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Naturalization
US Citizenship of Children Born in Mexico
According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s website, if your child is born on US soil, in Puerto Rico, Guam, or the US Virgin Islands, your child is an American citizen. The only proof required is the child’s birth certificate.
If your child is born abroad, for instance, during your stay in Mexico and both parents are US citizens, then the child will also be a US citizen, IF at least one of the parents lived in the US at some point in their life. NOTE: be sure to register the birth of the child with a US consulate or embassy to have proof of the child’s citizenship.
If your child is born abroad, but only one parent is a US citizen (for instance, if you are a US citizen, living in Mexico, and you marry a Mexican spouse and have a child), then the child will still be a US citizen if ALL the following are true: 1) The parent who is a US citizen lived at least five years in the US, BEFORE the birth of the child. 2) At least two of these five years in the US were after the US citizen parent’s 14th birthday. NOTE: be sure to register the birth of the child with a US consulate or embassy, to have proof of the child’s citizenship.
If the above conditions are not met, e.g., if there is only one US citizen parent and that parent lived less than five years in the US, or didn’t live in the US after his or her 14th birthday then there are three other options: 1) To apply for an immigrant visa for the child at a US consulate or embassy abroad and then return with the child to the United States; 2) If one of the child’s American grandparents had lived in the US at least five years, two of which were after the grandparent’s 14th birthday, then you may apply for special naturalization for the child through the Immigration and Naturalization Service and take the child to the US for naturalization at a local INS office; 3) If a female US citizen, who resided in the US for at least one year before the child’s birth, has a child outside of marriage, then that child is considered a US citizen.