Citizenship issues

[atmartin50]

大家好！

I'm not sure if this is placed in the proper forum...

I'm an American citizen currently living in Guangzhou, and my wife of two-plus years is from Enshi, Hubei Province, China. We are expecting our first child in July:) Although I love China, living here, and studying the language, at some point we are going to want to re-locate to the US.

I've heard mixed reports about the citizenship of a baby born to American and Chinese parents: some folks say the baby would have dual citizenship, some say he/she would be Chinese; others say in order for the baby to have American citizenship, it must be born on American soil.

While our child becoming a Chinese citizen would not be a bad thing, a US Passport is a very handy document to have, and we both agree that American citizenship is the way to go.

I've scrutinized the State Department and USCIS websites but have not found a clear-cut answer to this issue. Does anyone have any personal experience with this that they could share with me? Any helpful websites out there that anyone could point out to me that might aid in our information gathering?

Much thanks in advance! 多谢！！

[889]

Your child will have US citizenship if:

(A) You are legally married, and

(B) You have previously been physically present in the US for at least five years, including two years after the age of fourteen.

http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html

You can register the birth, and apply for the child's passport, at a US embassy or consulate. You'll need certain documents, of course:

http://travel.state.gov/family/family_issues/birth/birth_593.html

[atmartin50]

Thanks, 889!

Regarding the below (A), no problem. But (B) (I believe I've read this clause while searching online) is where we have an issue---my wife has never been to America (she was once denied a non-immigrant visa before we were married, and also once after we were married, both times on the grounds that she did not prove to the US Consulate that she has "strong ties to China"). What a headache. Needless to say, our next attempt will be for an immigrant visa.

Any other thoughts or possible loopholes?

[roddy]

From the site of the US Consulate in HK (presumably the same rules apply)

A child born outside of the United States to one U.S. Citizen parent and one non-U.S. Citizen parent may be entitled to citizenship providing the U.S. Citizen parent had been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for five years, at least two years of which were after s/he reached the age of fourteen. This period of physical presence must have taken place prior to the birth of the child.

So only you need to meet that requirement, not your wife, no?

[889]

Clause (B) only applies to you, not your non-citizen wife.

It's designed to cut-off transmission of US citizenship once ties to the US have become tenuous.

[Jive Turkey]

Your wife will also need to give consent for a US passport to be issued to your child. This applies to all overseas passport applications for US citizens under 14. I recommend that you check the website for the nearest US Consulate. Details for registering the birth of a US citizen abroad and application for a child's passport can be found on every US Consulate website.

As I understand it, your child will automatically be a Chinese citizen if born in the PRC. Anyone born in the PRC who has at least one PRC citizen parent is automatically a PRC citizen. This could create problems for you and your child because the PRC does not recognize dual nationality. If an adult mainlander acquires foreign nationality, he or she automatically loses his PRC nationality. I don't know how this is handled for situations like yours. I would enquire at a PSB office in a larger city to see how such cases are handled. Immigration law is one of the few things that is clear and uniformly enforced by the PRC. My bet is that they would not recognize the US nationality of a PRC born child of a mixed marriage, but would not revoke your child's PRC nationality until his or her 18th birthday.

[smalldog]

Your child is a US citizen and can only lose that citizenship by renouncing it or performing an act that causes loss of citizenship, such as serving in a foreign army. According to the PRC nationality law your child is a Chinese citizen and can only lose this citizenship by renouncing it or acquiring another citizenship of his/her own free will. So a lawyer would probably interpret this as meaning the child would be treated as an American citizen in when America and a Chinese citizen when in China. How the Chinese authorities actually act is unclear but I wouldn't be surprised if they considered anyone using a foreign passport to have lost their Chinese citizenship.

[pandaxiongmao]

There have been a number of cases concerning mainlanders that became U.S. citizens, but when visiting China, were treated as if they were Chinese citizens under the law.

A case in particular that comes to mind was an executive that worked for Apex in the USA. They took Changhong products and sold them under the brand name Apex in US stores. They were famous for DVD players that ignored region encoding. Changhong basically sent them a bunch of crap that didn't work, so Apex in the USA did not pay for the defective goods. When one of the executives for Apex was visiting China, he was arrested and kidnapped by government officials that were paid off by Changhong. The Chinese government refused to allow US consular officials to see the man, claiming he was a Chinese citizen (even though he had formally given up Chinese citizenship).

If that guy were not ethnically Chinese, I am quite sure he would have received different treatment...

[babygodzilla]

Irrelevant thread hijacking and venting removed.

Sorry I don't mean to hijack the thread. Just venting on the subject...

Vent elsewhere.

[atmartin50]

Thanks a lot for everyone's input and the included links. I'm slightly encouraged, though there will be plenty of paperwork and red-tape ahead.

Has anyone gone through the process themselves, or had any friends or relatives that have? I'd love to hear some personal anecdotes/success stories, and/or trade emails with anyone who is in the same situation (misery loves company, right?).