Makes sense. This is all helping tremendously.
Now to throw the cat among the pigeons. What if due to passage of time the evidence for residence is inaccurate. By that I mean it's either not clear whether the physical presence adds up to more or less than the two years (after age 14), or isn't sufficiently robust (lack of documentation). In that case INA 320 would still be valid but INA 301 might or might not. So the child would legally be a US citizen but there might be no certainty of whether under 301 or 320. What happens then? Would they deny the Certificate? The images I've seen of the Certificates do state which INA section is relevant.
Now to throw the cat among the pigeons. What if due to passage of time the evidence for residence is inaccurate. By that I mean it's either not clear whether the physical presence adds up to more or less than the two years (after age 14), or isn't sufficiently robust (lack of documentation). In that case INA 320 would still be valid but INA 301 might or might not. So the child would legally be a US citizen but there might be no certainty of whether under 301 or 320. What happens then? Would they deny the Certificate? The images I've seen of the Certificates do state which INA section is relevant.