The children of some U.S. military members and government employees who are born abroad will no longer automatically be considered citizens of the United States, the Trump administration said Wednesday.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy explaining the agency will not count those children as "residing in the United States" to get automatic citizenship under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Military members and government employees who are citizens stationed abroad with their families can apply for their children's citizenship, according to the policy. The change will take effect Oct. 29, USCIS said, and applications submitted before then will be subject to the automatic policy.

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The new policy does not change who is born an American citizen, said USCIS acting Director Ken Cuccinelli.

"It only affects children who were born outside the US and were not US citizens," Cuccinelli tweeted after his agency released the policy. "This does NOT impact birthright citizenship. The policy update doesn't deny citizenship to the children of US gov employees or members of the military born abroad."

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The agency issued a clarification on who the change may affect Wednesday evening after receiving questions on social media.

"The confusion, chaos and fear this memo has caused on the part from immigrants and US citizens alike is an indicator of how little the nation trusts the administration to act in the interest of all Americans," tweeted Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

The change brings the agency's policy in line with the Department of State, USCIS said.

Contributing: Alan Gomez, USA TODAY