Sec. 301.432. [[8 U.S.C. 1401](/us/usc/t8/s1401)]

1,825 words·~8 min read·/statute-compilations/comps-1376/sec-301-432·

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

## Sec. 301.432 **[**[8 U.S.C. 1401](/us/usc/t8/s1401)**]** The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth: 432 Historical Note.—Previous to 1978, section 301 required that a person born abroad of a U.S. citizen parent and an alien parent must be physically present in the United States for a particular period of time in order to retain United States citizenship. Subsection

(b)of this section provided for a five-year period of continuous residence as follows:

(b)Any person who is a national and citizen of the United States at birth under paragraph

(7)of subsection (a), shall lose his nationality and citizenship unless he shall come to the United States prior to attaining the age of twenty-three years and shall immediately following any such coming be continuously physically present in the United State[s] for at least five years: *Provided, *That such physical presence follows the attainment of the age of fourteen years and precedes the age of twenty-eight years. Subsection

(c)of this section clarified that this requirement only applied to aliens born abroad after May 24, 1934:

(c)Subsection

(b)shall apply to a person born abroad subsequent to May 24, 1934: *Provided, however, *That nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to alter or affect the citizenship of any person born abroad subsequent to May 24, 1934, who, prior to the effective date of this Act, has taken up a residence in the United States before attaining the age of sixteen years, and thereafter, whether before or after the effective date of this Act, complies or shall comply with the residence requirements for retention of citizenship specified in subsections

(g)and

(h)of section 201 of the Nationality Act of 1940, as amended. Section 16 of the Act of September 11, 1957 (71 Stat. 644) provided a rule for determining continuity of residence as follows: “In the administration of section 301(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, absences from the United States of less than twelve months in the aggregate, during the period for which continuous physical presence in the United States is required, shall not be considered to break the continuity of such physical presence.” Public Law 92–584 (Oct. 27, 1972, 86 Stat. 1289) amended these provisions by rewriting subsection

(b)to provide for only a two year residency requirement as follows:

(b)Any person who is a national and citizen of the United States under paragraph

(7)of subsection

(a)shall lose his nationality and citizenship unless—(1) he shall come to the United States and be continuously physically present therein for a period of not less than two years between the ages of fourteen years and twenty-eight years; or

(2)the alien parent is naturalized while the child is under the age of eighteen years and the child begins to reside permanently in the United States while under the age of eighteen years. In the administration of this subsection absences from the United States of less than sixty days in the aggregate during the period for which continuous physical presence in the United States is required shall not break the continuity of such physical presence. That Public Law also repealed section 16 of the Act of September 11, 1957, and added a new subsection (d), as a savings clause for those complying with the previous law:

(d)Nothing contained in subsection (b), as amended, shall be construed to alter or affect the citizenship of any person who has come to the United States prior to the effective date of this subsection and who, whether before or after the effective date of this subsection, immediately following such coming complies or shall comply with the physical presence requirements for retention of citizenship specified in subsection

(b)prior to its amendment and the repeal of section 16 of the Act of September 11, 1957. These amendments applied to aliens born abroad after May 24, 1934. The first section of Public Law 95–432 (Oct. 10, 1978, 92 Stat 1046), effective October 10, 1978, repealed subsections (b), (c), and (d), thus eliminating the residence requirement for retention of United States citizenship. This change was effective on October 10, 1978, and is prospective in nature (viz., it does not reinstate as citizens those who had lost citizenship under section 301(b) as previously in effect). See H. Rept. 95–1493 (95th Cong.), to accompany H.R. 13349, p. 2. ###

(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; ###

(c)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)433 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 two434 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 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (59 Stat. 669; 22 U.S.C. 288) 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 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act, 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 433The Act of March 16, 1956 (70 Stat. 50; 8 U.S.C. 1401a), provides as follows: That section 301(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act shall be considered to have been and to be applicable to a child born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions after January 12, 1941, and before December 24, 1952, of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has served in the Armed Forces of the United States after December 31, 1946, and before December 24, 1952, and whose case does not come within the provisions of section 201

(g)or

(i)of the Nationality Act of 1940. 434§12 of the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1986 (Pub. L. 99–653, Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3657) substituted “five years, at least two” for “ten years, at least five”, effective for persons born on or after November 14, 1986. ### (h)435 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. 435Paragraph

(h)was added by subsection (a)(2) of §101 of the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 (P.L. 103–416, 108 Stat. 4306, Oct. 25, 1994); subsections

(b)through

(d)of that section provide as follows:

(b)Waiver of Retention Requirements.—Any provision of law (including section 301(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as in effect before October 10, 1978), and the provisos of section 201(g) of the Nationality Act of 1940) that provided for a person's loss of citizenship or nationality if the person failed to come to, or reside or be physically present in, the United States shall not apply in the case of a person claiming United States citizenship based on such person's descent from an individual described in section 301(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as added by subsection (a)).

(c)Retroactive Application.—(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the immigration and nationality laws of the United States shall be applied (to persons born before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act) as though the amendment made by subsection (a), and subsection (b), had been in effect as of the date of their birth, except that the retroactive application of the amendment and that subsection shall not affect the validity of citizenship of anyone who has obtained citizenship under section 1993 of the Revised Statutes (as in effect before the enactment of the Act of May 24, 1934 (48 Stat. 797)).

(2)The retroactive application of the amendment made by subsection (a), and subsection (b), shall not confer citizenship on, or affect the validity of any denaturalization, deportation, or exclusion action against, any person who is or was excludable from the United States under section 212(a)(3)(E) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(E)) (or predecessor provision) or who was excluded from, or who would not have been eligible for admission to, the United States under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 or under section 14 of the Refugee Relief Act of 1953.

(d)Application to Transmission of Citizenship.—This section, the amendments made by this section, and any retroactive application of such amendments shall not effect any residency or other retention requirements for citizenship as in effect before October 10, 1978, with respect to the transmission of citizenship.

Connectionstraces to 6

Traces to 6 documents

U.S. Code

statutes-at-large

9 references not yet in our index