President Bill Clinton signed on October 30, 2000, a law which will allow foreign born children of U.S. citizen to become U.S. citizens without the need to submit an application to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. If the child qualifies, he or she will become a U.S. citizen automatically on February 27, 2001. The INS is expected to publish regulations implementing this new law before its effective date.

To qualify under this law, a child must meet the following requirements:

(1) he or she must have at least one U.S. citizen parent;

(2) must be under 18 years of age by February 27, 2001;

(3) the child is a lawful permanent resident;

(4) the child is residing in the United States in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent; and

(5) if the child is adopted, he or she must satisfy the requirements for adoptive children under immigration law.

This new law is not retroactive and it does not apply to a child who will be 18 on February 27, 2001. This individual must submit his or her own application for naturalization to the appropriate INS Service Center in order to become a U.S. citizen via naturalization. If the child meets the aforementioned requirements, he or she may obtain proof of U.S. citizenship by applying to the Department of State for a U.S. passport.

As explained above, a child must be in the United States by the effective date of this law, February 27, 2001, to automatically become a U.S. citizen. If the child is outside the United States by the effective date of this law, his or her parent must submit an application for naturalization on behalf of the child. This ordinary naturalization process for a child (not the new child citizenship act), would require the child to be in the United States to complete the naturalization process and take the oath of allegiance. Under this process, the following requirements must be met:

(1) the child has at least one U.S. citizen parent;

(2) the child is under 18 years of age;

(3) the U.S. citizen parent has been physically present in the U.S. for at least five years, at least two of which were after the age of 14;

(4) the child is residing outside the U.S. in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent; and

(5) the child is temporarily present in the U.S., having entered the U.S. lawfully and maintaining lawful status in the U.S.