Recent Amendments
The Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 (Pub. L. No. 103-416, 108 Stat. 4305) ("INTCA") has given rise to several changes in the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA") which relate to the transmission, at birth, of U.S. citizenship to children born abroad. The implementation of INTCA has not affected the various residence/physical presence requirements imposed on U.S. citizen parents in previous statutes. In order to determine whether or not the U.S. citizen parent has complied with these requirements, the statute that applied at the time of the child's birth must be considered.
However, INA §301(h) now provides that any person born before noon (Eastern Standard Time) on May 24, 1934 outside the U.S. to an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who resided in the U.S. is considered to be a U.S. citizen at birth. The provision is to be retroactively applied as though the amendment had been made at the time of the person's birth, subject to only two exceptions which are outside the scope of this article. Also, any provision of law that provides for a person's loss of citizenship or nationality if a person failed to come to, or reside or be physically present in the United States shall not apply to a person claiming citizenship under §301(h). Prior to INTCA, a considerable number of children born to one alien parent and one U.S. citizen parent lost their citizenship as a result of their failure to satisfy the various retention requirements which were in effect from May 24, 1934 to October 10, 1978. INA §324(d)(1) now provides that a person who was a U.S. citizen at birth who lost citizenship for failing to meet certain physical presence retention requirements in effect before October 10, 1978 will, upon taking the oath of allegiance, once again be considered be a U.S. citizen and have the status of a U.S. citizen by birth. Persons born prior to May 24, 1934 to a U.S. citizen mother and an alien father and persons born on or after May 24, 1934 but before October 10, 1978 to a U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent, who lost U.S. citizenship for failure to comply with the retention requirements may now regain citizenship in light of these amendments.