05 Aug 2021
USCIS Policy Alert on ART (Aug. 5, 2021)
SUBJECT: Assisted Reproductive Technology and In-Wedlock Determinations for Immigration and Citizenship Purposes
Purpose
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding the determination of whether a child born outside the United States, including a child born through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), is considered born “in wedlock.”
Policy Highlights
• Explains that, for purposes of family-based petitions and acquiring citizenship, USCIS considers a child born outside the United States to be born in wedlock when the child’s legal
parents are married to one another at the time of child's birth and at least one of the legal parents has a genetic or gestational relationship to the child.
• Updates the definitions of child both in the family-based petition and the citizenship context.
• Provides that the definition of child as clarified in this update is applicable to all citizenship provisions,4 and includes the child of a U.S. citizen parent who is married to the child’s genetic or legal gestational parent at the time of the child’s birth (even if no genetic or gestational relationship exists with the U.S. citizen parent), if both parents are recognized by the relevant jurisdiction as the child’s legal parents.