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Original Date Announced
April 18, 2018USCIS updates policy to implement Sessions v. Morales-Santana Supreme Court ruling to clarify that the same physical presence requirement applies to a child born out of wedlock outside the U.S. to one U.S. citizen parent and one foreign national parent regardless of the U.S. citizen parent's gender (applying the more stringent standard previously applicable to fathers), and further clarifies the requirements of INA section 309. [ID #618]
USCIS Policy Alert 2018-01Effective Date
April 18, 2018Biden Administration Action: Other
July 18, 20242024.07.18 Policy Alert: Children's Acquisition of Citizenship Provisions
This Biden administration policy clarifies the Trump-era policy identified in this entry.
On July 18, 2024, USCIS issued a policy alert updating guidance on Volume 12 of its Policy Manual. One portion clarifies that when a child is born out of wedlock to two U.S. citizen parents and is not able to obtain U.S. citizenship from the father, the child can obtain citizenship through the mother if the mother demonstrates one year of continuous physical presence in the U.S. or its territories before the child's birth.
View DocumentCurrent Status
Fully in EffectMost Recent Action
July 18, 2024 Action: Other 2024.07.18 Policy Alert: Children's Acquisition of Citizenship ProvisionsJuly 18, 2024Acted on by Biden Administration
Original Trump Policy Status
Status: Final/ActualTrump Administration Action: Agency DirectiveSubject Matter: CitizenshipAgencies Affected: USCIS Bureau of Consular AffairsPre Trump-Era Policies
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October 25, 1994
Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sessions v. Morales-Santana, the INA's physical presence requirements for children born out of wedlock were different for a child acquiring citizenship through a U.S. citizen mother than for those acquiring through a U.S. citizen father. An unwed U.S. citizen mother could transmit citizenship to her child if the mother was physically present in the U.S. for one continuous year prior to the child's birth. An unwed U.S. citizen father, by contrast, was held to the longer physical presence requirement of 5 years (at least 2 years of which were after age 14) in the U.S. or one of its outlying possessions.
8 U.S.C.A. 1401