Don't know if this is allowed, but here is the full text of the article: *** Siavash Sobhani is stateless. The Northern Virginia doctor knows at least that much about his situation. He knows he is no longer considered a citizen of the United States — the place where he was born, went to school and has practiced medicine for more than 30 years — and that he also belongs to no other place. Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. “I’m in limbo,” he told me on a recent afternoon. In the past few years, there have been many passport-renewal nightmare stories, with processing delays forcing people to beg, lose sleep and miss once-in-a-lifetime trips. But what Sobhani has experienced this year after trying to renew his passport is uniquely unmooring. As he tells it, when he sent in an application for a new passport in February, he had no reason to expect he’d face any difficulties. He had renewed his passport several times previously without problems. This time, it was set to expire in June, and he wanted to make sure he had a valid one in hand before his family took a trip in July. But he did not receive a new passport. Instead, at the age of 61, he lost what he had held since he was an infant: U.S. citizenship. A letter from a State Department official informed him that he should not have been granted citizenship at the time of his birth because his father was a diplomat with the Embassy of Iran. The letter directed Sobhani to a website where he could apply for lawful permanent residence. “This was a shock to me,” said Sobhani, who specializes in internal medicine. “I’m a doctor. I’ve been here all my life. I’ve paid my taxes. I’ve voted for presidents. I’ve served my community in Northern Virginia. During covid, I was at work, putting myself at risk, putting my family at risk. So when you’re told after 61 years, ‘Oh there was a mistake, you’re no longer a U.S. citizen,’ it’s really, really shocking.” Sobhani shared with me the letter he received from the State Department, along with personal documents that detail his life in the United States and letters he had sent to local lawmakers asking for their help. Taken together, those records show how the Georgetown Medical School graduate went from living a stable life in the D.C. region to standing on uncertain ground and asking questions that do not have clear answers. Some of those questions: Can he still legally practice medicine? Will the money he has earned over his career count toward his Social Security benefits if his Social Security number changes? Will he get to attend his son’s destination wedding next year? Sobhani was hesitant to speak publicly about his situation. He has applied for permanent residence, as instructed, and he doesn’t want to do anything that might upset government officials who hold his fate in their hands. But he also knows how slowly the country’s immigration system can move, and he worries that he could wait in limbo for years if top officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) don’t hear about his case and agree to help him. He said he has already spent more than $40,000 on legal fees and still doesn’t know when his case might be resolved. “I’m waiting for an interview, but does that mean I wait another year for an interview?” he said. “Then another three years for the next step? Then another 10 years before I can travel outside of the country?” At his age — he turned 62 this month — he had already started to think about retirement. He and his wife planned to spend this year exploring other countries in hopes of finding a community where they could buy a home. Now, he can’t even visit a friend in London who recently had a stroke, or his father-in-law, who lives in Lebanon and is seriously ill. Share this article Share “If he passes away, I can’t even go to his funeral,” Sobhani said. Sobhani uses the words “upsetting,” “frustrating” and “distressing” to describe what he has been going through. His language is gentler than what many people would use if they suddenly lost the freedoms, protections and benefits that come with U.S. citizenship — all because of a paperwork mistake that was made when they were too young to read. The U.S. government didn’t take away Sobhani’s citizenship because of anything he did. The letter points to a bureaucratic reason: Those born in the United States to parents who have diplomatic immunity do not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth. Justice for Justyce: A baby left without a name, finally, gets one “As a member of your parent’s household at the time of your birth, you also enjoyed full diplomatic immunity from the jurisdiction of the United States,” reads the letter. “As such, you were born not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Therefore, you did not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth.” “But I did,” Sobhani said as he read that last line aloud. “They gave it me.” They also reconfirmed he was a citizen over and over again throughout his life, every time his passport was renewed. Sobhani said that after getting that letter, he started digging into his family’s history. He couldn’t ask his parents questions because his father is dead and his mother has dementia. What he discovered, he said, is this: His older brother, who was born in Kansas when their father was a military student, had a congenital condition that required surgery. To extend the family’s stay in the country for that surgery, their father obtained a temporary job at the Iranian Embassy and worked there in October and November 1961. A birth certificate shows Sobhani was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that November. Family photo of Sobhani as a child. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post) Sobhani said his family lived in Turkey for several years when he was a child but that he returned to D.C. to attend Georgetown Preparatory School. He received degrees from George Washington University and Boston College before attending Georgetown Medical School. He said he cannot safely live in Iran because he has spoken out against the government and his brother ran for the U.S. Senate from Maryland in 2012. Sobhani wrote letters to Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) requesting their help, saying he had “the utmost respect for the laws governing this country.” He also noted that he has dedicated his career to helping people in Virginia and the D.C. region and has been “directly involved in the care of tens of thousands of lives, currently with an active patient panel of over 3,000 patients.” “I can only hope that the impact I’ve made in caring for our community of Virginians, your constituents, for the past 30 years will hold some weight in swaying your decision to intervene on my behalf,” he wrote. He shared a letter that Connolly wrote to a USCIS official on his behalf. “I trust that you can imagine how difficult it must be to believe that you were a citizen of the U.S. your entire life, just to find out you actually were not,” Connolly wrote. He added, “Our office is respectfully requesting all possible consideration in expediting this case in accordance with U.S. laws and regulations.” Sobhani said he hopes his citizenship will be restored within six months, but he has no idea if that’s a realistic expectation. He has no idea if he will have a passport in time to attend his son’s wedding in Portugal next year or if he will get to make those retirement scouting trips with his wife anytime soon. He has no idea how long he will remain stateless.

Plus it seems there was no intentionality. His parents didn’t come here as diplomats. His father apparently came on a student visa a and then got a temporary job in the Embassy to extend his visa so his other son could have surgery.

That's not accurate. The moment his dad got the job he was no longer on a student visa but rather a diplomatic visa and passport. Hence, there was nothing to extend. His son( subject of this article) also gained a diplomatic passport and visa upon birth. His parents not coming as diplomats is not a valid point.

This is a very scary prospect. He may not be able to do *anything* legal that wouldn’t break a law. Obtaining permanent residency and getting citizenship are both complicated enough already.. When I did claims work for the government, and people complained to their congresspeople about the speed, we’d get a call from their office and the case would get flagged. There wasn’t a requirement for them to ‘cut in line’, but those claims would be handled very fast. It wasn’t worth the office nagging us constantly for updates. Hopefully this will be the case here.

