Does a Child Born in the USA to Foreign Parents Get Citizenship?

A child born in the USA to foreign parents is a United States citizen from the moment of birth. It does not matter whether the parents are tourists, students, temporary workers, permanent residents, or undocumented. The Fourteenth Amendment and federal law establish this right, with one narrow exception for children of accredited foreign diplomats.¹ A January 2025 executive order attempted to narrow that guarantee for some categories of parents, but federal courts have blocked its enforcement and the fight is still unresolved as of 2026.²

Why the Answer Is Yes

The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, says that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”³ This is the principle of jus soli — right of the soil. Citizenship follows the place of birth, not the parents’ nationality. Congress wrote the same rule into the Immigration and Nationality Act at 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a).¹

The Supreme Court settled the question for the children of foreign parents in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898). Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco to Chinese parents who were subjects of China and permanent residents of the United States. The Court held he was a citizen by virtue of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and drew the line clearly: the only people excluded from the jurisdiction clause were children of foreign diplomats and children of enemy forces occupying U.S. territory.⁴ That rule has governed for more than a century.

So if you are visiting on a tourist visa, studying on an F-1, working on an H-1B, or living in the country without status, a child you have while physically present in the United States is an American citizen at birth. The child’s citizenship does not depend on your visa, your length of stay, or whether you plan to leave.

The 2025 Executive Order and Where It Stands

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14160, which told federal agencies to stop issuing documents recognizing citizenship for children born in the United States in two situations: when the mother was unlawfully present and the father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, and when the mother’s presence was lawful but temporary and the father was not a citizen or lawful permanent resident.⁵ The order would have affected passports, Social Security numbers, and other federal documents.

Federal courts blocked it quickly. Multiple district courts issued preliminary injunctions, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed one of them, calling the order “invalid and unconstitutional.”⁶ In June 2025, the Supreme Court in Trump v. CASA, Inc. addressed the scope of universal injunctions but did not decide whether the executive order itself was constitutional.²

As of early 2026, the order remains blocked, and the government cannot enforce it. The Supreme Court has granted review in Trump v. Barbara, so a definitive ruling on the order’s constitutionality may come during the 2025–2026 term.² Children born on U.S. soil continue to receive citizenship documentation under existing law. Parents in the categories the order targets should follow this case.

The One Real Exception: Foreign Diplomats

The Fourteenth Amendment requires that a person be born “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, and accredited diplomats with full immunity are not subject to U.S. legal authority the way other residents are. The Supreme Court in Wong Kim Ark pointed this out directly, noting that the parents in that case were “not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity.”⁴

Federal regulations at 8 CFR 101.3 identify which diplomatic positions trigger this exception.⁷ Children of ambassadors, ministers, and other accredited diplomats typically take their parents’ home-country citizenship and are registered through the relevant embassy. The exception is narrow. It does not cover consular employees, staff of international organizations, or foreign nationals working for their government in non-diplomatic roles.

What the Child’s Citizenship Does Not Do for the Parents

This is the most widely misunderstood part. A U.S. citizen child does not give the parents legal status, work authorization, or protection from deportation. It does not create a path to a green card while the child is a minor. If you are undocumented the day your child is born, you are still undocumented the day after.

A U.S. citizen can eventually petition for a parent’s green card, but only once the citizen turns 21.⁸ At that point the parent qualifies as an “immediate relative,” a category with no annual visa caps, so there is no wait for a visa number.⁹ The parent still has to file Form I-130, go through adjustment of status or consular processing, and meet all admissibility requirements. Parents who entered without inspection face additional legal hurdles that often require leaving the country and can trigger multi-year bars on reentry.

If a parent is deported, the child’s citizenship is unaffected. The child remains a U.S. citizen with every right that entails. What happens to the child physically — whether they stay with a relative in the United States or travel with the deported parent — is a custody and family question, not a citizenship one.

Registering the Birth and Getting a Social Security Number

Every birth in the United States gets recorded through the state’s vital records system, and that registration produces the birth certificate that serves as primary proof of citizenship. For hospital births, the process starts before you leave the building.

Hospital staff will hand you a birth registration worksheet covering the child’s name, date and time of birth, the facility, and your identifying information as parents. Make sure the spelling of names matches your passports exactly. Mismatches between the birth certificate and your identity documents can cause problems for years.

