1. Your clients, a married couple, are Presbyterian missionaries in Ukraine. They are both children of missionaries; the husband was born in Poland and the wife in the Philippines, but both acquired U.S. citizenship at birth. They are expecting a baby next month, and it will be born in Ukraine. Will the child have U.S. citizenship?
2. Would it matter if neither of your clients has ever spent more than one academic semester in the United States? One summer vacation?
3. If you learn that one of your clients went to high school in the United States, but the other has never been in the country, does it matter whether it is the husband or wife?
4. Your client, Max, was born in the United States, but his parents moved to Switzerland when he was two, and he has spent most of his life in Europe. Max has been living with Corinne, a French woman, in Paris for the past three years, and she recently discovered that she is pregnant. This child is due in five months. This event has prompted the couple to talk more earnestly about a subject that have discussed for a long time but never acted upon: whether they should get married. They haven't yet decided. In any event, they want to make sure that the child has U.S. citizenship.
5. Max asks whether he and his finance have to move to the United States to accomplish this aim. He is not sure he could even arrange this in time because Corinne has no passport and no U.S. visa. What do you advise?
6. The couple may decide anyway to stay in France, "to be absolutely certain" he says, "that the baby has French citizenship too." Is there any way that he can arrange for the child also to have U.S. nationality if the child is born in Paris? Does Max have to marry Corinne to accomplish this? (Think about other factual information you might have to obtain to answer his questions)

How, if at all, would your analysis change if the U.S. citizen in this problem were the mother, not the father?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

In the scenarios youve described the acquisition of US citizenship for the child depends on specific factors outlined in US nationality laws Lets brea... View the full answer