I am a natural-born American citizen.

[frogmarch]

Yesterday there was discussion as to who can be called a natural-born American citizen. Even though I was born in India and my birth mother wasn't an American, my dad was. A Missouri native, he was a master sergeant in the U.S. Army and was stationed in India, where he met and married my mother.

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html

Who is a natural-born citizen? Who, in other words, is a citizen at birth, such that that person can be a President someday?

The 14th Amendment defines citizenship this way: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." But even this does not get specific enough. As usual, the Constitution provides the framework for the law, but it is the law that fills in the gaps. The Constitution authorizes the Congress to do create clarifying legislation in Section 5 of the 14th Amendment; the Constitution, in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4, also allows the Congress to create law regarding naturalization, which includes citizenship.

Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in the gaps left by the Constitution. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"

Anyone born inside the United States *
Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time) (This describes me.)

A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

* There is an exception in the law — the person must be "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. This would exempt the child of a diplomat, for example, from this provision.

Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.

~~~

8 USC § 1401 (Title 8 of the U.S. Code, Section 1401 referred to above)

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1401

I qualify as a natural-born American citizen under (g)

I think some people confuse "natural-born" with "native-born." I am not a native-born American citizen, but I am a natural-born American citizen.

That is all. I just wanted to clear that up. At first it didn't bother me to be told I wasn't a natural-born American citizen, but then it started to, and I decided to try to prove that I am.

[suston96]

1. Good work.....!

You are 100% correct. I am in the same category. As are thousands of children of service members and children of other American employees of the US government stationed overseas who are born there while their parent(s) are there under government orders.

[frogmarch]

2. Thanks. It was bugging me, and

I finally had to look it up. My parents had always told me I was, and I thought they should know, but I needed to see it for myself.

Yes, there are thousands like us.

[benld74]

3. Our adopted daughter from China doesn't fit the bill does she????

[frogmarch]

4. Perhaps not, but

neither did my Japanese-American step-sister, whom my parents took in when we lived in Tokyo. Because of a special Congressional bill they were able to take her to the States before the adoption was final, but she had to become naturalized to claim U.S. citizenship. Since she was a baby, my mom and dad signed the naturalization papers on her behalf. My older half-sister, whose father was British, was naturalized too. She was a young teenager when we came to America, and she signed her naturalization papers herself.

I am no more an American citizen than they. The reason I was bothered by being told I wasn't a natural-born citizen was that I have always been told I was, and it was part of my self-image. I felt kind of like I did when I was 10 and learned that my beloved mom was my step-mom. (I didn't know that my birth mother had died when I was two weeks old.) I should have been told right away, before the mom lie took hold and became part of who I thought I was.

[LibertyLover]

7. No, sadly she does not, but

neither does my daughter, also adopted from China. The thing that matters to me is that, thanks to President Clinton, I did not need to go through all the naturalization procedures in order for my daughter to be an American citizen. The minute we reentered the US from China, she was, for a minute or so, the newest American citizen. I have a photo somewhere of her just at that moment. Her excitment was palable (she was sound asleep in her stroller). Still they can be Senators, Representatives, Governors or Cabinet Secretaries. There is a world of possibilities for them that they would not have had in China. And we get to love on them!

[Mojorabbit]

5. My story is somewhat like yours

American Dad military married my European mother overseas and I was born in yet another country. I had to do the naturalization thing when I was little and we finally moved to the states. This whole birther thing also made me uncomfortable. I have always thought of myself as American and I had a small worry that these crazy people might not think so and if in power that could cause some major trouble.

[frogmarch]

6. I wonder why you

had to be naturalized. It surprises me, since your dad was an American.

The birther thing got to me too, mostly because I knew it was a lame attempt to discredit President Obama, but a part of me took it personally. If these nuts ever do gain control and start to monkey things up, I think reasonable Americans will show them the door. I hope.