[Rhodes22-list] Legal: Ben Please Help

[Herb Parsons]

Good old Wikipedia (but then, who says THEY are right)??

I think they may have cleared it all up for me some.

I think the papers I signed were from the Army (most of that kind of 
stuff seemed to come from them back then) and sound like they were 
probably a formality that they sent to all of the Army brats born abroad.

According to Wikipedia, Germany doesn't allow citizenship based on place 
of birth, but by lineage. At least, not before 1990 or something. My 
parents weren't German, so it was all moot.

When I joined the Navy, I signed some papers concerning my citizenship 
again, but I still considered it all a formality. I had lived in other 
countries, but only because of my military father, so I never considered 
myself anything but an American citizen.


Bill Effros wrote:
> Thanks, Ben,
>
> What is going on with the part about having to re-claim citizenship 
> before the age of 21?
>
> Herb mentioned he did the same.
>
> If my mother had failed to reclaim citizenship could she still be 
> President -- or would she have lost her American Citizenship?
>
> Bill Effros
>
>
>
> Ben Cittadino wrote:
>   
>> Bill;
>>
>> If this question was addressed to me ( and it may not have been ) the answer
>> is that if your mother never "formally renounced" her US citizenship then
>> she was a native born American citizen the entire time although she may have
>> held duel citizenship for part of the time. She can be President.
>>
>> Americans can be duel citizens but often other countries require that you
>> make a choice.  For example I believe Japanese citizens who become American
>> citizens are deemed to have renounced their Japanese citizenship.
>>
>> Also, remember this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.
>>
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Ben Cittadino
>>
>> Bill Effros wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>> Ben,
>>>
>>> My mother was born in NYC in 1917 to Dutch parents with a business in 
>>> the United States.  After WWI she went to Holland with her parents, and 
>>> enjoyed the benefits of Dutch citizenship.
>>>
>>> In 1938, before her 21st birthday, her parents arranged for her to 
>>> return to the United States to claim her American Citizenship, which she 
>>> would otherwise have  lost, owing to her exercise of Dutch Citizenship.  
>>> She traveled to the United States on a US Passport, and remained here as 
>>> a United States citizen.
>>>
>>> It was my understanding that she was not eligible to run for President 
>>> of the United States because she was a Dutch citizen as a child and had 
>>> to reclaim her American citizenship, and thus became a "naturalized" 
>>> rather than "native born" citizen.
>>>
>>> Do I have this wrong?  Is there still a chance for my mother to become 
>>> President?
>>>
>>> Bill Effros
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>     
>>>       
>>   
>>     
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