I was wondering about this for a story: *Would a european citizen with an american parent (a parents who actually lives in the US) be considered an american citizen when it comes to permission to stay permanently in the country without a visa or similar? Or does he/she have to apply for citizenship and follow the normal procedures (whatever they are) anyway? *Would he or she even be allowed to work legally without specific permissions/work visa?
I don't know, but I'm sure the State department's website has the info: http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html
Idk about Europe, but my friend's parents are American citizens but because she was born in Japan she is considered a Japanese citizen. My friend could not work for the US government however a non-appropriated company hired her. I believe usually you need to obtain a worker's visa and keep renewing it, but in her case this may have been waived because her husband is in the US military. Also, my mom was a Philippine citizen and was able to work in the US without a problem. It only became a problem when my dad got stationed and we had to become naturalized. I believe military dependents are usually pushed to the front of the line when it comes to citizenship applications.
if a person has an american parent, no matter where that parent lives, or where the child was born, then s/he is an american citizen, and could have an american passport if applied for with the proper documentation... the child can decide whether to keep the american citizenship or not, on attaining legal majority... depending on the birth country, he/she may be able to retain dual citizenship...
^ True. Parents must report the birth to the nearest embassy or consulate, and they're issued a Consular Report of Birth Abroad - that's their proof for claiming US citizenship.
Thanks you all! I found some site too where the specifics about this situation was explained. Thanks mammamaia, that was the answer I was hoping for
I was born in the UK and have an American mother. I could have had US citizenship but I was pretty not bothered when I was a kid and didn't realise it would open a new continent I could get jobs on I wish I had applied for an American passport: when I was 18 I think I lost my chance to just wander into the embassy and say "yo, I'd like a passport, please." I still won't have as many problems trying to get jobs if I went out there, but I would have to have some extra paperwork. Oh well.
Melzaar: wow, that's an interesting story. So after you're 18 it's harder to get? I agree, it would open for a whole lot of possibilities having it.
I'm not sure of all the details since I only thought about it seriously when I was 20, and since I'd missed my chance I couldn't be bothered to research it properly. But my mum did make it clear there was a deadline for us to apply for American passports, which would seal our status as having dual citizenship. It may just be that it was because we were still kids, like, that since we were minors they'd let it pass much more easily. When you're an adult and apply for dual citizenship often you need to marry/get work/live there a certain number of years etc before they will consider you and each one has masses of accompanying paperwork. By being born to an American mother was our pass at least until we became adults in another country without ever showing any interest in America. However I think I have whatever that identification is you need to not have to apply for a work visa so I think I could theoretically still work out there. It just will be more complicated than if I was a citizen, and I'd have to get a visa for living there, and loads of other stuff.
On a side-note, Japan handles things a bit differently. The country doesn't recognize dual citizenship and once you lose it's citizenship it's pretty hard to get it back. My teacher was in this situation where she had been working for several years in Canada and still didn't want Canadian citizenship even though she was eligible. Considering that, your friend is lucky in a sense !