united-states immigration human-rights citizenship
American citizenship that got lost in the family
<p>I am a non-American individual and think I have a right for American citizenship.</p>

<p>The father of my grandma (dead) was American (he was born there), but my grandma (alive) did not get citizenship for some reason. </p>

<p>So neither my mother nor I have got American citizenship.
Is there any way so I can get American citizenship from the father of my grandma?</p>

<p>There are two models for citizenship, by location of birth and by the nationality of the parent. The US chiefly follows the first model, which is why only your grandma's father is American, and your grandma is not. By the same logic, you are not.</p>

<p>Countries like Spain are far more lenient, and do allow you to request Spanish citizenship if you can show any of your direct ancestors are Spanish. That's possible because each country can make its own laws within reason. The international norm is that everybody should get at least <em>a</em> citizenship at birth; statelessness should not happen. </p>

<p>As described in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthright_citizenship_in_the_United_States#Statute,_by_parentage" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this Wikipedia article</a> a person born outside of the United States may become a US citizen if at least one of the persons parents is a US citizen, and various other conditions are complied with. </p>

<p>These conditions differ depending on whether the mother, the father, or both are US citizens, and whether the parents were married at the time of the birth of the child. Most of these conditions require that the citizen parent have been physically present in the US for a certain period prior to the birth, the period varying depending on the exact case. </p>

<p>In the specific case where the father is a US citizen, but the mother is not, and the parents were not married, the paternity must be formally acknowledged by the father, or legally adjudicated, before the child is 18, otherwise the child can not subsequently acquire US citizenship by descent. </p>

<p>These conditions are set by law, and the law has been changed at various times by Congress.</p>

<p>There is no case under current US law where a person can obtain US citizenship because one or more of his or her ancestors, but not a parent, was a US Citizen.</p>
