What citizenship status applies to a child whose alien parents married after the child’s birth?

• A. USC because parents married
• B. Alien as the birth occurred out of wedlock
• C. USC due to parents' joint citizenship
• D. Alien since the child was born out of wedlock

Answer: (B)

The situation presented involves a child born to parents who later married, and understanding how this affects citizenship status is crucial. In the context of U.S. immigration law, a child's citizenship status is determined by several factors, including the legal relationship between the child and the parents at the time of the child's birth, as well as the parents' citizenship status.

In this case, if the child was born before the parents married, the status of the child does not automatically change to U.S. citizenship simply because the parents subsequently married. According to U.S. law, children born out of wedlock to alien parents do not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth. Thus, the child retains an alien status due to the timing of the parents’ marriage relative to the child's birth.

Furthermore, the other options imply different scenarios that are not applicable here. For instance, marriage of the parents after the child’s birth does not retroactively grant U.S. citizenship nor does joint citizenship of the parents automatically confer citizenship on the child born out of wedlock. Therefore, the understanding of how citizenship is transmitted in this scenario underscores that the child's alien status remains intact as a result of the birth circumstances.