united-states citizenship
What is US Citizenship status of two persons born to a US mother outside the US before 2017?
<p>I have two children both born in the UK before 11th June 2017. I, their father, am a British citizen, their mother was a US citizen and we were not married.</p>

<p>Between the birth of the first child and the second, their mother was granted indefinite leave to remain.</p>

<p>At no point did their mother register their birth with any US authorities.</p>

<p>Accord to the website of the US State Dept (bottom section on Birth Abroad Out-of-Wedlock to a U.S. Citizen Mother), both of my children qualify to apply for US citizenship.</p>

<p><a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Acquisition-US-Citizenship-Child-Born-Abroad.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Acquisition-US-Citizenship-Child-Born-Abroad.html</a></p>

<p>I am correct in my belief that they do not automatically have US citizenship?</p>

<p>Note: I am not asking for advice in seeking US citizenship for them, merely confirming their current status.</p>

<p>Your children may have automatically become US citizens at birth, depending on how long their mother lived in the US before they were born.</p>

<p>US law says that any child born abroad to an unmarried US citizen mother is automatically a US citizen, as long as their mother had lived in the US <strong>continuously for at least one year</strong> before the child was born.  </p>

<p>There is a clear discussion of the legal requirements in <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter-3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chapter 3 of the USICS Policy Manual: US Citizens at Birth </a>. Your specific situation is covered by § C.2: <em>Child of a US Citizen Mother</em> (also at the bottom of the page!).  </p>

<p>(The underlying statute, §1409 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1409&amp;num=0&amp;edition=prelim" rel="nofollow noreferrer">is here</a>. Like most of the INA, §1409 is not reader friendly.) </p>
