The U.S. wants to restrict the granting of citizenship to foreign government employees

The Washington administration intends to restrict the granting of American citizenship by right of birth to the children of foreign government employees.

This is stated in a notice from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), published on September 4 in the Federal Register (a collection of official documents of the American government).

As noted in the document, under American laws, the children of foreign diplomats in the U.S. «do not acquire citizenship by birth,» but have the right to «register as a lawful permanent resident» of the country.

As specified in the notice, under the executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on August 6, the same rules, from the point of view of the DHS, should apply to all children who have at least one parent who is a «foreign government employee.» This concerns children neither of whose parents is an American at the time of birth.

The department specifies that, on the basis of the order, the category of «foreign government employees,» in addition to diplomats, includes, in particular, various staff members of foreign embassies and consulates, as well as of certain international organizations.

The DHS notice, as indicated in it, will be officially published on September 9.
The DHS believes that such norms should take effect from September 4. At the same time, the department specifies that at this stage it will not take actions to change the procedure for granting U.S. citizenship.

The reason for this is that a federal district court in the American state of Maryland ruled on September 2 to temporarily halt the enforcement of the aforementioned Trump order. The court found that the order contradicts a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The country's highest judicial authority in June found unconstitutional another Trump order, also aimed at restricting the granting of U.S. citizenship by right of birth.

Source: TASS