430
Opinion of Stevens, J.
ment in § 1401(g) that applies to a citizen parent who is married to an alien.5 Under that provision, the citizen parent must have resided in the United States for a total of at least five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of 14 years.6 If the citizen parent is an unmarried mother, however, § 1409(c) rather than § 1401(g) applies; under that subsection she need only have had one year of continuous residence in the United States in order to confer citizenship on her offspring.7 Since petitioner's father satisfied the residency requirement in § 1401(g), the validity of the distinction between that requirement and the unusually generous provision in § 1409(c) is not at issue.8
5 See 8 U. S. C. § 1409(a) (directing that §§ 1401(c), (d), (e), (g) and 1408(2) "shall apply" if the specified conditions of § 1409(a) are met).
6 Title 8 U. S. C. § 1401 provides: "The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
. . . . . "(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than five years, at least two of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years . . . ."
Prior to its amendment in 1986, the section had required residence of 10 total years, at least 5 of which were after attaining the age of 14. See § 301(a)(7), 66 Stat. 236.
7 Section 309(c) of the INA, codified in 8 U. S. C. § 1409(c), provides: "(c) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (a) of this section, a person born, after December 23, 1952, outside the United States and out of wedlock shall be held to have acquired at birth the nationality status of his mother, if the mother had the nationality of the United States at the time of such person's birth, and if the mother had previously been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year."
8 The Government has offered two explanations for the special rule applicable to unmarried citizen mothers who give birth abroad: first, an assumption that the citizen mother would probably have custody, and second,
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