Parents who are not US citizen

<p>JeepMOM, If I gave anybody the impression that I was calling the OP's daughter an anchor baby I deeply apologize. That was not my intent. I dislike the term to begin with, and I was responding to meg's question about people who might enter the country just to have a child here -- NOT the OP. I have also hijacked this thread -- back to the original programming: </p>

<p>OP, my own opinion is that your D is a U.S. citizen and should be able to apply to college as such. You may want to double-check with the immigration and naturalization folks at the U.S. govt., but I wouldn't hold my breath for a prompt reply, unfortunately.</p>

<p>Iderochi - that impression was not taken :) - I just commented on the possible idea - I also hate that 'label' - tho it is true sometimes :(</p>

<p>The laws regarding dual citizenship for US citizens are more accomodating than in years past. However--most Asian nations do not allow dual citizenship. They require that you give up one or the other. Hopefully, you did not do this for your D?</p>

<p>If your D is a bona fide US citizen, I believe the school will want detailed verification of that status, birth certificate, residency status in home country etc. Once the schools have that in hand, they will accept her application as a US citizen. She will not be counted in the International pool.</p>

<p>It is hard to lose a US citizenship. I know a fellow who returned his citizenship after living in a foreign country for 25 years. The Dept of Immigration sent it back to him with words suggesting that he may have lost his mind, but they hadn't.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you are a high earner in the US, you will be tracked by the IRS to your grave--even if you live overseas. This applies to green card holders too. </p>

<p>As your daughter is applying to the top schools, presumably Ivy, she needs US citizenship to get a decent shake at Fin Aid.. Intl students get very little aid.</p>

<p>Well from Ivy's intl. get more aid because those schools have larger endowments. And it's a wee bit easier if you are a Canadian. Though you aren't so it's a moot point.</p>

<p>I doubt your daughter would need to prove her citizenship. As long as she has a passport and a SIN she should be fine. I think as someone suggested earlier, just contact the fin.aid office of the schools she will be applying to, to confirm all this. I'm sure she will have no issues.</p>

<p>megtfs, actually there's nothing really to stop someone from crossing the border and having their baby! :) If the child is born in the U.S., it has a right to U.S. citizenship, regardless of the status of the parents. It's basically the same in Canada. If you're born here, you're Canadian. I've known two families who had children while in the U.S. on vacation, both babies born early and a surprise to the vacationers! They're now capable of having dual citizenship. All of my children are dual. All you need basically to prove U.S. citizenship is a birth certificate or a U.S. passport. The OP's daughter should have no trouble.</p>

<p>I just find that so incredibly odd. Not that I disagree with it at all, I think I am just so used to visa's and roundabout ways that the simple things do not occur. I know a lot of cdn's in the UK who have difficulty with determing their baby's citizenship and obtaining english citizenship for it.</p>

<p>Dear Parents:</p>

<p>Owing to my simple question and your extensive discussions/kind suggestions, it is good to learn the meaning of "anchor baby" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Thank you.</p>

<p>HPK</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_baby%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_baby&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Anchor baby is a pejorative term referring to a child born in the United States to illegal immigrants or other non-citizens. The term was coined by nativists to refer to the child's role in facilitating "chain migration" under the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965. The baby becomes the "anchor" of the chain by which its family may receive benefits from social programs, and by which that family's members may themselves eventually become citizens of the United States. The term "anchor babies" is also used to refer to children born to women who are legally in the US on temporary visas (for example a visitor’s visa) when the child's birth is specifically intended to attain citizenship under US law, however, this is more precisely described as birth tourism. Sometimes the term jackpot baby is used interchangeably with the term anchor baby, however this use is always derogatory.</p>

<p>megtfs- The US is a country of immigrants- it makes sense to automatically be a citizen if you're born here- we emphasize the present, not one's ancestor's place in society. Mothers-to-be do literally cross the US-Mexican border to have American citizen children with all the rights and privileges of citizenship. Historically Eastern hemisphere ethnic groups occupied regions which later became countries; we lack the precedences here "Old World" countries use to define citizenship -the relative newcomer Europeans who overran the western hemisphere had to redefine things to include themselves (and ended up including a lot of groups today they didn't intend to). There is a different mindset in the New World.</p>

<p>Iderochi - that phrase meant something else entirely to the authors of the 14th Amendment (from which your cited statute derives). It also meant 'owing no allegiance to any other country'. It was clearly NOT the author's intent to grant citizenship to persons who just happened to be born here, especially ones whose parent were here illegally. Unfortunately that changed ~ 30 years later w/ SCOTUS' 1898 decision in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark.</p>

<p>"That "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" is a very tiny exception relating primarily to children of diplomats"</p>

<p>megtfs - Nothing at all, unfortunately. Also saw that you mentioned that you thought it odd that the UK does not grant citizenship 'jus soli' (by right of birthplace). The UK is in the vast majority of coutries in that regard - the USA is one of a very few countriess that grant citizenship 'jus soli'; most grant via 'jus sanguinis' (by right of blood). For reasons that are becoming increasingly clear every day...</p>

<p>"My question regarding that is - what stops anyone from just crossing the border and having their child born in the US? "</p>

<p>wis75, you don't have to explain to me about Old World v New World re: immigrants. I'm Canadian (my ancestors originally arrived to Boston, then up to Spokane area before they came up to Canada) who just happens to currently live in the UK and an advocate for immigrants rights.</p>

<p>Ready4Freddy, no sorry I didn't mean I thought it was odd that the UK does not grant citizenship by right of birthplace. I meant I thought this was the case, and that this makes sense to me and I was surprised that the US did as I didn't think when I first came upon this thread, that it did!</p>

<p>"what stops anyone from just crossing the border and having their child born in the US?"</p>

<p>This happens more often than you would think on the southern border.</p>

<p>with regard to the question at hand: your daughter is a US Citizen, which she indisputably is because she was born on US territory and you were not a diplomat at the time of her birth; thus at MOST schools she would be eligible to recieve financial aid. Most schools don't consider non-citizen permanent residents or US citizens living overseas to be international applicants. International students are generally given need-based aid only in rare and exceptional circumstances. </p>

<p>It should be noted that there are certain things you can do to compromise your citizenship, such as taking an oath of alliegence to a foreign state or serving in another country's military, though generally citizenship will only be revoked if you specifically renounce it.</p>

<p>what effect does dual citizenship have on the college application process and financial aid process?</p>

<p>Dual citizenship shouldn't have any particular effect as long as the applicant is a United States citizen.</p>