The Child Citizenship Act of 2000

On February 27, 2001, a new law came into effect that makes it easier for foreign-born children of United States citizens to become U.S. citizens. This law is the Child Citizenship Act of 2000.

Many U.S. citizens residing abroad have children born in the Philippines who did not automatically become U.S. citizens at birth because either the U.S. citizen parent did not naturalize until too late or did not spend enough time in the U.S. to be able to transmit U.S. citizenship. This Act also applies to adopted children.

Thanks to the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, the easiest way for a foreign-born child in this situation to become a U.S. citizen is for the U.S. citizen parent to petition for an immigrant visa for the child. Once the child is admitted to the U.S. with his or her immigrant visa, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows the child to obtain U.S. citizenship automatically without any need to undergo a naturalization process.

An added bonus of the Child Citizenship Act is that it removes the requirement for submitting the I-864 (Affidavit of Support) in connection with the immigrant visa applications of children covered by the Act. While it is still necessary to show that a child is not likely to become a public charge in the United States, the child will not need to have a sponsor.

Is your child covered by the Child Citizenship Act? To find out, ask yourself the following questions:

• Does your child have at least one U.S. citizen parent?
• Is he/she under 18 years of age?
• Is he/she going to be immigrating to the United States to be in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent?
• If your child is adopted, does he meet the definition of “child” under U.S. immigration law? (i.e. legal adoption, 2 years legal custody and 2 years physical co-residency with primary parental control)

If so, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 will cover your child! To benefit from it, the U.S. citizen parent first needs to file an immediate relative visa petition with the Department of Homeland Security. After the child has applied for and obtained the immediate relative visa at the Embassy, the child will become a U.S. citizen automatically upon admission to the United States using that immigrant visa. (Note: The U.S. citizen parent will still need to show that he or she is domiciled in the U.S. in order for the immigrant visa to be granted.)

For more information on the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, please visit the State Department’s website travel.state.gov/family/childcit.html.

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