alstublieft (you’re welcome for those who don’t speak dutch 🙂

Thank you for the link!

Here’s a link that explains it all and will help everyone (I looked it up a year ago to see if my 2 daughters would be impacted by FATCA, thankfully not because even if they wanted to, thay can’t becom US citizens) :

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-child-born-abroad.html

True. Citizenship doesn’t keep getting passed down according to US law: some residency is required after the first generation. I was referencing all those first generation accidental Americans out there right now, who do have citizenship, particularly ones like my son who are the kids of people who moved abroad for love or work. I didn’t want to confuse the story with too many details. I don’t know how long Castro’s father lived in Spain, but I think he moved as an adult.

Not True
My two daughters cannot become US citizens because they were born in France, their mother is French and I have not lived 2 years after the age of 14 in the US. So even if they wanted to become US citizens they can’t.

Sorry I overlooked that it was Castro and not Cruz – my fault.

No, in this hypothetical situation, Castro, not Cruz, could be a citizen of Spain, since his father was born in Spain. I realize that in most countries citizenship doesn’t go further back than one’s parents — though in some places it can.

I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have the impression that citizenship could be passed down indefinitely through the generations (especially since you brought up the point that Ted Cruz could be a citizen of Spain).

Yes, that’s all true. I didn’t want to get into the details too much. I would add, though, that although a child born abroad who hasn’t been registered could certainly lie low, like you said, legally the US would still consider them a citizen, if they ever became aware of them.