Can I become a US citizen if my mother is a US citizen? I'm looking to get my US citizenship, and I am wondering if it is possible to obtain a U.S. citizenship because my mother is a citizen and was so when I was born. I am looking at This Page but I am confused about a couple of things. I believe the following applies to me: In a general, a Child Born Outside the U.S. is a Citizen at Birth when the Child’s Parents Are Married to each other at the Time of Birth IF... One parent is a U.S. citizen at the time of birth and the birthdate is on or after November 14, 1986 AND... The U.S. citizen parent had been physically present in the U.S. or its territories for a period of at least five years at some time in his or her life prior to the birth, of which at least two years were after his or her 14th birthday. Does November 14, 1986 refer to the birthdate of the parent or the birthdate of child (me)? Assuming this applies to me, does &quot;citizen at birth&quot; mean I am already technically a citizen, or would my parent's have had to fill out some paperwork when I was born? The Page also mentions the age of 18. If my parents didn't file the paperwork for me to become a citizen at birth or before 18, does that mean it's impossible for me to get a citizenship through this method since I am over 18? I was born in Canada and have a Canadian citizenship. I'm not sure if that makes any difference.
"the birthdate is on or after November 14, 1986" refers to your birthdate (the birthdate of the parent is irrelevant). "Citizen at birth" means that, if the conditions describe hold, the person has been a citizen ever since they were born, and there is no requirement for parents to register their citizen children as citizens. Mention of age 18 is relevant in case a person's parents are not married to each other at the time of birth. A person who is a citizen at birth does not (technically) have to apply for a Certificate of Citizenship but if you want to document your citizenship, you have to file that form (but simply applying for a US Passport is much simpler and more useful). Since you are at least 18, you can file it on your own, otherwise the ​U.S.​ citizen ​parent or ​legal guardian must submit the application (which is another way that 18 becomes relevant).
No, it means the following are eligible: Natural born citizens Citizens of the United States, at the time of the adoption of the constitution The second part was to allow people that were citizens of the US in 1788 (but were obviously not "natural born citizens", since the US didn't exist when they were born) to be eligible for the Presidency. Check out Alexander Hamilton's draft of this clause: No person shall be eligible to the office of President of the United States unless he be now a Citizen of one of the States, or hereafter be born a Citizen of the United States.
A US citizen who resides abroad can register to vote in federal elections in the last state or territory where they resided in the US. So in your example, the US citizen who was resident in Puerto Rico, and who moves to Canada without first residing in any other state or territory, would register to vote in Puerto Rico. Since he is registered to vote in Puerto Rico, he does not vote in an election for choosing presidential electors since Puerto Rico doesn't have any presidential electors. Only the 50 states and DC have presidential electors, and each of them chooses the electors based on elections by people registered to vote in that state (or DC), so he would have to be registered to vote in some particular state or in DC to participate in an election for choosing presidential electors, but he does not qualify to register to vote in any of the states or DC, because he was not resident there last. Yes, US citizens who are neighbors in Vancouver, Canada, one of whom is a former New Yorker and the other of whom is a former Puerto Rican, would be registered to vote in two places (one in New York and the other in Puerto Rico). They would get two different ballots, and may even have different dates for elections (for elections that are not held on the November election day). They would have different offices to vote for, and, in the case of the ballot for the November election in a presidential election year, the New York ballot would contain an election for a slate of presidential electors, while the Puerto Rico ballot would not.
A US passport does not list height or make claims about ethnicity: what you have is a birth date and state, and photograph. A passport is taken to be strong proof of identity. You may apply for a new passport (turning in the old one), with a new photo. It may be necessary to provide "documentary evidence of identity" by appearing with an identifying witness (citizen or permanent resident) who has known you for 2 years and fills in an affidavit (both of you would need to bring some ID as well, so let's assume you also have a valid driver's license). It would be at the discretion of the accepting agent whether to believe that you and the "old" you are the same person. In the fictitious scenario, the person could videotape themselves undergoing the transformation, but ultimately, if one is sufficiently off the grid, then proving identity could be very difficult.
england-and-wales An adopted child can apply for their birth records once they are 18 years' old. There are different processes for doing this depending on the particular circumstances, and if they were adopted before 12 November 1975 they will need to attend a counselling session with an approved adoption advisor first. Source (detailing the different processes) Legislation
There is a form here which you submit to USCIS – immigrated not before 1906, not for a living person. However, to apply for citizenship, one must have been a permanent resident for 5 years, so given the date on the card (and assuming your father did not marry a US citizen), he could not have been naturalized before departure in 1959.
Legally your daughter is a US citizen How you go about demonstrating that is not a legal question, it’s a question about bureaucratic processes and off-limits for this site.
Yes, in most jurisdictions citizenship or residency is not a pre-requisite for standing. However, be aware that there are plenty of jurisdictions where the practical effect of being non-native gives you effectively no chance of winning. "Fair" in some countries means their citizens always beat foreigners.