Ask the Consul
I'm a US Citizen but had a baby in the Dominican Republic. Is my baby a US Citizen?
If you meet the United State’s legal requirements for
transmitting US citizenship to a child born outside the United States, your
child can be documented as a United States citizen at the United States Embassy
in Santo Domingo.
To transmit citizenship, you need to prove several things
to the consular officer who interviews you:
1. That you were a US citizen when the child was born.
2. That the child is your biological child, not an adopted
child, step child, or foster child
3. That you lived in the United States long enough before
the baby's birth to pass on US citizenship.
To help prove that the baby is the biological child of a
male US citizen, you should bring all your passports and ALL your evidence of a
romantic relationship with the baby's mother to the interview. Please print ALL
your photos of you as a couple and as a family; we can't look at photo CDs or
pictures on cameras or cell phones. Both male and female US citizens should
bring the medical records for the pregnancy and birth.
You also need to bring evidence of the time you have
actually been in the United States. In most -- but not all -- cases, a US
citizen needs to prove at least 5 years of physical presence in the United
States, and two of those five years must have been after the US citizen was 14
years old. To help prove your time in the United States, you should bring your
Social Security Earnings Statement -- which lists all the years you worked and
paid US taxes -- to the interview. If you don't have your Social Security
Earnings Statement at home, you should request it at http://www.ssa.gov/mystatement/ before
scheduling your appointment. You should also bring your US school records
(transcripts and report cards, not diplomas) to the consular interview.
For more information about the process of applying for a
Consular Report of Birth Abroad, please see our web page:
http://www.usemb.gov.do/Consular/ACS/how_to_declare-e.htm or visit the
consular section on Tuesday or Thursday, between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m to
request a registration package. | 