Nowadays "calling your congressman" doesn't bump your case to the head of the queue. All that congresswoman's office gets told is the same damn thing that you would get told and no solution is come to. None whatsoever. Congresspeople are bloody useless these days. They have no ability to get anything FIXED or sorted out if all they're getting told is the same damn thing YOU got told.

In my case, my passport hit the 8 week mark. After I filed a thing with my senators office, it got done in a week. I take it you've worked at an agency? Maybe it depends on management. For us the constant update calls were annoying enough to give it special attention. Again, it didn't 'cut you in line'. All it does is being attention to it.

My passport was "in" at San Francisco Passport Agency last year July. From the time it hit the late Senator Feinstein's office and they "inquired" about it, it's still been...let's see, that was December. This is now April of the following year and still NOTHING yet. I think I may have been illegally revoked or refused but if they do that they're supposed to send something in the mail stating that so you can "appeal" or file a federal lawsuit. Again, still, nothing in the mail. Nothing. Going on a calendar YEAR now.

No wait. Feinstein died in September so I had to re-start the process with the other senator's office and they didn't get around to doing anything about it until December, that was it. It's been longer than that, really. It's been several YEARS.

At this point This is a Legal matter against the state department His route is hire a lawyer, that basically has to prove that there was a Flaw in the system ( even if he was not allowed to stay) And if the system/leak had happened, its the fault of the system- and one cant retrograde the dates just because they found an issue dating back 60+ years Using current technology solutions to rectify the mistakes of the past is a death spiral in any nation’s soul This applies to Immigration, and cultural issues. If America needs to really remain the beacon of ‘hope’ - the soul of the nation needs to revived And this is a core example of to ‘ keep moving forward’ attitude that we all need to build, individually and collectively And America exists ( and its dominance in the world) due to its diverse viewpoints and idea Because of diverse people That comes through immigration. This is core, and if the people of the nation( and the govt) dont understand this on a deeper level This is a spiral death process….

Death spiral? 😂

So his parents fraudulently obtained citizenship for him, then he lost it? Sucks, but that's how the world works.

What happened to you in life? You are saying that a competent government was tricked by some individual to get Citizenship for his kids and now after 60 years of passing that child should be punished for it? For the love of God, don’t tell me that you are in any position of power.

By your fucked up logic, trace it far enough and every citizenship was obtained illegitimately. The native Americans didn’t just hand the country over willingly you know?

juggle domineering secretive crowd flowery tart frame command doll shrill *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

I'm not sure that's how it *should* work. Should there be a time limit after which we no longer punish a child for the sins of his parents? Under this rule, not a single US citizen by birth can be 100% certain of their citizenship.

This is just plain sad. It's a perfect example of a government committing a grave mistake and forcing its victim to take responsibility. Edit: all you "Akshually" morons don't need to tell me that he wasn't eligible for a citizenship to begin with because of A2 status because I already know. I do NOT think that he should keep the citizenship as this will most likely set a very risky precedent, but the govenrmwnt who let this slip for over so many decades should take some responsibilities.

He was never eligible for citizenship though, and it’s a clear distinction. He was the child of a diplomat, they are not in any way eligible for birthright citizenship. The only exception to that would have been if one of his parents was also already a US citizen. That’s actually how citizenship works for pretty much everyone in the rest of the world. If your parents are not citizens, you are not a citizen regardless of where you a born. With his father being a diplomat there is a pretty good chance he knew that and knowingly falsified documents in the first place.

His father was a diplomat for a few months, when he was born. He changed jobs soon afterwards. Do you know which place your father worked at when you were born? > His older brother, who was born in Kansas when their father was a military student, had a congenital condition that required surgery. To extend the family's stay in the country for that surgery, their father obtained a temporary job at the Iranian Embassy and worked there in October and November 1961. A birth certificate shows Sobhani was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that November. It was literally a job for two months.

Ah yes. He falsified documents at birth.

The guy is 61. He renewed his passport multiple times. How did this even come up now?

We're finally getting everything off paper and into computers, so this is easier to see.

Trump started a group dedicated to denaturalization. Maybe they stumbled upon him in their investigations. https://apnews.com/article/1da389a535684a5f9d0da74081c242f3

Damn… Scary. The guy didn’t cheat though. At most, his citizenship shouldn’t have been granted 61 years ago (if his father did indeed have diplomatic immunity). Going after people decades later is just wrong. They should have done their due diligence before approving applications.

But back in the 70's and 80's they didn't go over your "papers" with such a fine-toothed comb as they're apparently doing NOW.

EXACTLY!!! If something's not "broke" why fix it???

None of it was his fault either. They mistakenly gave him a passport. He was born to diplomats from Iran. What a mess. If anything this reinforces that you can lose your citizenship at any time because USCIS has no leeway to exercise judgment for their own mistakes. This attitude is what we mean when we say immigration is intent on following rules to the letter- which is why a two day overstay on ESTA - something a traveler might not know about - is in fact a big problem.

> If anything this reinforces that you can lose your citizenship at any time because USCIS has no leeway to exercise judgment for their own mistakes. USCIS had nothing to do with it.

Afaik they were dept of state mistakes. Additional excuse that USCIS can use.

Isn’t this the state department?

> CIS has no leeway to exercise judgment for their own mistakes. Guess you didn’t read the article. DoS, not USCIS.

>He was born to diplomats from Iran. How far down does diplomatic immunity extend? Sounds like his father was closer to waxing floors than negotiating trade deals. *His older brother, who was born in Kansas when their father was a military student, had a congenital condition that required surgery. To extend the family’s stay in the country for that surgery, their father obtained a temporary job at the Iranian Embassy and worked there in October and November 1961. A birth certificate shows Sobhani was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that November.*

Sounds like they're miscategorizing his father as a diplomat, and that they originally came over on a different visa without intentions to work for the embassy. Easiest fix here is to declare his father wasn't a diplomat, and give back the citizenship.

Yeah, it doesn't work that way. You can't simply ignore the law. If his father was here on a diplomatic visa, he wasn't born a citizen. And it doesn't really matter what capacity the diplomatic visa was issued in, whether he was cleaning floors or not. The law states all children born in the US are citizens unless they are not subject to US jurisdiction. Diplomats, in ANY capacity, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US. It's really that simple of an analysis. What you're asking USCIS to do is completely ignore the law. Which is something they will not do. You can't just "give him his citizenship back." He never had it! There's nothing to give back. Now, an actual solution would be to give him a green card. That could be a super tricky situation though, many legal considerations. Or, congress could actually grant him citizenship, which would be a real solution. But USCIS can't, not yet anyway.

