Do kids have a choice NOT to take US citizenship?

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forumuser123

Registered Users (C)
Hi!
I will be naturalized soon and I was wondering if the kids (not born in US) automatically become US citizens when I naturalize. Do they have an option of saying "NO" to US citizenship or postpone it until they turn 18? (Forget the pros/cons/reasons). Just want to know.
Details: Kids are minor, India born. Spouse Indian citizen and does not intend to naturalize.
Thanks!
 
It depends on you. If you want them to have it, you can apply for a US passport for them. If not, they can keep their Indian passports. Have you looked at the option of getting them US citizenship and then making them OCIs?
 
They will get automatic citizenship as long as they meet all the requirements of the child citizenship act of 2000. However, they should be able to renounce when they turn 18. Most countries only care about what you do after you turn 18.
 
Once you become US citizen and if they have GC and in US and they are in your legal custody, they become US citizens. They are dual citizens as long as they do not get US passport (i.e.) India does not care as long as they do not obtain US passport.
 
nkm-oct23 said:
Why would you take up US citizenship but want to deny it to your children?
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It's not about denying citizenship to the children, it's about whether the minor children themselves have the option to refuse US citizenship (presumably so it doesn't make them lose their other citizenship).

Technically they would become US citizens upon their parent's naturalization (assuming all conditions of the Child Citizenship Act have been met), but in practice USCIS and CBP will continue to treat them as noncitizens if they or their parents don't do anything to acknowledge their (the children's) US citizenship, i.e. they keep using their green card, don't vote, don't register to vote, don't apply for a US passport or N-600, etc. And some foreign governments will also continue to NOT see them as US citizens if they don't take such steps to claim US citizenship.
 
Jackolantern said:
..., but in practice USCIS and CBP will continue to treat them as noncitizens if they or their parents don't do anything to acknowledge their (the children's) US citizenship, i.e. they keep using their green card, don't vote, don't register to vote, don't apply for a US passport or N-600, etc..
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You can almost bet that CBP would question USC parents traveling with children using GCs. Remember, it's illegal for US citizens to leave the US without a US passport, regardless of if they applied for N-600 or not.
 
Bobsmyth said:
You can almost bet that CBP would question USC parents traveling with children using GCs.
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Probably yes, but ...

- Many kids don't travel abroad before age 18
- Some who travel under 18 will be accompanied by a somebody other than a parent, or as an unaccompanied minor
- Some will travel with only one parent, which makes it not so clear that the child is a US citizen
- Some who travel with both parents will face an officer separately from their parents, because the particular airport separates GC holders and citizens into different lines (yes, this happens at some airports since they started fingerprinting for GC holders)
- Some who travel with both parents may face an inexperienced officer who isn't very familiar with the Child Citizenship Act, so it doesn't occur to the officer that the child is probably a citizen
- Some will be told at the POE that the child probably is a citizen, and told to take care of the child's citizenship situation, but neither USCIS/CBP nor the parents do anything to follow it up

And then some years later, the child becomes a 25 year who figures out "Hey, I might be a citizen!", and they show up on this forum to ask about passports and N-600.
 
Jackolantern said:
- Some who travel with both parents will face an officer separately from their parents, because the particular airport separates GC holders and citizens into different lines (yes, this happens at some airports since they started fingerprinting for GC holders)
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I have not seen this at any of the airports I've traveled back into the US at. Not disputing your statement but just my observation at several airports I have been at. Ever since I got my GC, my USC wife, USC child and I would queue up together in the immigration lines for USCs even though earlier back then they never specifically stated that GC holders could do so (nowadays they do). Never was a problem and there have been fingerprint capture devices in the USC counters as far as I can remember these devices being around. I have seen that some times in order to even out disproportionate lines, non-USCs were asked to join the USC line and so maybe that explains why the capture devices are at all counters.
 
forumuser123 said:
Hi!
I will be naturalized soon and I was wondering if the kids (not born in US) automatically become US citizens when I naturalize. Do they have an option of saying "NO" to US citizenship or postpone it until they turn 18? (Forget the pros/cons/reasons). Just want to know.
Details: Kids are minor, India born. Spouse Indian citizen and does not intend to naturalize.
Thanks!
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You or your spouse still holding Indian PP have the right to say NO to US citizenship for your minor children. I bet, wait for couple of trips abroad and post haste you will be running to USPS post office with your NC.

