66

This passport is not valid for use in other countries except for necessary transit to or from the countries named."

Rubber stamps should be used in making the above form of statement. When an American citizen, sojourning abroad and holding a passport limited for use in certain countries, finds it necessary to visit another country, not mentioned therein, he may turn in the passport which he holds at the American Embassy, Legation, or Consulate authorized to issue emergency passports in the country where he is sojourning, and obtain an emergency passport limited for use in the particular trip which he has in view. Upon his return, he may surrender such emergency passport and recover the passport which he previously held. It is not proper for one person to hold two valid passports.

In the issuance of emergency passports under the conditions just mentioned the same rules should be observed as in the issuance of emergency passports in general. AMENDMENT OF PASSPORTS ISSUED PRIOR TO THESE REGULATIONS American citizens holding valid passports issued prior to these regulations should be notified, through the press or otherwise, to present themselves to a diplomatic or consular office within two weeks, if possible, so that their passports may be amended to conform with the new passport regulations. The Department has reason to believe that there are some persons abroad holding emergency, and perhaps Departmental, passports to which they are not entitled. Therefore, when a passport is presented to you for amendment in accordance with the new regulations, you should examine the holder carefully and require him to submit the same evidence of his citizenship and identity which would be required of him were he making an original application for a passport. If any holder of a passport appears to be not entitled to it, you should retain the passport, investigate the case, and inform the Department fully of the pertinent facts and your conclusions.

All holders of emergency passports who expect to continue their residence abroad for a considerable period, should be notified to apply forthwith for regular Departmental passports.

W. J. BRYAN.

On Feb. 8, 1915 the Department issued new circular instructions to diplomatic and consular officers advising them of the changes effected by the passport regulations of January 12, 1915, particularly the six-months' duration of the passport, with possibility of two renewals, and empowering them to amend the statement in the passport concerning the countries to be visited and the objects of the visits. The power to thus amend regular passports dispenses to a considerable degree with the necessity for issuing emergency passports, as authorized in the general instructions of December 21, 1914.

OTHER FORMS OF EVIDENCING CITIZENSHIP

$221. Certificate of Naturalization.

The certificate of naturalization as an evidence of citizenship emanates from the judicial department of the government, and is not

used so freely as the passport as an international warrant of citizenship or protection. It is, when properly issued, the best evidence of naturalization, and its presentation is the customary method by which naturalized citizens before international commissions establish their citizenship. While occasionally presented to foreign governments as an evidence of American citizenship, it is most frequently used as evidence before the Department of State or before American diplomatic and consular officers as a title to a passport or to diplomatic protection or registration. A naturalized citizen applying for a passport must present his certificate of naturalization, or a duly certified copy of the court record thereof. Under an amendment of paragraph 154 of the Instructions to Diplomatic Officers, diplomatic officers may receive an old passport in lieu of a certificate of naturalization as prima facie evidence that the applicant's citizenship was established, and issue thereon an emergency passport. This applies also to persons who claim citizenship through the naturalization of the parent. The extent to which a certificate of naturalization is binding upon municipal and international courts and upon the Department of State and foreign governments as a proof of citizenship and the circumstances under which it may be impeached will be discussed presently.1

§ 222. Certificate of Registration.

Certificates of registration are issued by consuls to American citizens who register at the consulates in conformity with paragraph 172 of the Consular Regulations, as amended by the Executive Order of April 8, 1907.2 Following the practice of several European countries, notably Belgium, Spain and Portugal, the Department of State has encouraged the registration of American citizens resident abroad by providing a registration book in each consulate. Such registration has important legal effects under the statute of the United States by which American women abroad, the widows or divorcees of aliens, and foreign-born women, the widows or divorcees of American citizens, may resume or retain, as the case may be, their American citizen

2 Circular, April 19, 1907, Registration of American Citizens, For. Rel., 1907, I, 6.

ship by registration in an American consulate. So, likewise, children. born abroad who are citizens under § 1993 of the Revised Statutes must, upon reaching the age of eighteen, in order to receive the protection of this government, record at a consulate their intention to become residents and remain citizens of the United States.1 The practical effects of consular registration, to which all American citizens resident abroad are invited, are hardly less important. Registration operates as a definite avowal or election of citizenship and is an important factor in overcoming the presumption of expatriation. Besides, it facilitates and expedites protection abroad in case of need, inasmuch as the identity and citizenship of the person desiring protection are at once established and made a matter of record.

The same general principles govern applications for registry which govern applications for passports. The applicant must furnish to the consul the same proof of citizenship as would be required by the Department of State for the issuance of a passport.2 Upon satisfactory registration, the consul is authorized to issue without charge a certificate of registration for use with the authorities of the place where the person registered is residing. The certificates are good for one year only, and may be renewed annually, provided it is clearly shown that the residence abroad has not assumed a permanent character.