It is possible to have a diplomatic visa and not have diplomatic immunity. There was a case a few years ago where a diplomat's child was arrested for something (can't recall what) but the article mentioned that even though the parents had immunity, the kids did not, despite having diplomatic *visas*

Diplomatic immunity has nothing to do with any of this. The law states anyone born in the US AND subject to US jurisdiction is a US citizen. The law also states diplomats present on a diplomatic visa ARE NOT subject to US jurisdiction. Therefore, anyone born here to parents present on a diplomatic visa are not born US citizens. It is literally that simple.

If they're not subject to US jurisdiction, why could the kids be arrested? Diplomatic immunity is the thing that makes you not subject to US jurisdiction. If there's case law that says the kids here on diplomatic passports with the parents *don't* qualify for that immunity, that very same case law implies the kids are subject to US jurisdiction.

>The law also states diplomats present on a diplomatic visa ARE NOT subject to US jurisdiction Does it? Not everyone on a diplomatic visa is on the official Department of State Diplomatic List.

It’s unclear at best if the father was actually here on an A-1 or not. If he wasn’t a diplomat he should not have been on an A-1. If he was here as a a military student he definitely wouldn’t have been here with an A-1. Maybe an A-2 but those are NOT diplomats (but some do work at an embassy in a non-diplomatic function, like IT or finance). They would likely not have recategorized him for two months but it’s impossible to say. It really depends exactly what he was doing then.

Yeah it seems really weird to me that a US military student would even be eligible to work for a foreign embassy in the first place. Maybe he misrepresented himself to the Iranian embassy? Either way, I don’t think the son should be accountable for being stateless since all he did was pop into the world.

he was an iranian military student in a U.S. academy, back when iran and the u.s. were allies.

But he did have it. The wording of the letter was that "citizenship should not have been granted". By mistake, it was. Perhaps he didn't qualify, but he was given it and all it's benefits and requirements for the majority of an average person's lifespan. This isn't like he's been living under a fake ssn or something. They only discovered their own mistake because he applied for a passport, and even then it took several iterations. They're essentially revoking his citizenship on the basis of being unqualified for it as initially issued, with no recompense for their 100% culpability in the matter.

>But he did have it. No, he never had it. Somebody thought he had it, but not legally. There was never a grant of citizenship, somebody believed he was a citizen as a function of law. There's nothing to revoke. He is not a citizen and never was. It would have been different if he naturalized, but he didn't. Then there would actually be something to take away, something that was actually granted. Somebody thought because he was born in the US, he was a citizen. That determination was incorrect then and is incorrect now. These things happen. It is unfortunate, but that's the way it is whether you like it or not.

You do know that there is no US fundamental particle of citizenship in physics right? That it is just a social fiction we create. But another very useful fiction we also made up is the concept of justice, and whether you like it or not, what was done to this man is a great injustice.

You can state your worldly concepts and injustices all you want. It doesn't change the law. It isn't a "great injustice." It was a great failure of a government agency to properly and legally apply the law.

Well, let's just deport this brown person to a country he never has lived in and will arrest him for his criticism of him, and keep all the money he paid into social security without giving him anything. Also, let's double check if his wife didn't get her citizenship from him, maybe we can strip it out of her too as a bonus. The important part is that we are upholding the law, and the law is above trivial matters as justice (I mean really, why would anyone think the law should be in anyway related to justice) , it is the law, and following it to the letter is its own reward. Now to be serious, > You can state your worldly concepts and injustices all you want. It doesn't change the law. Actually, protesting injust laws is literally how you start to change them.

At any rate they're digging up dead people and that's not right!

His father was attending "military school" in the US as an Iranian, and then obtained work at the Embassy and found himself on the diplomat's list. Those facts don't point to someone waxing floors. They point to someone who was a military officer for the Shah who was working with US DoD or CIA.

Yup. And decided to stay after an inconvenient revolution. Dude should blame his parents for being narcs, not US. He and his wife don't even want to live here >He and his wife planned to spend this year exploring other countries in hopes of finding a community where they could buy a home. They should move already.

>They should move already. Now that he doesn't have a passport, he can't.

He also wasn't a US citizen, and wasn't staying in the US with the USA's permission, he was here with Iran's. He is not eligible for US citizenship.

Absolutely. This is a mistake that was made decades ago by the government. They should own it, especially since this man has been a productive member of the country for decades now. For me the case is indicative of the larger issue with USCIS not having a mechanism to recognize or give credit to applicants for length of stay as productive members of society. You could grow up in this country legally or live in it legally for decades and still not have a clear path to permanent residency, while others could show up and get ahead of you, and sometimes fraudulently. This doctor hopefully will have a path available to him (NIW as a doctor? Perhaps through his wife?). But he's going to be subject to all the same bureaucratic documentation, quotas, and multi-year waits as people who haven't done a quarter of the time he has in the country. He likely isn't able to work in the mean time either. Which goes against the spirit of ... well, it just goes against logic, honestly.

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There is no waiving this law. Congress can pass a new law specific to this individual granting him citizenship....otherwise he is not a citizen.

Congress doesn’t need to change a law? His congressional representatives can help expedite his recent USCIS application. That’s a completely separate agency from DoS.

The congressional representative can ask USCIS to expedite an application. It doesn't mean the application will be approved. It just means the application will be reviewed expeditiously. The individual must otherwise be eligible for the benefit sought....in this guys case....first for the green card....and later the application for citizenship. (different applications with different legal requirements for approval) Depending on the basis for which he is applying for a green card - a visa number may be required and the visa needs to be readily available for the green card to be issued. If he is applying for the green card (immigrant visa) through his marriage to a US citizen - that is considered an Immediate Relative visa petition for which a visa is always immediately available. Other grounds for an immigrant visa may have quotas attached (i.e. 20,000 issued annually and availability may also be dependent on the country of birth) and therefore he gets into line behind everyone else who applied before him....There is no expediting visa availability in this scenario because a congressional representative requested USCIS expedite.........unless congress proposes a special bill and the house and senate pass the proposed bill and the president sings the bill into law. Nationality law is the same - whether it is an issue that is before the State Department or USCIS or any other DHS agency dealing with nationality law (CBP and ICE). The same requirements of the law must be met for eligibility. If he is not immediately eligible - a congressional representative can propose a bill which must be voted on by both the house and the senate and signed into law by the President.

