
This loss-of-citizenship law was repealed in 1978, but the repeal did =not= retroactively
affect people who had already lost citizenship thereby. (That is, when the law was
repealed, people whose citizenship got taken away under the old law did =not=
automatically get their citizenship restored.) Under another law, enacted in 1994, people
who lost their US citizenship under this old law could apply to get it back through what
is, in effect, an expedited naturalization procedure.
If it turns out that you were a US citizen by birth and are eligible to apply for
reinstatement of citizenship, you should definitely discuss your situation with a lawyer
in Germany who is familiar with German citizenship law, to determine what (if any) effect
acquiring US citi- zenship will have on your German citizenship. At one time, I under-
stand such an action would invariably lead to revocation of German citizenship (whether
you wanted to keep it or not); however, I believe the law was liberalized recently, and I
understand there is a procedure under which one can apply (before getting another
citizenship) to keep one's German citizenship.
> How about my son?
Maybe, maybe not. It depends, first of all, on whether you acquired US citizenship at
birth via your father (see above). If you didn't, then I don't believe your son has any
claim to US citizenship, period.
If you =were= a US citizen at birth, it would still appear that your son did not acquire
US citizenship at birth through you, because you never spent any time in the US, and so
you had not fulfilled the law's requirement for physical presence in the US prior to your
son's birth.
I believe there may be one remaining possibility under which your son might be able to
obtain US citizenship now. If your son is under 18, =and= if you yourself are a US citizen
(see above discussion about how you might be able to have your US citizenship reinstated),
=and= if you can prove that your father spent at least five years in the US (including at
least two years after he turned 14), then there is a 1994 law which may allow your son to
become a US citizen via an expedited naturalization procedure. The two of you would have
to travel to the US in order to finalize his naturalization -- and my understanding is
that everything would absolutely have to be completed before his 18th birthday, or else
the window of opportunity would be lost. If this looks like a possibility, then I would
definitely advise you to talk to an American immigration lawyer ASAP.
If your son is 18 or older, then I don't believe there is any way for him to obtain US
citizenship. In fact, if the process of your getting =your= US citizenship, and then
applying for =him= to get US citizen- ship (see above), stretches out for a long enough
time that he turns 18 before the process is done, I believe he's out of luck. But before
giving up in such a case, you should still talk it over with a lawyer, just to be 100%
sure there isn't something else you can do.
As in your case, I would point out that your son's German citizenship could be affected if
he acquires US citizenship. You should check the situation out with a German lawyer who is
familiar with that country's citizenship laws.
Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.webcom.com/richw/ *Dual Citizenship FAQ --
http://www.webcom.com/richw/dualcit/ *DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional
immigration consultant, or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only
and are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.
