do you have to be born on american soil to be president?
349940
US Constitution section 1 article 2 states:\nNo person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.\n\nYou don't have to be born in the U.S. or on U.S. soil, or your parents be on vacation, they just need to be U.S. citizens at the time of your birth and have you in the country before they become citizens of another.
630435
You need to be a natural-born citizen who is at least 35 years old. Constitutionally, that is all that is required. Realistically, you need an established political presence, money and the ability to raise more money, and lots of connections in one of the two major political parties in order to be considered a viable candidate for the presidency.
527207
no, only if you want to become president. trust me i am right i learned this in my history class.
403360
No signatures are needed to run for president.  All you need is to be 35 years or older, you must be born in the U.S. and must be a resident of the U.S. for a minimum of 14 years.
87668
It depends on the immigration law of the country in which you were born.  In the United States, citizenship is determined by two legal concepts, jus sangre and jus solis.  The first is based on your parentage, the second on location.  If you were born on US soil (definitions of this can be complex, but it certainly includes all US States, Puerto Rico, etc) , you acquired US citizenship at the time of birth under jus solis.  you can check the source below for more information.  If you are abroad, you can contact the local Embassy of Consulate of the nation you are interested in for information.  Otherwise, you would normally refer to the local office of your country's agency for handling citizenship, usually the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Home Ministry or Foreign Ministry.\n\nIf you were born to at least one parent who was a US citizen at the time of your birth, you may be a US citzen under jus sangre.  To determine this, check the source I list below.  Your parent will have had to meet certain residency requirements and determination can only be made by factors such as your birthdate, which of parents is a citizen, and how long they may have resided in the US.\n\nDisclaimer:taking advice from a person using Bubba as a screen name could be hazardous for your health. It has previously been known to impair judgement and result in unintended consequences and ugly scenes played out late at night in trailer parks.
711977
Only natural born citizens can be President.\nI agree with this because someone born here has more reason to defend the US then someone born elsewhere
830878
President of the United States? None. There is no education requirement, just age (35), and be a natural born citizen.
506093
Yes, by current law in America, anyone not the child of a diplomatic representative is an American citizen upon birth in America.
327912
Everybody gets there a different way.  The only actual restrictions that I can think of off-hand is that you must be at least 35 years old and you must have been born in the United States.\n\nAlthough all of our past Presidents have been white males, they have had many different backgrounds, but perhaps the most popular aside from being born into wealth is probably being a lawyer or a general in the military.
995970
if you were born in the USA you are an American
1001816
Just to clear things up for those of you who insist on saying "he wouls have to be a citizen to be president" well i got news for you. You can be a latino born in te U.S. So next time you see the word latino do not fully imply that all latinos are  born out side the U.S. Some latinos are born here and some in latin america. So yes some day a latino can become president and he would do much better than a certain "oil tycoon wannabe president".
16789
No, although this nation is of immigrant stock (99%) I do not think an immigrant should be President. Not if this person had to be naturalized. I do not think an accident of birth should prevent an otherwise qualified person. IE: A person born to American citizens who are abroad @ the time of their birth for whatever reason, this person should be qualified. However, a person of divided loyalty in any way should not be the leader of this or any other nation.  No matter what they may say or do, a person is still loyal to the land of their birth. My Grandmother was Irish till she died. Despite having lived in The US for 85 of her 97 yrs.
603304
Because Presidents are supposed to be born in the country they run...\nIs just a rule, and I think it applies to every country.\nIt can be a bit shallow if you consider that if you arrived to a new country when you were 1 year old, you are practically from that country but... what can I say?\nYou can still be governor though. Ask Mr. Schwarzenegger.\n\nGoodluck!
724781
k G is incorrect ... you can not be a naturalized citizen. You must be an American-BORN citizen.\n\nThis is why Arnold (The Governator) can not run for President, although he is naturalized.
1056018
I believe that you can claim the ethnic background you were born to, but you must become an AMERICAN if you plan to remain in my homeland. If you want to be a Mexican, be a Mexican in Mexico. If you want to fly that rag you call a flag, do it in Mexico. I claim all of the priveleges and rights of a Native American. I have a constitutional right and duty to defend my country from enemies foreign and domestic. I claim a tribal right to defend my homeland from all invaders. Be what you will, fly whatever rag you choose, just do not be suprised when you are unceremoniously dumped on your butt  by people like myself. This is MY land! love it or leave!  No Amnesty! No surrender!
624642
Because you mother is an American citizen, you are an American citizen. Don't worry. I was born in Italy with both my mom and dad being Americans so that makes me American by relation. Also some one who was born on U.S. soil is an American citizen.
289418
According the US Constitution, in order to be in the House of Representatives, you must be "seven Years a Citizen of the United States".  For the Senate, nine years.  In order to be President, however, Article 2 says "No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."  So to be in Congress or President, you certainly have to be a citizen.  In order to work in the bureaucracy, I believe the standard is much lower.  As long as you're here legally, and don't have a criminal background, you can probably get into most lower government positions.  Citizenship certainly couldn't hurt, though.