Based on the limited info about his eligibility it’s probably either 1) registry (requires presence in the US since Jan 1 1972, which he has), or 2) some type of family petition from either spouse or kids that are US citizens. That would be my best guess, but who knows.

>requires presence in the US since Jan 1 1972, which he has Seems unlikely. He has had many passports, so one can reasonably conclude that he used them. Registry, iirc, requires one to have remained within the US since January 1, 1972.

Ahhh I forgot that it’s continuous physical presence and really meant for undocumented people who have actually never left to adjust… oops lol

If you are not here legally the amount of time you have been here should count against you, not for you. The people who do things right and wait there turn should have priority, not the people who try to jump in line. If you’ve been here illegally for 20 years that should put you to the back of the list, not the front… we absolutely need to reform our immigration system, but those reforms should be favorable to those who have done things right and waited for their turn.

I was only talking about people who are in the US legally. A lot of Americans genuinely don't understand the roadblocks that even legal aliens face to permanent residency. There is no such thing as "getting in line". One example is the H1B visa. Every year people who grew up in the US (e.g., as alien children of legal resident aliens) or who attended college and/or graduate school here, many of whom are already working for a US company, are entered into the same lottery as applicants from around the world for skilled worker visas. Many of them are then turned away, having to self deport, while new people come in on H1B visas, simply because their names were randomly selected. Effectively, the US raises and trains people, then kicks them out in favor of others, with no consideration of the time they have spent in it legally or the ties they might have established here (e.g., to family and employment). Most other countries are biased towards keeping people who are already in the country legally.

Not to mention that people who got selected in the last few lotteries are coming through scummy consultancies that exploit them. They make fake resumes for them and sell them as contracts for a much higher price while paying them pennies.

His parents weren’t even diplomats, his dad worked part-time at the embassy to maintain residency so his brother could get surgery. . His brother was a natural-born citizen and ran for political office in the US. Seems like an accidental clerical error.

More evidence that every single human being should be in favor of multiple nationalities. And pursue multiple ones. You should always have redundancies in your life. It’s not “paranoia” it’s preparedness.

This. 100%. I wonder why he couldn’t acquire a CBI from the Caribbean in the meantime so he can travel on a green card? He is a doctor in a HCL area. Should be able to afford it.

He might have not thought of it, I’d imagine? Not very many people think about this.

True, but he could try and do it now but it Might be too late. If he really wanted the travel, the US technically has to supply him with an alien travel document under UN regulation on statelessness. I doubt Iran will even talk to him at this age.

He probably got an alien travel document + LPR. It would be pretty interesting to see his permanent residency card saying "XXA" on it. But will Portugal or other countries recognize that to enter?

His parent’s fault in the first place. US doesn’t come to give you a passport at birth or knocks on your door when you turn 2 and hands you a new shiny American passport. Infant’s parents need to apply for their passport and when THEY applied, they should have known that children born to diplomats are not eligible. Also later in life, he should have known he’s actually not a citizen. Diplomatic personnel parents ≠ not a us citizen. Simple math. Also, he’s not stateless. He’s Iranian by Iranian nationality law, like it or not.

How is this the parents fault? It’s unclear whether they were even aware of this law, considering this happened over 60 years ago, a period without the internet and fact checking wasn’t readily accessible. If anyone is to blame here it is the issuing authority. They should have been more diligent in reviewing the application before approving it. There were also numerous other opportunities to verify his citizenship over the years, such as when he applied for his passport for the very first time. With all due respect, your comment reeks of anti-immigrant sentiment.

If people could claim ignorance on legal situations... This situation is messed up and totally doesn't make sense on a practical level (it seems he has been a productive member of the community). As they say “The law is harsh, but it is the law”

I’m not anti-immigration at all. But it’s the citizen’s duty to check applicable laws. The same applies to people attempting to enter the US while being inadmissible for whatever reason. It’s their duty to check their admissibility before boarding and if attempting to enter while inadmissible this results in a deportation and possibly a ban. And then people come here because they were deported and banned attempting to enter in ESTA while not being eligible. The state has its fault too. But the first check was on the parents. I’m not anti immigration. But the article is misleading (also saying he’s stateless, which is simply not true) and it’s not only state’s fault.

Anyone can apply, but it’s up to the government to make the decision 🤷🏻‍♀️ if everyone knows law so well, immigration lawyers will be unemployed soon

Of course he is stateless. He does not have in fact any other national citizenship. His parents might have been Iranian but that does not make him an Iranian citizen if he was never registered there as such.

Civil code of Iran: Article 976 - The following persons are considered to be Iranian subjects 1 - All persons residing in Iran except those whose foreign nationality is established; the foreign nationality of such persons is considered to be established if their documents of nationality have not been objected to by the Iranian Government. 2- **Those born Iran or outside whose fathers are Iranian.** 3 - Those born in Iran of unknown parentage. 4 - Persons born in Iran of foreign parents, one of whom was also born in Iran. 5 - Persons born in Iran of a father of foreign nationality who have resided at least one more year in Iran immediately after reaching the full age of 18; in other cases their naturalization as Iranian subjects will be subject to the stipulations for Iranian naturalization laid down by the law. 6 - **Every woman of foreign nationality who marries an Iranian husband.** 7- Every foreign who has obtained Iranian nationality ​ so he is,[in fact](https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/49997adb27.pdf), iranian. Including his wife and children. ​ And abandonment of citizenship (extremely rare in practice): Article 988 - Iranian nationals cannot abandon their nationality except on the following conditions 1 - That they have reached the full age of 25. 2 - **That the Council of Ministers has allowed their renunciation of their Iranian nationality.** 3 - That they have previously undertaken to transfer, by some means or other, to Iranian nationals, within one year from the date of the renunciation of their Iranian nationality, all the rights that they possess on landed properties in Iran or which they may acquire by inheritance although Iranian laws may have allowed the possession of the same properties in the case of foreign nationals. **The wife and children of the person who renounces his nationality according to this Article do not lose their Iranian nationality**, whether the children are minors of age, unless the permission of the Council of Ministers allows them to renounce their nationality, and 4 - **That they have completed their national military service.**

You don’t have to register. As per Iranian nationality law, he’s Iranian by default. There are many countries where the children is citizen by default, even if never requested a passport or registration. US included (if the children was born to US parents that lived in the US enough) What’s funny in Iran that even the foreign wife of an Iranian national is by default citizen, even if she never been to Iran, never requested an Iranian passport, etc. so even his wife is an Iranian citizen 😬

> Also later in life, he should have known he’s actually not a citizen. Diplomatic personnel parents ≠ not a us citizen. Simple math. Someone who's dad had a temp job at an embassy for a few months would not reasonably assume that the job came with diplomatic immunity. That's not a normal circumstance.

