Talk:United States nationality law

I am really confused by this article and Citizenship of the United States. Both of them conflate two different principles. Nationality defines who belongs to a nation. Citizenship is what you get or owe because you belong. So, for example in this article, the text below (which I moved from the article to here) doesn't really fit with the topic of this article. This article is about the ways in which one obtains belonging, not the rights, obligations, and limits citizens have. I am focused at present on a series of articles on nationality and it is difficult to merely add information on our gaps of knowledge considering the state of these two at present. Lots of good information in both, but the organization of materials and conflation of topics makes it difficult for a reader to understand either topic. Perhaps this information should be moved there? SusunW (talk) 23:06, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

Rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizensRights of citizensSee also|Voting rights in the United States

Adult citizens of the United States^[1][2] who are residents of one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) have the right to participate in the political system of the United States, as well as their state and local governments, (with most states having restrictions on voting by persons convicted of felonies, and a federal constitutional prohibition on naturalized persons running for President and Vice President of the United States), to be represented and protected abroad by the United States (through U.S. embassies and consulates), and to live in the United States^[1][2] and certain territories without any immigration requirements.Felons can vote in over 40 states, and in at least 2 while incarcerated. Felons can also serve jury duty if approved.^{[citation needed]}

Responsibilities of citizensSome^[3] U.S. citizens have the obligation to serve in a jury, if selected and legally qualified.Citizens are also required (under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code) to pay taxes on their total income from all sources worldwide, including income earned abroad while living abroad. Under certain circumstances, however, U.S. citizens living and working abroad may be able to reduce or eliminate their U.S. federal income tax via the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion or the Foreign Tax Credit.^[4]U.S. taxes payable may be alternatively reduced by credits for foreign income taxes regardless of the length of stay abroad. The United States Government also insists that U.S. citizens travel into and out of the United States^[1][2] on a U.S. passport, regardless of any other nationality they may possess.^[5]

Male U.S. citizens (including those living permanently abroad and those with multiple citizenships) from 18–25 years of age are required to register with the Selective Service System at age 18 for possible conscription into the armed forces. Although no one has been drafted in the U.S. since 1973, draft registration continues in the case of a possible reinstatement on some future date.^[6]

In the Oath of Citizenship, immigrants becoming naturalized U.S. citizens swear that when required by law they will bear arms on behalf of the United States, will perform noncombatant service in the U.S. Armed Forces, and will perform work of national importance under civilian direction. In some cases, the USCIS allows the oath to be taken without the clauses regarding the first two of these three sworn commitments.^[7]

The above relates to this article edit, I think, but I don't see correspondence. Offhand, I agree that articles ought to generally contain content falling within the named topic. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 00:13, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Moving additional text here for discussion which is talking about rights rather than acquiring nationality:

Eligibility for public officeA person who becomes a U.S. citizen through naturalization is not considered a natural born citizen. Consequently, naturalized U.S. citizens are not eligible to become President of the United States or Vice President of the United States, which would ordinarily be the case as established by the Presidential Succession Act. For example, though the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Labor are tenth and eleventh in the presidential line of succession, Elaine Chao and Carlos Gutierrez (respectively former U.S. Secretaries of Labor and Commerce under President George W. Bush) would have been unable to succeed to the presidency because they became U.S. citizens through naturalization. The highest-ranking naturalized citizens to have been excluded from the Presidential Line of Succession were Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, each of whom would have been fourth in line as Secretary of State had they been natural born citizens.

Whether this restriction applies to children born to non-U.S. citizens but adopted as minors by U.S. citizens is a matter of some debate, since the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 is ambiguous as to whether acquisition of citizenship by that route is to be regarded as naturalized or natural-born. Those who argue that the restriction does not apply point out that the child automatically becomes a citizen even though violating every single requirement of eligibility for naturalization, and thus the case falls closer to the situation of birth abroad to U.S. citizens than to naturalization.^{[citation needed]}

Some argue that the phrase "natural born citizen" describes a category of citizenship distinct from that described by the phrase "U.S. Citizen" in Article Two of the United States Constitution, and this was discussed during the constitutional convention of 1787.^[8] While it is true that "natural born citizen" is not defined anywhere within the text of the Constitution and that the Constitution makes use of the phrase "citizen" and "natural born citizen", Supreme Court decisions from United States v. Wong Kim Ark to the present have considered the distinction to be between natural-born and naturalized citizenship.

In her 1988 article in the Yale Law Journal, Jill Pryor wrote, "It is well settled that 'native-born' citizens, those born in the United States, qualify as natural born. It is also clear that persons born abroad of alien parents, who later become citizens by naturalization, do not. But whether a person born abroad of American parents, or of one American and one alien parent, qualifies as natural born has never been resolved."^[9]

An April 2000 CRS report by the Congressional Research Service, asserts that most constitutional scholars interpret the phrase "natural born citizen" as including citizens born outside the United States to parents who are U.S. citizens under the "natural born" requirement.^[10]

Several holders of the offices of President and Vice President have touched on questions of whether they were natural-born:

• Chester A. Arthur, President from 1881 to 1885, was born in the U.S. state of Vermont of an American mother and Irish father. His status as a natural-born citizen was challenged by a political opponent during the 1880 campaign, who claimed Arthur had been born in Canada or Ireland.
• Charles Curtis, Vice President from 1929 to 1933, was born in Kansas Territory, which was not a US state.
• Presidential candidates George W. Romney (born in Mexico), Ted Cruz (born in Canada), Barry Goldwater, and John McCain (born in U.S. territories), were not born within a US state but were born to US citizens. Their natural-born status was never seriously challenged.
• Barack Obama, President from 2009 to 2017, was born in the U.S. state of Hawaii of an American mother and Kenyan father. He was the subject of several racist conspiracy theories that claimed he had been born in Kenya and was thus not natural-born.

Travel freedom of U.S. citizens

Visa requirements for the United States citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of United States. According to the 2019 Henley Passport Index, holders of a United States passport can visit 185 countries and territories visa-free or with visa on arrival. The United States passport is currently ranked jointly 6th alongside the UK in terms of travel freedom in the world.

In 2018, the United States nationality was ranked twenty-fifth in the Nationality Index (QNI). This index differs from the Visa Restrictions Index, which focuses on external factors including travel freedom. The QNI considers, in addition to travel freedom, internal factors such as peace & stability, economic strength, and human development.^[11]

Moving additional text here for discussion which is talking about rights rather than acquiring nationality:

Non-citizen U.S. nationals may reside and work in the United States without restrictions, and may apply for citizenship under similar rules as foreign nationals or citizens, except that they do not need to hold U.S. permanent resident status when they apply or to have held it for any length of time before applying.^[12][13] Like permanent residents, they are not currently allowed by any U.S. state to vote in federal or state elections, although, as with permanent residents, there is no constitutional prohibition against their doing so.^{[citation needed]} The only elections in which a non-citizen U.S. national may vote are the local and congressional elections in American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.^[14][15]

For tax purposes the term "U.S. national" refers to individuals who were born in American Samoa or were born in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands who have chosen to be U.S. nationals instead of U.S. citizens.^[16]