Is Kid going to be a citizen if born in India

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vijaynathg

Registered Users (C)
Hi All,

My apologies if this question sounds stupid. I just wanted to clarify. Currently, my wife and I are both on a Green Card and by end of this year I alone am eligible to apply for citizenship and for my wife, she might have to apply after 1 1/2 year as she received her green card much later that I received.

We are planning to go back to India early next year and by that I will be a citizen but my wife will be still on a Green Card. I wanted to understand if our kid is born in India, will my kid be a citizen of US automatically since father is a US citizen not carrying about mothers Green Card status. Or is there a lengthy process/paperwork that needs to be done in order to claim my kid as a US citizen.

Also, once we are back in India, we are hoping that my wife visits US every 6 months in order to maintain her status but worst case if things change and she looses her green card status for overstaying in India, in the future since I am a citizen at that time, is there an easy way to bring my wife into the country. I mean can she resume her green card whenever we come back again to US.

I really appreciate your help in this regard.

Thanks again for all your help...
 
vijaynathg said:
Also, once we are back in India, we are hoping that my wife visits US every 6 months in order to maintain her status..
Click to expand...

There are other experts who will answer your other queries.

Regarding the above - She cannot "visit every 6 mos" and maintain GC. They will catch that, and she will lose her GC.
 
Has this hypothetical kid been born yet? Different rules apply to different cases. I don't have the time to explain all of this. Things that matter are, is the child in the U.S. with Green Card, is the father/mother a U.S. citizen when the child is born? Anyway, as pointed, your plan has a few holes in it, among them is you cannot know if you're going to be stuck in name check during naturalization or not. Hopefully everything works as expected.

That six months trip plan a lot of people talk about it, but I still have to see someone posting in the board saying that it worked for them. It might work for some but it is risky, and very soon it would break the continuous residence requirements and she would have to wait longer to obtain citizenship. Other than that if you choose to move back to the U.S. you could sponsor her for a new Green Card, that is if your wife trusts you that you won't divorce her before that.
 
Hi Huracan,

My kid is not born yet, he or she will be born in India next year. For now it is a hypothetical situation. And next year, I am going to be a citizen but my wife will still be on a green card and everyone is going to be residing in India.

1. Is the kid who is born in India to parents where only one parent is a citizen and the other parent is in Green Card going to be a US citizen since Father is a US citizen????

I wanted to clarify on this situation. thanks again for all your help
 
Ok, thanks for the clarification. I think this is what will apply:

http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html

Birth Abroad to One Citizen and One Alien Parent in Wedlock:
A child born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent acquires U.S. citizenship at birth under Section 301(g) INA provided the citizen parent was physically present in the U.S. for the time period required by the law applicable at the time of the child's birth. (For birth on or after November 14, 1986, a period of five years physical presence, two after the age of fourteen is required. For birth between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986, a period of ten years, five after the age of fourteen are required for physical presence in the U.S. to transmit U.S. citizenship to the child.


Point is that it is possible but you would probably have to gather some documents to prove the physical presence. I don't have much experience with this and would be good to check with the U.S. consulate with jurisdiction over your place of residence in India to see what they need. That would give you a chance that if there is a problem you might choose to have the baby born in the U.S. Being born in the U.S. is the simplest way of obtaining U.S. citizenship.
 
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