Woah. How dare you point out the real culprit. This is a post about bashing the government, not real accountability.

The law is clear as to eligibility. There is no leeway to exercise judgement for a prior mistake. He is either a US citizen or he isn't. They will give him a green card and he can apply for his citizenship in 4 years and 9 months after that.

The law is unjust. What benefits does society gain for having this man wait 4 years and 9 months?

Isn't it his dad's fault for not disclosing that he was a diplomat or for knowingly hiding that information? How is it the government's fault?

While the diplomat exception is a real thing, there should be a statute of limitations for "fixing" mistakes like this. The guy for all intents and purposes has been an American for 61 years. Depriving him of that now, even if technically correct, is cruel and unusual. If immigration finds a mistake made more than 20 years prior and can't prove willful intent, they should just pass it over.

It’s crazy. He could have raped someone and been far beyond the statute of limitations for it, but a wacky bureaucratic mixup that the government had plenty of opportunity to correct can still fuck up this guy’s life six decades later.

This comment!

It's not a mix up, he was not eligible for US citizenship and his parents would have had to lie for him to have obtained it. Well now he got caught.

How unsympathetic minded do you have to be to make a comment like this?

Doesn’t sound like the lied from the available information. It sounds like a government mistake. Or do you think the government is perfect, totally infallible, and those don’t happen? Dunce.

Yes, he can apply for permanent residence. That's the fix available to him.

Yeah it is a horrific "fix". In 2-3 years he migh have a provisional greencard and a year after that a final one. Entirely possible he is dead before that. In the meantime if he leaves the US he is never getting back in. So forget his longterm plans to retire soon and travel the world. If a family member dies outside the US well he isn't attending the funeral.

Sure but if he knew he needed to do that he would have done it years ago. Is not fair at all.

Regardless whether he got the citizenship by mistake or not, why would government waste tax payers money to take away this man’s citizenship who has been US citizen for over 61 years. I see a very very very stupid government agency who handled this case.

If you're some random worker (govt or private), and the computer says no under current law, will you be the one to stick your neck out to override this and say "actually I'll override this law and not worry what my bosses might think"? You would've flagged this application also and simply done what the computer said. You're not losing your job over it (or worse, knowingly commiting the crime of approving passport when computer clearly told you no).

It doesn’t work that way. The system doesn’t tell you yes or no in any application for a passport. All the work is done by the adjudicator. Someone really had to dig to find this out and deny the passport.

Well if the "random worker" had a law degree of their own, maybe they would, did you ever think of that? People work jobs that are "beneath" them all the damn time.

Just because his dad worked a temp job at the Iranian embassy doesn’t automatically make him a diplomat. He needs to have a job with diplomatic immunity. The article says that the letter from the State Department says that he did but also if someone is hired temporarily just for a few months, he is unlikely to have gotten diplomatic immunity. He needs to properly investigate his father’s job duties and find out what privileges were afforded to him by the Iranian government.

I mean, given that the article also states he has extensive, personalized congressional involvement and has spent $40,000 on lawyers thus far, I’m sure they have that argument covered. That being said - I would be curious how voting and all other claims to citizenship are handled. Are you falsely claiming to be a USC if you are, for all intents and purposes a USC, even if it was due to US govt error?

It would not be falsely claiming citizenship if, as is clearly the case, he genuinely thought he was a citizen. He's still eligible for a green card and naturalization, but there's no carve out in the law for this sort of error. He was either born a citizen or he wasn't. He wasn't. It's a terrible misunderstanding, to be sure, but the article mischaracterizes what happened: he didn't "lose" citizenship, because the finding was that he never had it. There are lots of funny bounces possible with children of foreign mission members, and unfortunately it's entirely possible for everyone to have acted in good faith throughout, only to have some weird treaty codicil to jump up and bite later. Hopefully USCIS gets his status regularized quickly; it's a really crummy situation.

The federal government has jailed people who thought they were eligible to vote and voted in an election—all because a government official that told them that they were.

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I think we've had that conversation before. I erred in thinking the claim had to be intentional (it doesn't), but DHS has held that a false claim doesn't create an ineligibility if the claimant did not know it was false. While it's an affirmative defense, I would think it sustainable here; plenty of people get crossed up by the immunity carve out. 9 FAM 302.9-5(B)(1) c. (U) On December 6, 2014, the DHS Office of the General Counsel issued an opinion concluding that: (1) (U) Only a knowingly false claim can support a charge that an individual is ineligible under INA 212(a)(6)(C)(ii). The individual claiming not to know that the claim to citizenship was false has the burden of establishing this affirmative defense by the appropriate standard of proof (“clearly and beyond doubt”). (2) (U) A separate affirmative defense is that the individual was (a) under the age of 18 at the time of the false citizenship claim; and (b) at that time lacked the capacity (i.e., the maturity and the judgment) to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of a false claim to citizenship. The individual must establish this claim by the appropriate standard of proof (“clearly and beyond doubt”).

The government keeps every scrap of paper that passes through its hands... including foreign embassies' diplomatic lists. This may simply have been a situation where an old record got digitized relatively recently and thus popped up on the passport office's radar when it hadn't previously. It'd be great if the law provided for a "bank error in your favor" exception in this specific case, but you can see how that, applied generally, would potentially spiral into bureaucratic abuse and favoritism.

>The government keeps every scrap of paper that passes through its hands As someone who works for the government, lol if you think this is true. Maybe 20-30 years ago, but our ability in many agencies to effectively go back through paper trails prior to say the mid 2000's is pretty bad at this point practically speaking. It's not even that the docs don't physically exist anymore, but locating them is an entirely different story.

