A man in Florida recently received a starling revelation after living in the United States for over 60 years. Despite paying taxes and actively participating in elections, he discovered that he was not a US citizen.
This unexpected news has left him astounded and baffled.
The man, whom we will refer to as Bob, has been a resident of the US since he was two years old.
He had been looking forward to retirement and awaited a letter from the Social Security Administration confirming his eligibility to receive retirement benefits.
However, to his surprise, he received a notification stating that his account had been frozen because his legal presence in the US could not be established.
Bob couldn't believe it when he got a message saying his account was frozen because he couldn't prove he was here legally.
He said, "They told me my account was frozen because I didn't show them proof that I'm legally in the country."
Although Bob has spent his entire life in the US, he was not born there. His mother is Canadian, and his paternal grandparents are from Germany.
However, Bob's father is a US citizen leading him to assume that he held American citizenship too.
Bob explained, "My dad's roots were in Brooklyn, New York... And two years after I was born, they decided to load up the truck and move to Beverly."
He was granted eligibility to join the Marine Corps and even received acceptance as a police officer. However, due to personal circumstances, he chose a different career path and took a union job instead.
Bob said, "I was accepted, but I didn't take the jobs because I was newly married, had a kid on the way, and had just bought a house..."
Furthermore, Bob possesses a social security card, a valid driver's license, and has actively participated in federal elections.
There's a law called the Child Citizenship Act of 200.
It says that if a child is born in another country and has at least one parent who is a US citizen, they automatically become a citizen themselves if they're under 18 and a legal resident in the US.
The problem is that this law wasn't in place when Bob came to the US at the age of two in the 1960s. That's why he's facing this situation now.
Therefore, Bob finds himself utilizing his retirement savings to address this legal matter. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) declined to comment on the case, citing privacy concerns.
