Reuters reported on September 1, 2026 that it had reviewed draft State Department guidance requiring parents to submit proof of their own citizenship or immigration status when applying for a passport for their child. It is the first detailed look at how the department would enforce Trump's August 6 executive order narrowing birthright citizenship.
The change from current practice is specific. Today, parents of a child born in the United States prove parentage and show photo identification; they check a box indicating whether they are U.S. citizens but file no supporting documentation. Under the draft, every parent or legal guardian would have to produce a valid U.S. passport or birth certificate, or evidence of immigration status such as an I-94 or green card. The guidance states: “The Department will require parental information and evidence of parental citizenship or immigration status as part of its determination whether the applicant is subject to EO 14418.”
The legal background matters for how this is read. Trump's first birthright citizenship order would have granted citizenship only to children with at least one parent who was a citizen or lawful permanent resident. The Supreme Court struck it down 6-3, finding it violated the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The August 6 order is narrower, aimed at what the administration calls “birth tourism,” and would withhold citizenship from children whose parent works for a foreign government in the U.S., engaged in fraud or a commercial transaction to obtain citizenship, or is classified as an “alien enemy.” It has not been ruled on.
One procedural detail is worth noting. Justice Department attorneys have argued that challenges to the August 6 order are premature because federal agencies had not yet issued public guidance on implementation. This draft guidance is that implementation, in a form Reuters reviewed but the public has not been shown.
The State Department did not dispute the document. Spokesman Tommy Pigott said Trump “has been unequivocal that this Administration will protect the meaning and value of American citizenship, full stop, and that includes making sure our passport adjudication process fully reflects that standard.”
What the policy would do in practice is shift the burden: a child born on U.S. soil, presumptively a citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment, would need their parents' documents to obtain proof of that citizenship. Lawyers pursuing class actions have asked two federal judges to block the order. At a hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman voiced skepticism about what she called an unprecedented order and allowed plaintiffs to revise their suit so she could consider blocking it. The guidance is a draft and has not taken effect (see Trump Signs an Executive Order to End Birthright Citizenship on Day One, and the Supreme Court Strikes It Down 6-3 and Trump Storms Out of the Supreme Court After His Own Justices Tear His Birthright Citizenship Case Apart, Then Posts 'STUPID' on Truth Social).