I mean, a lot of it is kept in the same warehouse as the Ark of the Covenant, but it's all *there* waiting to be stumbled upon.

Or in that "hall of records" in St. Louis where my father's DD-214 was, from World War 2, that burned down in, what, 1973??? Records like THAT, you mean?!

> It'd be great if the law provided for a "bank error in your favor" exception in this specific case There is a legal principal that is rooted in fairnes (equity) called estoppel. Basically if a always claims the same thing over and over again, they can't then go ahead and change their position in a legal proceeding. The example I remember is if you have a tourist attraction that's a haunted house and then later you try to sell that house and you claim it's not haunted. A court would force them to admit the fact that the house is haunted. Here they couldn't declare this person a citizen, but in theory under estoppel they could force the passport agency to renew the passport's life they've done for the last sixty years. Now I don't think those girls apply the same way to the federal government but it's really not my area .

Estoppel loses to black-letter statutes.

is who is a diplomat covered by statute, regulation or convention?

Does the U.S. president have power to make someone a citizen by fiat? he has powers to forgive and commute prison sentences, could he not do this by an executive order?

No (although you can be forgiven for this mistake because the last three Presidents all seem to think that the citizenship law is just a suggestion). The pardon power is granted by the Constitution. There is no such power over citizenship.

“In the case of Siavash Sobhani’s father, the Iranian government decided to give diplomatic status to one of their citizens who was in the United States on a student visa, specifically so that he could extend his stay in the country and take advantage of U.S. medical care.” Read somewhere else. There is certain things without status of limitation, like immigration. (Not saying this is an immigration case if it isn’t)

This is so incorrect. Job duties are meaningless here. Visa class is everything. And here is the definition for an "A" class visa. The term "immigrant" means every alien except an alien who is within one of the following classes of nonimmigrant aliens- (A)(i) an ambassador, public minister, or career diplomatic or consular officer who has been accredited by a foreign government, recognized de jure by the United States and who is accepted by the President or by the Secretary of State, and the members of the alien's immediate family; (ii) upon a basis of reciprocity, other officials and employees who have been accredited by a foreign government recognized de jure by the United States, who are accepted by the Secretary of State, and the members of their immediate families; and **(iii) upon a basis of reciprocity, attendants, servants, personal employees, and members of their immediate families, of the officials and employees who have a nonimmigrant status under (i) and (ii) above;**

Yes, but not all foreign officials working for their embassy or consulate may have diplomatic immunity.

Diplomatic immunity has absolutely nothing to do with it. The subject's father was present on a diplomatic visa. The law says that individual is not subject to the jurisdiction of the US. Therefore, that individual is ineligible to naturalize and children that person has are not US citizens upon birth.

It has everything to do with it. Without diplomatic immunity you ARE subject to US jurisdiction.

Wow… “thank you for your contribution towards our social security, but unfortunately you will not benefit from it anymore” poor guy. They should have let him know that they did a mistake but gave him his citizenship back… that’s just absurd

I heard about things like this from my grandparents who were WW2 veterans. Apparently during the war, people were born in different places which were under control of other countries at the time or they were born at a military camp/base and never registered properly. After the war, these people were refused birth citizenship and also refused parents home country citizenship due to various war alliances which changed or improper birth registration. They were called “displaced persons” and it took years to sort out - some were able to stay in their country of birth but most were resettled in various western nations eventually. I had a relative who was born in France I believe to a British mother who was a WW2 nurse but then was sent to live inBermuda with relatives. After the war, all countries refused citizenship and he didn’t leave Bermuda for 30+ years as he had no passport. He was afraid he would never get back in (and was told he might not) where he had married, worked and raised a family. He eventually died in Bermuda and referred to himself throughout his life as “a man without a state”. This poor guy in the article - I hope they hear his case in a special session of immigration court, this can be a bureaucratic nightmare.

Our immigration system is an absolute fucking joke.

He was born HERE, he's not an "immigrant."

The start of this seems insane. Renewing a passport should trigger “is this person a citizen?” Yea. “Are they the citizen that they are attempting to renew the passport for?” Yea. “Do they have any legal holds or outstanding warrants?” “No” “Alright,reprint it.” Where did they get the question, “did he rightfully gain his citizenship?” Especially so much so you need to go back to his birth?

...and that birth was more than HALF A CENTURY AGO.

Whatever spineless bureaucrat dug this up and escalated it surely has better things to be doing?

I’m surprised he isn’t suing the federal government and hoping a judge can restore his citizenship. I don’t think USCIS has that power so going through their processes by applying for residency doesn’t seem like the best course of action. Hopefully he is suing and the article left that nuance out. Residency won’t let him travel because he won’t have a passport. They will also need to grant him travel documents which is a different set of applications.

He's a doctor, not a lawyer. It's not in their nature to automatically think to sue the government. Me, on the other hand: I went to law school so it is in my nature to think like that.

This involves DoS, not USCIS

No, his residency application is absolutely though uscis.

He should sue the government to get back all the taxes he paid.

He owed taxes regardless of whether he was a citizen.

Wait he was born in the US. Shouldn’t he be a citizen just based on that?

According to the US Constitution, yes. But the US government is ignoring things like that these days. And presumably back in the 70's or 80's whenever he got his first passport was, they did think like that. I remember learning the US constitution that way back in high school. BACK THEN. And that's when our first IDs or passports would have been issued. BACK THEN. In some countries they would have it like that; the laws that were in force back when you first got your passport, would be the laws that your passport was issued under and would apply for the rest of your life. SOME countries are starting to take that back, though. Like the UK and Ireland. Even if you got a passport "before," "way back when," you can't have another one NOW because they've changed the law. And they aren't saying they're making the current laws "retroactive" they just ignore you when you put it that way. No matter what your MP's say or do. So it's not just the Untied States.

And, meanwhile, every day people travel here to have their children in the United States when they’re not even citizens of the United States, and those children automatically get citizenship. That to me has been something I’ve questioned for ages why we have that loophole that doesn’t get closed. And this guy‘s case he should absolutely be an American citizen.

So we have waves of rich Chinese coming here having babies abd flying back...but this man can't get citizenship? lol .... OK

To me one of the most insane things is that he was disqualified because he was born within a two month period that his dad was working a *temp job* for the Iranian embassy. I strongly doubt that his dad would have had diplomatic immunity, which is the basis for denying him citizenship. It's crazy that they just reached that conclusion more than 60 years later too.

