You’re interested in coming to the United States from Venezuela. You know you have the ability to do this under the current Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which was recently extended.
You also know that coming under this TPS status does not make you a citizen of the United States. That’s a path that you can pursue if you want to do so at a later date, but it takes time, and there are many important steps for citizens of other countries if they want to become full citizens here.
If you have a child while you’re here, even though you’re not a citizen, does your child become one at birth? Or do they have to go through the same process that you would once they grow up and become an adult?
Everyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen
This may be surprising to some, but the general rule laid out in the Fourteenth Amendment is that any person who is born in the United States is automatically a citizen of the country and does not have to do anything else to obtain that status.
Remember, when the U.S. was founded, immigration was frequent and not controlled in all of the ways that it is today. With a country that is considered a melting pot, it was important to define what rights those born in this new country would have. That legacy extends to today, so your hypothetical child would be a citizen.
As you can see, learning as much as possible about immigration laws in the United States can help to define your future and that of your family.
