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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA

194 points proberts | 1 comments | 16 May 25 15:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.21s | source

I'll be here for the next 5-6 hours. As usual, there are countless topics given the rapidly changing immigration landscape and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with. Please remember that I can't provide legal advice on specific cases because I won't have access to all the facts. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and I'll try to do the same in my answers.

Edit: I am taking a break now and will return later this afternoon/evening to respond to any comments and answer any questions. Thank you everyone for a great and engaged AMA so far.

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noodlesUK ◴[16 May 25 15:46 UTC] No.44006833[source]▶
Thanks for doing the AMA!

I'm a US citizen born abroad - I got my citizenship via (I believe) INA 320 when I was a child. I have a US-born father who was not eligible to pass on his citizenship at the time of my birth. I lived in the US for most of my childhood up until ~2015 (initially as an LPR), and at some point, I obtained a US passport.

I don't have a certificate of citizenship, only a US passport. Given the way the US is going, I'm concerned that one day I'm going to apply renew my passport or otherwise have to prove my citizenship, and I'm not going to be able to sufficiently document it. Is this a real risk? Would you advise applying for a CoC in my circumstances? Am I even eligible to apply for one given that I live abroad? What other steps if any should I take to protect my status?

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dyauspitr ◴[16 May 25 17:17 UTC] No.44007811[source]▶
What do you mean by a US born father not eligible to pass on his citizenship?
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1. noodlesUK ◴[16 May 25 17:42 UTC] No.44008032[source]▶
In order for U.S. citizens to pass on their citizenship to children born abroad, they need to have resided in the U.S. for a certain period prior to the birth of the child.

The amount of time the parent has to have lived in the U.S. varies but usually it’s 5 years with at least 2 years after the age of 14.

If they don’t automatically pass it on and they want to move back to the U.S., they need to apply for green cards for their kids.

Since 2001, anyone under 18 who has a green card and lives with a U.S. citizen parent becomes a citizen automatically by process of law, under INA 320. Unfortunately documenting this is not automatic. A lot of people who came before 2001 don’t even know that they’re citizens. The application for a certificate costs a lot of money, so often parents tend to skip it if they don’t feel it’s necessary.

See below for the residency criteria.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-lega...

INA 320: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter...