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Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:09 pm
by gaucholaw
(disclaimer: no, I don't want to be POTUS, I'm just curious about my status
Situation:
1. born in European country
2. mother is 100% American and imigrated there
3. father grew up in this european country.... but his mother was an American who had immigrated there as well
thus, both parents have U.S. citizenship and always have
4. I was born in said European country.... to two U.S. citizens
and have grown up in the U.S.
am I natural born? ... I'm pretty sure the layman's interpretation of having to be born on U.S. soil is bullshit,
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:16 pm
by rinkrat19
The Congressional Research Service says that "natural born" just means you were a citizen at your birth, not naturalized later, and doesn't have anything to do with the PLACE of your birth. So, yes.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:20 pm
by gaucholaw
that's what I always thought! Pisses me off when people say that I had to be born here
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:22 pm
by rinkrat19
gaucholaw wrote:that's what I always thought! Pisses me off when people say that I had to be born here
I think you'll find that those people are frequently also convinced that Obama was born in Kenya. Reality's a bitch.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:22 pm
by Doorkeeper
gaucholaw wrote:that's what I always thought! Pisses me off when people say that I had to be born here
John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and obviously he's considered a natural born citizen.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:28 pm
by gaucholaw
Doorkeeper wrote:gaucholaw wrote:that's what I always thought! Pisses me off when people say that I had to be born here
John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and obviously he's considered a natural born citizen.
yea, although the only difference there is technically he was born on a military base, which i think is considered U.S. territory
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:38 pm
by A. Nony Mouse
Yeah, I was born in England, my dad was American (living there for work, not immigrating), my mom was a Brit, and I'm a "natural born" American. My dad had to file a "Notice of American Citizen Born Abroad" or something called something like that.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:41 pm
by NanaP
I have to ask, senator Ted Cruz was born in Canada, can he run for president?
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 7:28 pm
by notedgarfigaro
gaucholaw wrote:Doorkeeper wrote:gaucholaw wrote:that's what I always thought! Pisses me off when people say that I had to be born here
John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and obviously he's considered a natural born citizen.
yea, although the only difference there is technically he was born on a military base, which i think is considered U.S. territory
it's actually not. Hence why the "natural born" controversy should have pissed off every single military member.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 7:37 pm
by rinkrat19
I think Embassies are considered sovereign territory but overseas US military bases are still host country land (and there are agreements/treaties with the host countries to govern which laws apply, etc.)
I am like the opposite of an expert, though.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 7:54 pm
by The Brainalist
rinkrat19 wrote:I think Embassies are considered sovereign territory but overseas US military bases are still host country land (and there are agreements/treaties with the host countries to govern which laws apply, etc.)
I am like the opposite of an expert, though.
"inpert" or "endopert"
As in, "I am a latin endopert."
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 7:57 pm
by NYstate
gaucholaw wrote:(disclaimer: no, I don't want to be POTUS, I'm just curious about my status
Situation:
1. born in European country
2. mother is 100% American and imigrated there
3. father grew up in this european country.... but his mother was an American who had immigrated there as well
thus, both parents have U.S. citizenship and always have
4. I was born in said European country.... to two U.S. citizens
and have grown up in the U.S.
am I natural born? ... I'm pretty sure the layman's interpretation of having to be born on U.S. soil is bullshit,
You don't have to be born on US soil but there are requirements of physical presence in the US for a child to be a citizen.
Are you sure your father is a US citizen? Does he have a US passport? The law changed in 1986. It used to require presence in the US for certain longer time periods. If your Dad is not a citizen and you were born after 1986, then all you need is for your mother to have been present in the US for at least five years, two after she was 14. I think she probably satisfies this
Check this out:
A child born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent acquires U.S. citizenship at birth under Section 301(g) of the INA provided the U.S. citizen parent was physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions 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, is required for physical presence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions to transmit U.S. citizenship to the child.) The U.S. citizen parent must be genetically related to the child to transmit U.S. citizenship.
The easiest thing to do is apply for a passport if you don't already have one.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 8:35 pm
by Tom Joad
NanaP wrote:I have to ask, senator Ted Cruz was born in Canada, can he run for president?
+1
If he can't run, we should change the law to let him.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 8:51 pm
by stillwater
Tom Joad wrote:NanaP wrote:I have to ask, senator Ted Cruz was born in Canada, can he run for president?
+1
If he can't run, we should change the law to let him.
He cannot.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 8:52 pm
by sublime
..
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 8:53 pm
by Tom Joad
stillwater wrote:Tom Joad wrote:NanaP wrote:I have to ask, senator Ted Cruz was born in Canada, can he run for president?
+1
If he can't run, we should change the law to let him.
He cannot.
I guess he will have to settle for SCOTUS.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 8:54 pm
by A. Nony Mouse
stillwater wrote:Tom Joad wrote:NanaP wrote:I have to ask, senator Ted Cruz was born in Canada, can he run for president?
+1
If he can't run, we should change the law to let him.
He cannot.
Sure he can.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 9:06 pm
by BelugaWhale
yeah he can, mom was a US citizen
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 9:09 pm
by sublime
..
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 9:29 pm
by A. Nony Mouse
sublime12089 wrote:Age and Citizenship requirements - US Constitution, Article II, Section 1
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
So are you saying this means Cruz can or can't run for president?
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 9:35 pm
by BelugaWhale
A. Nony Mouse wrote:sublime12089 wrote:Age and Citizenship requirements - US Constitution, Article II, Section 1
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
So are you saying this means Cruz can or can't run for president?
quote is pretty much worthless since the whole debate is over what "natural born" means
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 9:49 pm
by stillwater
only reason i said cannot, in the sense it is debatable, is that people questioned whether or not McCain could, to military parents in the US Canal Zone. So it seems this question is far from settled.
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 10:00 pm
by A. Nony Mouse
Well, as noted above, people also think Obama was born in Kenya...I would think if anyone really questioned whether McCain could have become president, he wouldn't have been the GOP nominee.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... us/275469/
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 10:03 pm
by JamMasterJ
natural born means in a bathtub HTH
Re: Am I a "natural born citizen"... figured I'd ask some lawyer
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 10:10 pm
by stillwater