>From: Julia >Subject: Re: Nitpick On Nationality (was Re: Fag-waving) > >Julia Thompson wrote: > > > > "Marvin Long, Jr." wrote: > > > > > > On Thu, 9 May 2002, J. van Baardwijk wrote: > > > > > > > At 09:10 08-05-2002 -0500, Marvin Long wrote: > > > > > > > > >We didn't choose the countries we were born in, so why should we be >all > > > > >nationalistic about it? I'm an American because my parents f*cked > > > > >here...lucky me. > > > > > > > > Allow me to nitpick here. > > > > > > > > You are an American not because your parents f*cked in America but >because > > > > you were born in America. > > > > > > > > Tom is Dutch because he was born in The Netherlands (and German >because his > > > > mother is German); if the nationality of a person would be based on >the > > > > location where the parents engaged in the act of procreation, Tom >would be > > > > Turkish... :-) > > > > > > Good nitpick. I'll rephrase: "I'm American because, barring travel >and > > > other anomolies, my parents have done the preponderance of their >f*cking > > > here." > > > > What if your parents are American, *most* of their sexual relations were > > in America, but the act of procreation and birth were in another > > country, but then you were brought to America and raised there and > > jumped through the little hoops the government provided for you to be a > > full citizen in America? > > > > Julia
American law doesn't recognize you as a person until your moment of birth. At that time you are assigned a number, your birthday is noted for the record, etc., etc. Where you were _created_ doesn't make a difference to the government. If you are born in another country, you must apply for citizenship. If at least one of your parents were/are US citizens you are automatically eligible and won't have to take lengthy exams -- just apply and you're most likely a shoo-in. If neither of your parents were citizens once you become of legal age (I have no idea _what_ that age might be....) I believe you must either apply for some sort of non-resident alien status or citizenship if you want to stay. Jon _________________________________________________________________ Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com
