Every once in a while...

[lilibeth]

... an interesting question comes across my desk. 

Today an 84 year old Chinese gentleman came in, with a translator.  He arrived in the US in 1937, when he was 12, and was issued a document from the Dept of Labor that lists him as the son of a US citizen.  This is the only identification he's ever had, and now he's wanting to go back to China for a visit, but neither China nor the US will say if he's a citizen.

It looked to me like the law at the time didn't make the children of Chinese US citizens automatically citizens by birth, that the status had to be applied for through the Dept of Labor, but I couldn't tell from the document he had if that was a document accepting the status or just a listing of what his father reported.  In addition, the document he had was water damaged, so you couldn't read the ID number associated with it (and the Dept of Labor had told him they didn't have a way to look it up).

Stumped with what to do next, I suggested they might try contacting organizations in San Francisco that would know more about Chinese immigration policies, documentation and solutions. 

Stumped!

Comments

[la-perkins.livejournal.com]

I got to look for tax forms this morning.

[mskat.livejournal.com]

Oh! That's a great question and would make a super interesting story. The whole thing from start to finish, about citizenship and belonging....I bet we could write a screenplay and get Tom Hanks to act in it!

Or, you know, I was up at 2:00 AM with the baby and I'm a little loopy.

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

I have a chart at my office that would probably answer that question. I love that sort of case-makes the law interesting?

(was his mother also a USC? Were they married? Was the father a USC when the man was born?)