In a new policy move, the Trump administration says children of U.S. troops born overseas will no longer receive American citizenship automatically.
In the past, kids born on military bases were considered to be "residing in the United States," and were accordingly given citizenship under Immigration and Nationality Act 320.
“It’s a big deal because it is an attempt to limit the number of U.S. citizens who can transmit U.S. citizenship to their children because they have made the choice to patriotically serve their country in the military or other government services,” Ur Jaddou of America’s Voice told Axios in an interview.
The new policy will go into effect on October 29.
The children will be allowed to complete all the paperwork for naturalization proceedings while living abroad.
"The policy change explains that we will not consider children who live abroad with their parents to be residing in the United States even if their parents are U.S. government employees or U.S. service members stationed outside of the United States, and as a result, these children will no longer be considered to have acquired citizenship automatically," USCIS spokesperson Meredith Parker told Task & Purpose.