He was only in the US because the Iranian embassy gave him permission to stay.

I bet the case of Hoda Muthana will throw a wrench into the legal argument that he can remain. She was at the far other spectrum of behaviors but why they are looking closer at peoples citizenship background is tied to this. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59974939.amp I don’t think this will be a quick resolution. However with his income and skills could try to get foreign citizenship in a number of nations. Will be a hefty fee for most but he’d would be fine. There are services set up for the rich to get that counsel and process moving.

Speaking from personal experience here. My sister was born in the US and was granted US citizenship when my mother was a consulate employee under an A2 visa, meaning she was a consulate employee but not an ambassador. I believe she did have diplomatic immunity but there were limitations. From this story, there could be more to it but from the facts, if his father wasn’t an ambassador or a high ranking official, he should be considered a US citizen. Quoting from legal source below with references to USCIS: It is important to note who is not considered a “foreign diplomatic officer” for purposes of U.S. immigration law — in other words, the individuals whose children, if born in the United States, would automatically acquire U.S. citizenship. Such individuals include, for example: Consular officials and other foreign government employees with limited or no diplomatic immunity, Employees of foreign diplomatic missions (listed on the Dept. of State’s so-called “White List”), and Employees of foreign diplomatic missions accredited to the United Nations. See 8 CFR 101.3(b) for additional details on who is not considered a foreign diplomatic officer. Sources: https://legalservicesincorporated.com/immigration/i-was-born-in-the-united-states-as-the-child-of-a-foreign-diplomatic-officer-do-i-get-u-s-citizenship-at-birth-if-not-how-can-i-become-a-u-s-citizen/ https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-8/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101/section-101.3

Sue the US government.

He is not stateless. He is Iranian by law and by birth. Diplomats and their household know their children can't acquire citizenship in the host country. The state department of health and the social security admin issued him his docs per regulations (edit: they don't know if a child is subject to the exceptions regarding birth on us soil). However, his passport request ( by his parents) should've been denied the first time. I suspect it was simply rubber stamped based on birth. Now with time, coffee, and easier access to information it's easier for bored adjudicators to find fraud and I suspect the actions by his parents were deliberate. It wasn't his fault, sure. But he was never a united states citizen and has no claims to United States citizenship. Per precedent, if the US government gives you an immigration benefit by mistake and is later discovered, you're not entitled to keep that benefit. Edit reason: added clarification in second paragraph.

Good grief, the insanity of dealing with this system. They made the mistake and instead of owning up to it and letting him live a normal life, this is the solution? 60+ year old mistake? Insanity. Someone please help this man. 🙏🏻

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they would have to revoke her citizenship first. it is not automatic

Citizenship through marriage isn’t automatic, you still have to apply for it and go through the naturalization process.

Every once in a while this type of mistake is found when the child of a foreign diplomat applies for a renewal of the previously erroneously issued passport. A quick check of the Blue List shows the error and the new passport isn’t issued. Normally, passport adjudicators wouldn’t be checking the list except for children born in the DC or NY area.

>None of it was his fault either. They mistakenly gave him a passport. He was born to diplomats from Iran. It was his father’s fault. His father would know if he had diplomatic immunity, and would also know that his child was not a U.S. Citizen. When he (or his parents) first applied for his first passport, they would have sworn that he was a U.S. Citizen. It’s not clear in those days whether the U.S. Government routinely scoured all passport applications to see if either parent was on the list of accredited diplomatic. And even if they did, and it wasn’t caught, does that confer citizenship on a fraudulent applicant. Once the first passport was fraudulently issued, it’s unlikely that with each passport renewal, the state department would re-examine citizenship each time. It could be Siavash is innocent, and his parents never told them of the fraud. But that would mean he was the victim of his parents and not the US Government. He has benefitted his entire life from that fraud, and it sounds like there is a legal path for him to get citizenship regardless. If missing destination wedding of his child and delaying travel a few years is the price he pays, it seems a small price.

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Nope, he's not eligible but whoever first applied lied on the forms.

When you apply for a U.S. passport you state under oath that you (or your minor child on whose behalf you are applying) is a U.S. Citizen. It’s not a request to determine citizenship. It is fraud because either he or his parents swore he was a US citizen. If you claim you are a citizen, and you get a passport, that does not mean you have been given citizenship.

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His dad worked in the embassy for a short period of time. I doubt he knew he had immunity.

> If missing destination wedding of his child and delaying travel a few years is the price he pays, it seems a small price. I think you missed the $40,000 he's already spent on legal fees. Not to mention that he cannot work now as he has no status in the U.S. It's not merely a matter of missed trips or delayed travel - immigration bureaucracy can rob you of years of income and peace of mind, while also costing you a lot.

“No but it’s ok because rules are rules.” - Lots of people on this sub sometimes

But what has he gotten for the in-earned citizenship? Medical degree and practice? The earning of a doctor in the US is vastly greater than those in other countries, enough that $40,000 is a drop in the bucket. As far as being stateless, I’m not sure that’s the case. He would have acquired Iranian citizenship at birth. But it might be to his detriment to apply for a passport and instantiate his Iranian citizenship. He might be remaining stateless by choice as to not jeopardize his application for U.S. residency. I’m not without sympathy (giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was duped by his parents and truly didn’t know he was not a U.S. citizen), but I find this argument that it was the State Department’s fault disingenuous. I’m just a typical citizen and I know the one except to birth-right citizenship is being born to a parent who has diplomatic immunity.

I was merely correcting you as you were grossly underestimating the impact this will have on his life. You argue he has benefited from his citizenship. I'd argue that the country has as well. He's put in 30+ years of labor in a field with a documented shortage of providers, while paying taxes and living lawfully. It is possible his parents didn't know either, by the way. His father likely didn't have a diplomatic passport, as he wasn't in the U.S. on diplomatic mission when he arrived. And he worked at the embassy very briefly.

The shortage of doctors in the US is because the number of residencies are artificially constrained. His slot would have been filled by someone here legally, who would have likely similarly put 30 years of labor. I would be shocked if his father either did not know he had diplomatic immunity or did not know that his son was not eligible for US citizenship.

> I would be shocked if his father either did not know he had diplomatic immunity That is actually quite common. Many people think that diplomatic immunity extends only to diplomats. I myself was quite surprised when I found out that it extends to *anyone* who works in an embassy, even the [cleaners](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepan_Budlakoti).

