A derivative citizenship is one that is derived from the citizenship of the someone else, usually the father of the husband. In the United States, foreign born children under the age of majority when their father naturalized would generally be considered naturalized themselves and would not have to go through the process themselves.
If your ancestor immigrated as a child, indicates he is naturalized but you cannot find any naturalization papers in his name, then consider the possibility that he had derivative citizenship through a father’s naturalization.
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Two questions
1. I have never seen any notation of such status for citizenship. Is there?
2. I have heard a female could loose her citizenship if she became a widow or divorced. True?
Is the same true for a child who likely emigrated with his Father before the US was a country – (early to mid 1700’s)?
Probably, but in that time period English citizenship laws would have applied–and I’m not overly familiar with those. Not too many non-English immigrants actually bothered to naturalize during the colonial period. What country was your immigrant born in?
I think I read where you mentioned before that a wife automatically became nautralized if her husband became so. Good to know the children did too. I didn’t know that.
What about when any of them return to UK for a visit. Did they have to have a passport, because I have never found any mention or seen a record of one. My maternal grandmother was born in Ohio, but her parents and younger siblings born in England. On several occassions, my grandmother sailed with her father to England and once the whole family returned. My grandmother spent age 12-18 living there with her grandmother learning dressmaking. After marrying here in the U.S., my grandmother took her children to England for a visit, Never found any of the 3 generations with passports. I have found plenty of passport applications through the years of family members in late 1800’s on. Is there something more I should know?
This may or may not help. My mother is a French Citizen with a permanent resident card. When my sister and I were minors, we were on her passport. My mother’s picture and name were listed as well as each of us. There were 3 pictures and names on the first page. I did not apply for an American passport (my father is American) until I was older and lived in the US.
I’ve yet to nail down whether Switzerland or in one of the duchys bordering the Rhine River in what is now Germany. He was naturalized 9 Oct 1765 (Source:”Naturalizations of Foreign Protestants in the American and West Indian Colonies”, editor M.S. Giuseppi) I’ve yet to access the records. I believe he was under age of 16 when he emigrated with other family members (to date have been unable to definitely determine who his father was; he was born in 1735). He obtained his first land warrant in Whitehall Twp, Northhampton Cty, PA in 1754.
From a paper sent to me when I was researching the citizenship of my great grandfather William Richards : “Derivative Citizenship” There are three types of derivative citizenship: + Children under 21 years of age ( until 1940) and wives of citizens ( until 1929) automatically became citizens when their father or husband became a citizen.
+ Until 1906 immigrants under the age of 21 ( whose parents did not naturalize) could be naturalized without filing a declaration of intent after they reached the age of 21 and had met the residency requirements.
+ Since 1862, noncitizens who have served in the U.S. military have not been required to file a declaration of intention. . After one year’s residency and honorable discharge from the military, they could petition for naturalization. Since World War I, citizenship could be granted while an individual served in the military.
— On my great grandfathers Naturalization certificate, it lists Himself, his Wife Bessie, his Sons William and Francis who were born in England, and Thomas and Milton who were born in Arizona Territory. Bessie traveled back and forth between England and the US with the children for at least two visits. I have never found a passport for William or Bessie.
A derivative citizenship is one that is derived from the citizenship of someone else and the person who obtains a derivative citizenship does so passively. The first situation you discuss is a derivative citizenship. The situation where immigrants were under 21 when immigrating and later naturalized as adults did not get a derivative citizenship. They had a different process of naturalization as you describe. These naturalizations were referred to as minor’s naturalizations because they were minors when they immigrated and consequently could not file a declaration of intention upon arrival because of their age. The military naturalizations mentioned are also naturalizations as well. In the last two cases the person wanting citizenship still had to naturalize in their own right–it was their process of naturalization that was different. The first situation was a derivative citizenship because the person becoming a citizen became one because someone else actually went through the naturalization process.