World War II Vet Learns He's Not a U.S. Citizen

[Drac]

From - http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/23...inds-citizen/#

World War II veteran Leeland Davidson has been living in America for nearly 100 years, but he only just learned he is not in fact a U.S. citizen.

The 95-year-old's parents were born in the U.S., but they had him while in Canada. And the proper paperwork apparently was never filed to report Davidson as being born to Americans living abroad.

The place of his birth was never an issue throughout his life in the United States until he recently tried to get a driver’s license to visit relatives in Canada.

“We went up to get an enhanced driver’s license and they turned me down,” Davidson told MyFoxPhoenix.com.

He said he had assumed that he already had been granted American citizenship as a child and was surprised to find out otherwise.

His daughter, Rose Schoolcroft, told the TV station, “if [her father] pursued it, he could possibly be deported or at risk of losing Social Security, so kind of scared everyone.”

Davidson said he had inquired about his citizenship when he joined the Navy in the 1940s, but an attorney reassured him about his status. He has since been given an application for citizenship, but he doesn't think he needs to prove he's American after so many years.

Be interesting to see how the bureaucrats handle this...

Jim

[Lallans]

This kind of thing seems to happen everywhere; in recent years there have been a number of Canadians who found out they weren't legally Canadians for the same reason, or because they had been born while their parents were abroad before a certain date, or some other complicated legalism. The common thread is having been born outside the country and such a person has to be careful about what they assume. Of course Canadian and US citizenships used to be practically interchangeable in the good old days.

[KiltedKnome]

My family has several stories like this.

My grandfather was born in 1896 in Barbados to citizens of that country. His family briefly moved to New York in 1910, but then they returned to Barbados, leaving him behind. He enlisted in the US military in 1914, had a battlefield commission in France in 1916, and continued to serve until 1945 when he retired as a LTC. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetary. His citizenship was always in question (in his mind, anyway), and he never attempted to get a passport or leave the US after 1945, concerned that he might be deemed not a citizen and be asked to leave. His daughter was born on a US military base in Panama in the 1920s. Years later, when she married and her husband (also military) was posted to Labrador (Canada), she learned that she was not considered a US citizen, and had to initiate the process.

[Joshua]

Damn illegal immigrants taking all our hero jobs.

[T-Bone]

Was he just now getting a driver's license? At 95 years old? Yikes!

[Coastie]

Was he just now getting a driver's license? At 95 years old? Yikes!

I am pretty sure the enhanced license is for travel across the border if you don't have a passport. But driving at 95, yikes is right.

[O'Callaghan]

You are entitled to US citizenship if one parent is a US citizen that meets US residency requirements, and the residency requirements are much less stringent if both parents are US citizens, as in his case, to the extent that only one parent has to have been resident in the US for a nominal amount of time. So, the only way that he wouldn't be a US citizen would be if neither of his parents, although US citizens, had ever established residence in the US before his birth, which although possible is highly unlikely. He may never have made a claim to US citizenship, but neither have many people who were born here, if they have never left the country.

How do I know all this? We aren't US citizens, but our kids are. If we were to take them out of the US to live before they met the residency rules, then any grandkids that they might have later might not be US citizens. I suppose that is not entirely unreasonable, but it isn't much similar to other countries' rules, so under certain circumstances we could theoretically end up with grandkids who were stateless!

And as for social security, there is no requirement that you have to be a US citizen, although you have to at least be a legal resident, not an illegal or someone here on a visa. Otherwise I wouldn't qualify for it myself, but I do, or at least will at 65. The GOP at one time tried to pass a bill to deny people like me the social security we have paid for if we return to our home countries to retire, but mercifully it didn't pass.

[Burly Brute]

The sad fact is that someone in an office somewhere can't just use common sense and stamp a couple freakin forms! Come on, is it that hard!!! Really? C'mon people!!!

[macshorty]

He's a veteran, that should automatically qualify him for citizenship!

[MacMillans son]

The GOP at one time tried to pass a bill to deny people like me the social security we have paid for if we return to our home countries to retire, but mercifully it didn't pass.

I'm not a benefits expert, but I believe the money we pay into Social Security goes to pay for those people who are currently receiving retirement benefits. It's not a savings account that is in our name to be accessed for OUR retirement at a later date. Similar to the taxes we pay now that go to people on welfare, or for roads, or parks or....,. They go to fund operating costs now, not to ensure that WE get to use those things in the future.

I may not have that completely right, but I think that's the deal.