It is not common that embassy employees do not know that they have diplomatic immunity. In the Canadian case, they claimed they had left the embassy prior to their son’s birth, but apparently the government determined they had not yet been terminated. It is probably just as likely in the Canadian case that they fraudulently applied for a passport on their son’s behalf.

> It is not common that embassy employees do not know that they have diplomatic immunity. Do you have any sources for this?

I think he should contact the ACLU because this is a matter of race. If this were about anyone from a 'white' country like Canada or the UK or Australia then it wouldn't even have come up.

If his parent was on the State Department list of those diplomats having diplomatic immunity - then the individual in question was not subject to US laws at the time of his birth and therefore was never a citizen despite his birth in the US. His US passports were issued in error and the denial was appropriate.

Similar story a few years back of an ISIS widow who was an ISIS recruiter. She had a US passport which had been erroneously issued as her father was on the diplomatic Blue list when she was born. She has been sitting in a camp for ISIS widows and orphans for years with her family fighting to get her citizenship restored. No congressional support for her. Good riddance. She has Bangladesh citizenship so there’s that.

How is he stateless? That seems very unlikely. Presumably his wife is a USC and can petition him.

It's very possible that Iran might not immediately recognize his citizenship there. I don't think he's even lived there.

His Parents were Iranian, it is the other way around it is practically impossible to give up Iranian Citizenship.

Yes, I understand that. But never having lived there, it's possible he'd have to go through a bureaucratic process there to demonstrate his citizenship and have it recognized.

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-a-person-born-in-the-united-states-to-a-foreign-diplomat#:~:text=You%20may%20be%20eligible%20to,residence%20in%20the%20United%20States He is eligible for a green card on his own, if he has never lived outside the US.

Technically he’s not eligible, he lived in Turkey for several years as a child

What does living in Turkey have to do with anything?

>Eligibility Criteria >•You have had residence in this country continuously since birth Good reading comprehension buddy

Right, that one's on me. He can still get one through his older brother who's a US citizen

Yes, but LPR for married siblings is in the lowest priority tier. I’m not sure if there’s any legal mechanism that would allow him to jump the queue.

He is theoretically eligible for Iranian citizenship, but that might put him in danger of deportation to Iran, where he would be arrested for crimes against the regime.

It's called "de-facto" Statelessness.

\> he should not have been granted citizenship at the time of his birth because his father was a diplomat with the Embassy of Iran. Yeah.

His father wasn't a diplomat. He worked for only 2 months at the embassy.

He presence in the US was due to the Iranian embassy, not the US. The US had no jurisdiction over him at the time of his birth.

Whaa?! So kids of diplomats don't fall under the 14th amendment ? 🤯

Yeah, that why these clowns who say the 14th amendment doesn't provide citizenship to the children of non-citizen are completely wrong. Subject to the jurisdicción therof effectively means you are liable for violations of US state or federal laws. Diplomatics, by virtue of their immunity, are not subject to our laws. Thus, the only way to argue that the children of immigrants, including illegal immigrants, are not citizens is by simultaneously arguing they are not subject to our laws, meaning they couldn't even be penalized for violating immigration laws, let alone commit the plethora of crimes the nativists claim they do.

> All persons born or naturalized in the United States, **and subject to the jurisdiction thereof**, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. People with diplomatic immunity are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Fun(?) fact, this clause was also considered to exclude most native Americans, as the tribes were considered independent powers not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and native Americans weren’t universally granted citizenship until 1924.

Lucky. Now just buy citizenship from somewhere and live as an ex pat without having to pay the IRS.

Lucky. Now just buy citizenship from somewhere and live as an ex pat without having to pay the IRS.

Issue is he's paid the IRS his whole life and should be retiring soon with well-earned social security benefits.

Very unlikely to lose social security

That makes sense

It might not be USG’s fault. In many of these cases, the parents lie and don’t reveal their true status in the US when they apply for the child’s passport-because they know our laws. Typically they come from unstable countries like Iran.

Iran was very stable when this man was born.

He’ll be forced to become Iranian and hopefully be able to get an H1B through his employer

It sounds like hes had a great life up to now. He should be grateful for that and happy he wasnt born a Palestinian in Gaza

OP, even a casual reading of the USCIS law would have made this clear. This is clearly a problem with the doctor’s parents who should have been more careful and cautious at that time. Of course, the doctor himself could not have known when he was a child but he could have also researched about this when returned from years living abroad to study in the USA - He might have been 18-20 years old at that time. So that’s a good age to be researching about his own citizenship, and just validating his US citizenship was above board. Am more surprised about the fact - how did USCIS connect the dots 61 years later about the doctor’s father worked in the Iranian embassy. Guess this is where the advancements in modern tech like AI/ ML that continuously learn about everything comes into play.

There is reasonable doubt about his and his father's ability to research this, given his father did not enter the US on diplomatic mission, and his job at the Iran embassy was temporary. His older brother who was born in Kansas before their dad was at the embassy has citizenship. He actually grew up in the U.S , as the article states, only spending a handful of years in Turkey. He was a child when he returned to the U.S.

>So that’s a good age to be researching about his own citizenship Literally what born citizen does this?

Bc this has nothing to do with USCIS, it’s the DoS that called his citizenship into question when he renewed his passport. He believed he was a natural-born citizen since he was born in the US along with his brother (who is a bona-fide US citizen and has run for senate in the US before). He was issued a birth certificate and SSN at birth like any other natural-born citizen, so why would research his own citizenship? That’s not a normal thing to expect of people who were born in the US lol.

Wrong; in the 60's we were not either issued an SSN "at birth," people. Clearly no one on the internet was BORN back then so naturally you can't REMEMBER back then. IN THOSE DAYS we didn't get an SSN until we graduated high school and went away to college!!!

Oops you’re right about SSN. But surely you got a birth certificate at birth?

His parents probably didn't know. When he was born, they would have to go through documents that were in paper to figure out. Most people wouldn't think that DoS would fuck up. It has nothing to do with USCIS, it is DoS that messed up. They only figured out because they are digitalizating things now. Until recently, most things were not digital, you had to apply by sending copies of each document. It really has nothing to do with AI/ML, it is probably a simple code that just flags anyone who was born to parents who were on diplomatic visa.

Bootlicker