I can quote example of my brother here. He is in this country for last 40 years. He refused to give up his old nationality. Prior to 2001 he had no problems with GC for his business trip abroad. In 2003 he obtained USC to escape frequent embarrassment at airport.
 
I agree with Jackolatern., Children can just treat themselves as noncitizens. and at CBP, I doubt they care that much.
Even if they care, what they do? They may think parents are stupid and ignorant by not applying for US passport
for their kids but if that is what parents wants, parents can just laugh back at CBP's arrogance and ignorance.
 
Bobsmyth said:
They can fine parents for allowing USC child to travel without US passport.
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I seriously doubt government enforce that. They would rather spend more resoursces on noncitizens faking citizen
rather than the other way around. Also the parents can pretend to be dumb or maybe they are dumb so they
can say they do not know their chidlrens are citizens.

Perhaps there has never been one single case that any such parent was arrested, cited, convicted, fined,
imprisoned because of this.
 
Bobsmyth said:
They can fine parents for allowing USC child to travel without US passport.
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I don't think CBP has the authority to do that to USC parents. Probably all they can do is report the incident to a Federal court and hope the court will do something about it.
 
JPBoston said:
I have not seen this at any of the airports I've traveled back into the US at. Not disputing your statement but just my observation at several airports I have been at. Ever since I got my GC, my USC wife, USC child and I would queue up together in the immigration lines for USCs even though earlier back then they never specifically stated that GC holders could do so (nowadays they do). Never was a problem and there have been fingerprint capture devices in the USC counters as far as I can remember these devices being around. I have seen that some times in order to even out disproportionate lines, non-USCs were asked to join the USC line and so maybe that explains why the capture devices are at all counters.
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The story is different these days. Just last Saturday in the afternoon 5 international flights arrived at ORD (chicago) almost same time. There are hardly any visitors/H1/L1 visa holders. About 90% were USC and huge queue at Citizens counter and delay of 45 min to 1hr. I could hear comments like USCIS is giving everyone citizenship. All the while immigrants were walking in fast after FP.
 
Good food for thought - thanks everyone. My spouse is happy with Indian citizenship and US GC. We all will move to India permanently in a year. Hence I was looking at options where in the kids will not "automatically" become USC and only apply if they need to do it at age 18 or 25 for that matter based on their situation and perhaps their political aspirations. They meet all the requirements of the child citizenship act of 2000 as I understand. Unless of course the US laws change midway!
 
I hope it is clear by now that they will become citizens automatically. I don't know what India wants to do about that. It is not that the children will decide to apply for citizen at age 18 or 25. What they might choose to do then is to apply for a passport or for a certificate of citizenship. However, they will be citizens since the time you take your oath of naturalization. If you don't like that you can just revoke their Green Cards or don't naturalize yourself. That way they won't become citizens and then they could have the pleasure at age 18 or 25 of applying for their own green cards ;)
 
forumuser123 said:
They meet all the requirements of the child citizenship act of 2000 as I understand.
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Then they will become citizens once you naturalize. You can't stop them from becoming US citizens according to US law if you naturalize while those conditions are met. However, depending on the rules of the Indian government, perhaps it is possible to prevent India from treating them as US citizens if you don't acquire a US passport for them and make no other formal claim to their US citizenship. Each country has its own laws for whether it will or won't recognize a person's US citizenship, even if their rules are incompatible with US law.
 
Jackolantern said:
Then they will become citizens once you naturalize. You can't stop them from becoming US citizens according to US law if you naturalize while those conditions are met.
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He can. He can hide his certificate of naturalization from his children forever so his kids can never get US passport or
file N-600. We are not tallking about US citizenship cult. If you can not prove yoru citizenship, then citizenship
has no meaning to you.

Unless children can file a alwsuit against their parents asking court to order parents to give them certificate of
naturalization.
 
There's kind of a grey area, isn't there? I have a friend aged 80, who was the foreign-born child of a USC and meets the criteria to apply for a US passport. My friend didn't know his dad was a USC until he was an adult, and didn't know he himself qualified as a USC until much more recently, when in fact I pointed it out to him, as a result of reading this forum then looking up the rules.

My friend has never resided in the US and has no interest in claiming US citizenship. So, is he a USC or not? In some sense, yes he is, but it doesn't seem meaningful. Could the IRS come after him for a lifetime's worth of unfiled tax returns? Could he get into trouble for not having registered for the draft, as a young man? During almost his entire life the idea that he could possibly be a USC had never crossed his mind. I can imagine the OP's kids finding themselves in this state, someday.
 
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