If your child is an American citizen but has been living out of the country for some time, are you aware that your future grandchildren may not have the right to US citizenship? The website of the ACA, or American Citizens Abroad, discusses the requirements for transmitting citizenship:
Your child is an American citizen if he or she was born in the USA.
Your child is also a citizen if he or she was born abroad and both parents are US citizens at least one of whom resided in the US or possession.
If only one parent is a US citizen, that parent must have been physically present in the US or possession at least five years prior to the child’s birth, at least two of which were after the age of 14.
I recently talked to a parent who told me that this is one of the reasons her daughter will attend university in the US. The daughter, born in Switzerland to two American parents, has lived her entire life here. Four years in a US college will increase her odds of being able to pass her citizenship onto her children.
This issue may not be important to all American families but it is another factor entering into some university decisions.