Residence in the U.S.

If a child is born in wedlock to two U.S. citizen parents, in order to transmit U.S. citizenship at least one of the parents must have had his/her residence in the U.S. at any time prior to the child's birth.

While the definition of residence is not dependent on a specific time period in the United States, the longer the duration of a person's stay in a particular place in the United States, the more likely it is that that place can be characterized as the person's residence.

Birth in the United States is usually sufficient to satisfy the residence requirement.  For example, where a person is born abroad in wedlock to two U.S. citizen parents, and one parent was born in the United States, that U.S. citizen parent will meet the "residence" requirement as long as evidence is presented that demonstrates that the parent's mother was not merely transiting through the United States at the time of that parent's birth.  We note that a long form birth certificate usually includes the mother's address, which normally suffices to show that the mother was not transiting through the United States.

Examples of documents that can help demonstrate a residence include, but are not limited to, a combination of some of the following:  property rental leases and payment receipts, deeds, utility bills, property tax records, automobile registrations, professional licenses, employment records or information, income tax records, stamped school transcripts, military records, income records, including W-2 salary forms, and vaccination and medical records.

In general, the parent whose residence is being used to transmit citizenship to the child must be personally present at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate with his or her documentation for an interview by a consular officer.

Back to the Consular Report of Birth and passport instructions page.