Status of the Virgin Islands of the United States
7 FAM 1123.1 Current Law
(TL:CON-66; 10-10-96)
a. The Virgin Islands of the United States come within the definition of "United States" given in Section 101(a)(38) INA. A person born there now acquires U.S. citizenship in the same way as one born in any of the 50 States. Section 301(a) INA applies.
b. Section 306 INA (8 U.S.C. 1406) pertains specifically to the Virgin Islands:
· SEC 306. (a) The following persons and their children born subsequent to January 17, 1917, and prior to February 25, 1927, are declared to be citizens of the United States as of February 25, 1927
(1) All former Danish citizens who, on January 17, 1917, resided in the Virgin Islands of the United States, and were residing in those islands or in the United States or Puerto Rico on February 25, 1927, and who did not make the declaration required to preserve their Danish citizenship by article 6 of the treaty entered into on August 4, 1916, between the United States and Denmark, or who, having made such a declaration have heretofore renounced or may hereafter renounce it by a declaration before a court of record;
(2) All natives of the Virgin Islands of the United States who, on January 17, 1917, resided in those islands, and were residing in those islands or in the United States or Puerto Rico on February 25, 1927, and who were not on February 25, 1927, citizens or subjects of any foreign country;
(3) All natives of the Virgin Islands of the United States who, on January 17, 1917, resided in the United States, and were residing in those islands on February 25, 1927, and who were not on February 25, 1927, citizens or subjects of any foreign country; and
(4) All natives of the Virgin Islands of the United States who, on June 28, 1932, were residing in continental United States, the Virgin Islands of the United States, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, or any other insular possession or territory of the United States, and who, on June 28, 1932, were not citizens or subjects of any foreign country, regardless of their place of residence on January 17, 1917.
b. All persons born in the Virgin Islands of the United States on or after January 17, 1917, and prior to February 25, 1927, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States are declared to be citizens of the United States as of February 25, 1927; and all persons born in those islands on or after February 25, 1927, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are declared to be citizens of the United States at birth.
7 FAM 1123.2 Nationality Status Before December 24, 1952
7 FAM 1123.2-1 Status of Inhabitants After Transfer to U.S. Sovereignty
(TL:CON-66; 10-10-96)
a. The Virgin Islands of the United States, formerly the Danish West Indies, were purchased from Denmark on August 4, 1916. The convention making effective such purchase was ratified and came into force on January 17, 1917.
b. Article 6 of the convention states that:
· Danish citizens who remain in the islands may preserve their citizenship in Denmark by making before a court of record, within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications in this convention, a declaration of their decision to preserve such citizenship; in default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it, and to have accepted citizenship in the United States; for children under the age of eighteen years the declaration may be made by their parents or guardians. Such election of Danish citizenship shall however not, after the lapse of the said term of one year, be a bar to their renunciation of their preserved Danish citizenship and their election of citizenship in the United States and admission to the nationality thereof on the same terms as may be provided according to the laws of the United States, for other inhabitants of the islands
· The civil rights and the political status of the inhabitants of the islands shall be determined by Congress, subject to the stipulations contained in the present Convention
c. Even though the convention referred to "citizenship in the United States" rather than U.S. nationality, it was administratively held that, consistent with the rulings of the Supreme Court in the "Insular Cases" on the status of inhabitants of territories acquired by treaty (see 7 FAM 1121.2-2 a), Danish citizens residing in the U.S. Virgin Islands on January 17, 1917, who did not elect to preserve their Danish citizenship became non-citizen U.S. nationals (3 Hackworth, Digest of International Law 147; 38 Op Atty. Gen. 525 (1936); 3 I. & N. 870 (1950); 6 I. & N. 226 (1954)).
d. Temporary absence from the Virgin Islands at the time of cession did not preclude acquisition of U.S. nationality if the person was otherwise qualified. For instance:
(1) The Department construed "residence" to mean a permanent dwelling place to which the person, when absent, intended to return.
(2) In determining whether someone could be considered an inhabitant of the islands within the meaning of the treaty, the Department required the person to provide proof of being a bona fide resident of the islands before annexation and of having had a definite intention to return.
(3) The Department considered such factors as the temporary nature of the absence (schooling, business trip, and so forth); evidence of a permanent connection to the islands (such as ownership of property, payment of taxes, and/or the presence of family in the islands), and the lack of fixed abode elsewhere.
e. The nationality of the non-Danish residents of the Virgin Islands was not affected by the convention.
f. The Acts of February 25, 1927 (44 Stat. 1234) and June 28, 1932 (47 Stat. 336) granted U.S. citizenship to Virgin Island natives born prior to annexation if they met certain criteria, now codified in Section 306, INA (quoted in 7 FAM 1123.1 b).
7 FAM 1123.2-2 Status Acquired by Birth in the Islands After Annexation but Before February 25, 1927
(TL:CON-66; 10-10-96)
a. After annexation and before February 25, 1927 persons born to two U.S. nationals in the Virgin Islands acquired non-citizen U.S. nationality.
b. A child born there to two aliens did not acquire U.S. nationality at birth.
c. The status of persons born there, subject to U.S. jurisdiction, on or after January 17, 1917, was altered by the Act of February 25, 1927 as quoted in 7 FAM 1123.2-3.
7 FAM 1123.2-3 Laws Granting U.S. Citizenship to Persons Born in the Virgin Islands
(TL:CON-66; 10-10-96)
a. The first law to govern acquisition of U.S. citizenship by birth in the Virgin Islands was the Act of February 25, 1927 (44 Stat. 1234), which became effective from the date of enactment.
b. Section 3 of that law stated that:
· All persons born in the Virgin Islands on or after January 17, 1917 (whether before or after the effective date of this Act), and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are hereby declared citizens of the United States
c. The Virgin Islands came within the definition of "United States" given in the Nationality Act of 1940, and Section 201(a) NA applied to persons born in the Virgin islands. For the current law, see 7 FAM 1123.1 b .
7 FAM 1123.2-4 Status Acquired by Birth Outside the Islands to Former Danish Residents or Natives of the Islands
(TL:CON-66; 10-10-96)
a. Children born between January 17, 1917 and February 25, 1927 to someone who became a U.S. citizen under Section 1 of the Act of February 1, 1927, were declared U.S. citizens as of February 25, 1927, regardless of their birthplace.
b. The provisions of Section 1 were the same as those of Section 306(a)(1)‑(3) INA (quoted in 7 FAM 1123.1 b ).