My child was born outside the USA, and is possibly † a USA citizen according to the rules. She is a UK citizen and has a UK passport she has travelled on within europe already.
- Must my child travel on a USA passport (they already have a UK passport); and, therefore
- must I register the birth with the embassy (i.e. obtain a CRBA) before taking my child to the USA?
Links to the official documents that confirm/deny this are really what I need.
From the embassy FAQs (highlighting mine)
If your child has a claim to U.S. citizenship, s/he is required to enter and depart the United States on a valid U.S. passport. S/he should not enter the United States on a foreign passport with a visa, or visa free under the Visa Waiver Program.
The wording here is confusing - one sentence says "required", the other "should not" (as opposed to "must not" or "cannot").
I am asking as my child is under a year old and we have booked trips to see her grandparents in the USA for christmas. We were unaware of these potential rules and have not got her USA passport, SSN or CRBA yet. Does that therefore mean she cannot enter the USA on her UK passport? If so then we have a problem we need to deal with.
† for the purposes of this question I will assume she is a US citizen