Little by little, bit by bit, they’re taking your US citizenship away.

Washington correspondent Tal Kopan of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets, “Today USCIS issued guidance that DHS ‘no longer considers children of U.S. government employees and U.S. armed forces members residing outside the United States as “residing in the United States” for purposes of acquiring citizenship.'”

This is the USCIS guidance document she’s talking about: Policy Alert: Defining “Residence” in Statutory Provisions Related to Citizenship (.pdf).

Policy Highlights

• Clarifies that temporary visits to the United States do not establish U.S. residence and explains the distinction between residence and physical presence in the United States.
• Explains that USCIS no longer considers children of U.S. government employees and U.S. armed forces members residing outside the United States as “residing in the United States” for purposes of acquiring citizenship under INA 320.

This new policy applies to non-resident children of non-US citizens who work for the US government or are in the armed forces, and also non-resident children of US citizens.

Effective October 29, 2019, children residing abroad with their U.S. citizen parents who are U.S. government employees or members of the U.S. armed forces stationed abroad are not considered to be residing in the United States for acquisition of citizenship. Similarly, leave taken in the United States while stationed abroad is not considered residing in the United States even if the person is staying in property he or she owns.

Therefore, U.S. citizen parents who are residing outside the United States with children who are not U.S. citizens should apply for U.S. citizenship on behalf of their children under INA 3228, and must complete the process before the child’s 18th birthday.⁹ The child of a member of the U.S. armed forces accompanying his or her parent abroad on official orders may be eligible to complete all aspects of the naturalization proceedings abroad. This includes interviews, filings, oaths, ceremonies, or other proceedings relating to naturalization.¹⁰

☎️ Call your elected representatives today, House and Senate. Tell them that you do not support this policy change, and ask what your representatives and senators intend to do to stop it from being enacted.

• Find your representative and their contact information: Click here.
• Find your senator and their contact information: Click here.

UPDATE: