Children

Children of immigrants or children brought to the United States by immigrants fall into a special category, even if the child is brought to the United States illegally. The logic behind this is that it is unfair to expect a child to stay in the home country while the parents move! This makes perfect sense, you cannot expect a 2 year old to stay in Mexico, China, Zimbabwe or some other country while the parents leave for the United States; the law does not expect the child to leave the parents while in the United States either.

This logic is consistent with immigration laws efforts to keep families coherent (see family visas and numerous decisions of the courts and immigration services).

Currently, any child born in the United States becomes a U.S. Citizen. There is some talk and debate by groups to change this. They want to make citizenship based on one of the parents being a U.S. citizen - citizenship by blood. Historically, an individual is born a citizen by either blood or being born on U.S. soil. Therefore, a child born to two illegal immigrants in the U.S. is still considered a U.S. citizen even if the parents are not.

Now, if the parents come to the U.S. legally as a lawful permanent resident or become a U.S. Citizen the child can gain citizenship through derivative status. This only last while the child us under the age of 18. When the child turns 18 a different series of laws becomes applicable and the now adult child may have to apply for citizenship or lawful permanent residence status.

If the parents came to the U.S. illegally and brought the child over there is a whole host of other issues which are beyond the scope of this blog. In general there is limited options for a child or young adult who falls into this category.