You can request the child’s Social Security number through the same process, under a program the Social Security Administration calls Enumeration at Birth. The hospital sends the application data directly to SSA, so no separate office visit is needed. Processing takes about two weeks on average, and the card arrives by mail up to two weeks after that.¹⁰

Certified copies of the birth certificate become available from the state or county vital records office after a few weeks. Fees generally run between $15 and $30 per copy. Order at least two — you will need them for the passport and other purposes, and replacing a lost copy later costs the same fee again.

Getting the Child a U.S. Passport

For families with ties to another country, a U.S. passport is usually the first federal document parents want to secure. Children under 16 apply in person using Form DS-11, and the consent rules are strict.

Both parents or guardians must appear in person with the child at a passport acceptance facility and give consent. If one parent cannot attend, that parent must sign a notarized Statement of Consent (Form DS-3053) with a photocopy of their ID. If one parent has sole legal custody, a court order or similar documentation stands in for the other parent’s consent.¹¹ These rules exist to prevent international parental child abduction, and the State Department does not waive them lightly.

Bring the child’s certified birth certificate listing both parents, proof of the parental relationship, and valid photo identification for each parent who appears. The fee for a minor’s first passport is $100 for the application plus a $35 facility acceptance fee, totaling $135.¹² Passports for children under 16 are valid for five years.

Dual Citizenship

A child born in the United States to foreign parents often holds citizenship in two countries at once. The U.S. grants citizenship based on birthplace; many other countries grant it based on the parents’ nationality. Both can apply at the same time, and U.S. law does not require anyone to choose.¹³

Your child can hold both an American passport and a foreign passport, vote in U.S. elections once old enough, and exercise rights in the other country. The complications usually come from the other country’s laws. Some nations require military service, restrict dual citizens from holding public office, or impose their own tax obligations. Check with your home country’s consulate to find out what your child’s dual status means under that country’s rules.

Dual citizenship lasts indefinitely unless the person takes an affirmative step to end it. On the U.S. side, that means formally renouncing before a consular officer abroad, a process that currently carries a non-refundable fee of $2,350.¹⁴ Simply using a foreign passport or living permanently abroad does not cause someone to lose U.S. citizenship.

Lifelong Obligations to Know About

U.S. citizenship comes with obligations that follow the child for life, even if you raise them entirely in another country. Two matter most.

The first is taxes. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live.¹⁵ A U.S. citizen working in Tokyo, São Paulo, or Lagos still files a U.S. federal return each year if income exceeds the filing threshold. The foreign earned income exclusion and foreign tax credits usually prevent double taxation, but the filing requirement itself never disappears. Failing to file, even when no tax is owed, can bring penalties.

The second is Selective Service. Federal law requires male citizens to register with the Selective Service System at age 18, whether they live in the United States or abroad.¹⁶ Failing to register before age 26 can block federal student aid, federal job training, and federal employment, and can complicate naturalization for immigrants who later apply. There is no active draft, but registration is mandatory.

Both obligations apply regardless of whether your child holds a second citizenship or has ever set foot in the United States after birth. Parents who raise a U.S. citizen child abroad sometimes learn about these rules only when the child becomes an adult and hits an unexpected wall. Knowing about them from the start gives you time to plan.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1401 – Nationals and Citizens of United States at Birth
2
Congress.gov. Birthright Citizenship: Litigation Status Update
3
Constitution Annotated. U.S. Constitution – Fourteenth Amendment
4
Justia. United States v. Wong Kim Ark
5
Constitution Annotated. Legality of the Trump Administration’s Birth Citizenship Executive Order
6
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. State of Washington v. Trump
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 3 – U.S. Citizens at Birth (INA 301 and 309)
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 2 – General Eligibility Requirements
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen
10
Social Security Administration. What Is Enumeration at Birth and How Does It Work
11
U.S. Department of State. Apply for a Child’s Passport Under 16
12
U.S. Department of State. Passport Fees
13
U.S. Department of State. Dual Nationality
14
U.S. Department of State. Renounce Citizenship
15
Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions About International Individual Tax Matters
16
Selective Service System. Selective Service System