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US State Department proposes requiring parental citizenship proof for children's passports

Draft guidance aims to enforce an executive order limiting birthright citizenship, as legal challenges proceed in federal court.

Updated Sep 1, 2026 · 23:18 UTC1 reports

The short version

  • The US State Department drafted guidance that would require parents to provide proof of their citizenship or immigration status when applying for passports for their children.
  • The proposed policy intends to enforce an August 6 executive order targeting birth tourism and limiting automatic birthright citizenship.
  • Currently, parents of US-born children only need to establish parentage, present photo ID, and self-report citizenship without submitting documentation.
  • Attorneys have asked federal judges to block the executive order before it can take effect.

Key facts

  • The US State Department proposed draft guidance requiring all parents or legal guardians applying for a child's passport to submit proof of their own citizenship or immigration status.[The Guardian]
  • The guidance is designed to implement an August 6 executive order by Donald Trump aimed at restricting birth tourism and expanding exceptions to birthright citizenship.[The Guardian]
  • Under the new directive, citizenship would be withheld from children whose parents work for foreign governments in the US, engage in fraud or commercial transactions for citizenship, or are deemed alien enemies.[The Guardian]
  • Under existing procedures, parents of children born in the US only have to show parentage, present personal photo identification, and mark a checkbox regarding citizenship without providing supporting documents.[The Guardian]
  • The US Supreme Court previously struck down an earlier executive order restricting birthright citizenship in a 6-3 ruling, finding it violated the 14th Amendment.[The Guardian]

What remains uncertain

  • Whether the new executive order and associated draft guidance will survive ongoing legal challenges, as lawyers have petitioned two federal judges to block the measure from taking effect.[The Guardian]

Sources