Citizenship at birth - how is it determined?

The American Independent Party is questioning John McCain’s right to run for President of the United States because he wasn’t born in the 50 United States.

I understand that this might well turn into a debate about the legitimacy of this claim (which I don’t think has any legitimacy at all), but I’m not actually interested in that. What I want to know is how citizenship is determined.

I understand that embassies are considered to be the “soil” of the country that they represent for legal purposes. I was under the impression this was also true of military bases, but I might be mistaken on that point. But is it the location of one’s birth that determines citizenship? The nationality of one’s parents? Something more subtle or complicated that I’m not aware of?

I don’t know anything about Legal News Line as a source, BTW, but I couldn’t find the blog post where I originally read the story.

There are at least two questions here:
(1) What determines citizenship?
(2) What is a “natural born Citizen” in Article 2, Section 1, of the US Constitution?

The answer to question (1) varies by country, but, as far as the US is concerned, I believe you are a citizen by birth if you are born in the US (not just the 50 states, but other territories such as DC and Puerto Rico) and your mother was not here as part of the diplomatic or consular corps of a foreign country, or one of your parents was a US citizen.

Citizenship is defined by the law of the country in question. In the US, Title 8 of the US Code deals with citizenship and immigration. According to 8 USC 1401:

So would it be possible for one to be a U.S. citizen even though none of one’s ancestors have set foot in the U.S. for ages, as long as, travelling all the way back up, one of one’s great-great-great…grandparents was a U.S. citizen (and thus citizenship kept being passed down via the “one of your parents” route)?

ETA: Nevermind, Captain Amazing’s post answers everything.

There are two ways to confer “natural born” citizenship in the US.

One is by birth. People born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens.

(this leaves out diplomats who aren’t subject to the US jurisdiction) This is from the 14th Amendment.

The other way is through your parents. If my parents are born in Chicago, and they travel to Mexico where I am born, I am an American by birth.

For example in Vietnam and other wars if the US solider fathered a child overseas the child was an American citizen and could freely enter the US.

All these types of people are “natural born.” Natural born refers to those Americans who have citzenship but are not naturalized thru a legal process to become American citizens

McCain’s father was born in Iowa so John McCain is a citzen of the US from the moment he was born and since he didn’t have to go through the naturalization process he is eligable to be presidency.

So if you were watching “The Family Guy,” you see just cause Peter was born in Mexico he still was a citizen all along anyway

United States military bases overseas are not United States soil. They are the territory of the nation in which they are located.

Thanks, everybody. That satisfies my curiosity.

Monty, you came in after everyone else, and that definitely fights some ignorance on my part.

Absolutely. I never quite understand such assertions. We had many such bases here when I was young, and there’s still some. Those who actually bothered to venture outside of the fence would discover the sign at the entrance saying ‘RAF Wherever’.

No problem, SisterCoyote.

Right, GorrillaMan. It’s one of what I call “military myths.” Another such military myth is that a member of the military who injures himself has “damaged government property.” No, the correct charge is “self-inflicted injury.” The member of the military is not the property of the government. Another “military myth” is that US servicemembers are not subject to foreign law while stationed in the foreign country. I’m sure that would be welcome news, if it were true (which it isn’t), to the number of US servicemembers currently serving time in foreign prisons.

Anyway, there’s also the concept of co-location. For example, the United States Naval Air Field Atsugi is co-located with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force Air Station Atsugi. It’s one base, the entirety of which is shared by both the US Navy and the JMSDF. Regardless of that, the territory itself is still Japanese soil.

And the same is true for embassies, actually.

What Peter’s mother said in this episode is that she was so ashamed that she never registered his birth after reentering the US. Would this be a requirement in the real world? I seem to recall that in some cases, births abroad must be registered for citizenship reasons.

Wouldn’t that depend on the Status of Forces Agreement in existance?

Only if the SOFA confers diplomatic status on them. I recall reading years ago that was the case with our Armed Forces stationed in Iran during the Shah’s regime; however, I’ve no idea where that would be the case today. There are some military personnel assigned to our diplomatic missions (Marine Guards, Military Attaches, etc.) but that’s not under SOFA, it’s part of the diplomatic mission itself.