Children born to US government employees and military service members overseas will no longer automatically be considered US citizens, according to a policy alert from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act 320, children born to US service members and government employees serving outside the country were considered to be “residing in the United States”, and therefore born citizens.

The new policy means that these children born abroad, such as those born in military hospitals or diplomatic facilities belonging to the US, will no longer be considered as residing in the US.

"The policy change explains that we will not consider children who live abroad with their parents to be residing in the United States even if their parents are U.S. government employees or US service members stationed outside of the United States, and as a result, these children will no longer be considered to have acquired citizenship automatically," USCIS spokesperson Meredith Parker said in a statement to the military-focused blog Task & Purpose.

"For them to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship, their US citizen parent must apply for citizenship on their behalf,” she continued.

This citizenship process must be completed before the child's eighteenth birthday.

While children of service members will be allowed to complete the citizenship process outside of the US, Task & Purpose reports that children of government employees "must enter the U.S. lawfully with an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa and be in lawful status when they take the Oath of Allegiance".

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