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US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - Grace62 - 03-20-2012
Zygotes may not have personhood, but they do carry citizenship rights.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-03-19/in-vitro-citizenship/53656616/1?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=206567
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - hal - 03-20-2012
Don't people understand the requirements for citizenship? INSANE!
She found that the U.S. State Department did not share in her joy when she went to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to apply for citizenship for her children.
An embassy staffer wanted to know whether Lavi got pregnant at a fertility clinic. She said yes and was told that her children were not eligible for citizenship unless she could prove that the egg or sperm used to create the embryo was from an American citizen.
"I was humiliated and horrified," Lavi said. "We're talking about the children I gave birth to. Of course they're my children."
Yes, lady - of course they are your children, but that doesn't make them US citizens unless they were born in the US.
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - Grace62 - 03-20-2012
The law says that if a US citizen is overseas when her child is born, that child has US citizenship. Where does it say that the egg and sperm have to have come from US citizens?
I'm very surprised by this, I would have assumed that the child would have citizenship, maybe unless the child was immediately adopted by non-citizens, such as in a surrogate case.
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - Chakravartin - 03-20-2012
hal wrote:
Yes, lady - of course they are your children, but that doesn't make them US citizens unless they were born in the US.
I beg to differ.
8 USC ยง 1401 - Nationals and citizens of United States at birth
The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
(a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;
(b) a person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe: Provided, That the granting of citizenship under this subsection shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of such person to tribal or other property;
© a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person;
(d) a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year prior to the birth of such person, and the other of whom is a national, but not a citizen of the United States;
(e) a person born in an outlying possession of the United States of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the birth of such person;
(f) a person of unknown parentage found in the United States while under the age of five years, until shown, prior to his attaining the age of twenty-one years, not to have been born in the United States;
(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years: Provided, That any periods of honorable service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or periods of employment with the United States Government or with an international organization as that term is defined in section 288 of title 22 by such citizen parent, or any periods during which such citizen parent is physically present abroad as the dependent unmarried son or daughter and a member of the household of a person
(A) honorably serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, or
(B) employed by the United States Government or an international organization as defined in section 288 of title 22, may be included in order to satisfy the physical-presence requirement of this paragraph. This proviso shall be applicable to persons born on or after December 24, 1952, to the same extent as if it had become effective in its present form on that date; and
(h) a person born before noon (Eastern Standard Time) May 24, 1934, outside the limits and jurisdiction of the United States of an alien father and a mother who is a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, had resided in the United States.
...
The distinction that the State Department is making by interpreting "parent" strictly to mean the genetic donor of a gamete is outside of the scope of the statute.
I think the woman has a good lawsuit in the making.
She's certainly the parent of her kids by any reasonable definition.
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - $tevie - 03-20-2012
My mother was born in Argentina to American citizens. She was an American citizen.
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - RgrF - 03-21-2012
While the law may be indistinct one thing is clear, the mom failed to do due diligence about citizenship requirements. A simple query to State prior to embarking on a venture of this magnitude, one who's timeline she totally controlled, might have avoided this particular bureaucratic brouhaha.
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - Grace62 - 03-21-2012
Reading just that article, I'd say the law needs to catch up with reproductive advances and the realities of modern parenting. Why should this woman have to travel to a country where she does not live (the US) so she can pass along her dual citizenship to her children, citizenship that would have been theirs automatically if she had not told the embassy officials that she used in vitro? She didn't have to reveal that, and apparently many people know not to.
And what about foreigners who visit the US, get implanted with embryos from US donors, then go back home? Are those babies entitled to US citizenship? Their bio parents are Americans, after all.
Seems that the law here is just out of date, and not meeting its original intention.
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - Ombligo - 03-21-2012
I agree the law should be changed but I also wonder what allegience the child would have to the US if they are born, raised, and educated in another country? The US would be little more than a safe haven without paperwork. How is that truly (not legally) different than undocumented aliens who come here and quietly live their lives, pays taxes (using a false SSN) and break no other laws?
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - Lux Interior - 03-21-2012
hal wrote:
Don't people understand the requirements for citizenship? INSANE!
Do you understand them?
I read them since it concerned me, and while the whole "donor egg" issue did not apply, I don't recall reading anything about it.
Re: US citizenship for babies born overseas to American moms: foreign zygotes need not apply - Mac-A-Matic - 03-24-2012
An old friend of mine is having a baby with his husband. I just went to their shower. They're using his sperm and a donor egg in an Indian surrogate. They are expecting mid-April.
The baby will be born in India but because he is an American citizen (and it's his sperm), their baby will be legitimately his and eligible for US citizenship.
I'm surprised that the woman didn't do more due diligence before pursuing her course of action.
Perhaps she should have flown back to the US, had the baby here and no one would be the wiser?