The certificate of registration, while serving the important international purpose of establishing the identity and citizenship of the entitled holder, is issued rather as a measure of supervision or control by the United States over its citizens abroad, particularly in extraterritorial countries, and as an aid to its protective functions.

1 Sections 3, 4 and 6 of the Act of March 2, 1907, Circulars, April 19, 1907, Registration of women who desire to resume or retain American citizenship, and Children of citizens born abroad, For. Rel., 1907, I, 10, 9.

2 See the rules prescribed by the Dept. of State in circular of November 30, 1907, and March 2, 1908, as to Applications for registration. See also circular of June 21, 1909.

3 Circular March 25, 1908. The charge of a small fee is now contemplated by the Department.

IMPEACHMENT OF CITIZENSHIP

$223. Who may Impeach. The conclusiveness of the ordinary evidences of citizenship, the passport and the certificate of naturalization, has been the subject of much diplomatic correspondence during the last fifty years. This government has uniformly insisted that the documents it issues as certificates of citizenship shall be considered as prima facie evidence of lawful citizenship. While admitting the possibility of foreign authorities traversing the conclusively evidentiary character of the passport or certificate of naturalization, by showing fraud or illegality, the United States, as has been said, has reserved to itself the exclusive right to determine the ultimate validity of these documents and of the citizenship of the persons to whom they are issued.

On several occasions the attempts of foreign governments to impeach the validity of a passport duly issued by the Department of State have called forth emphatic protests from American secretaries of State.1 Diplomatic difficulties with Mexico, Austria-Hungary and Russia have made it clear that the United States will not admit the right either of administrative or judicial officers of those countries to pass upon the validity of passports or certificates of naturalization issued by the United States. These documents may be questioned on the ground that they have been fraudulently obtained or are fraudulently held, but even then the determination of the validity of the passport is within the competency alone of the Department of State and not of the local authorities abroad. The assumption by such local authorities of the right to ignore the evidence of the passport and to ascertain by an independent municipal investigation the citizenship of an alien, an American citizen, was declared by Secretary of State Gresham to be "incompatible with the universally admitted doctrine that a state is the sole and ultimate judge of the citizenship of its own dependents, and is competent to certify to the fact." He added:

"It is neither incumbent upon the bearer to prove his citizenship by

1 See the various notes of Secretaries Marcy, Fish, Evarts, Foster, Gresham and Olney, quoted in Moore's Dig. III, 985 et seq.

extraneous evidence at the will of the country of his sojourn; nor upon the certifying government to support its official attestation of the fact of the citizenship by collateral proof under the municipal requirements of another country . . . . Should the Austro-Hungarian authorities have reason to believe that they [passports] are fraudulently held by others than the persons to whom they were lawfully issued or that the holders have obtained naturalization in fraud of the laws of the United States, or claim privileges of citizenship not granted by the treaty of naturalization between the two countries, the facts should at once be brought to the notice of the Government of the United States through its accredited envoy in Austria-Hungary." 1

The naturalization treaties with some of the German states make five years' residence as well as naturalization conditions precedent to a recognition of a change of allegiance. Inasmuch as the passport of a naturalized citizen does not disclose the statute under which he was naturalized-which may not be predicated upon a five years' residence, e. g., in the case of minors, honorably discharged soldiers, seamen, etc.—the allegation of a failure to comply with the requirement of five years' residence must be heard as an objection to the conclusively evidentiary character of the passport, and in the absence of disrespect to the passport as prima facie evidence of citizenship, the competency of a German court to conduct an independent investigation upon the question of five years' residence cannot, it would seem, be contested.2

The United States has always insisted that it alone was competent to pass upon the question as to whether a passport was fraudulently obtained. If foreign governments could pass upon the question of fraud in obtaining a passport, they would in effect pass upon the legality of the act of naturalization itself, an assumption which the United States has always vigorously contested."

The passport must be accepted as prima facie proof of citizenship

1 Mr. Gresham, Sec'y of State, to Mr. Tripp, min. to Austria-Hungary, Sept. 4, 1893, For. Rel., 1893, 23-24, quoted in Moore's Dig. III, 988-989. The Austrian foreign office fully conceded the principle contended for by Mr. Gresham.

2 Mr. Olney, Sec'y of State, to Mr. Jackson, chargé at Berlin, Feb. 13, 1896, For. Rel., 1895, 520-523 (In re claim by Würtemberg authorities of right to require other evidence of citizenship than passports). Extracts quoted in Moroe's Dig. III, 993-994.

Mr. Hay, Sec'y of State, to Mr. Harris, min. to Austria-Hungary, Nov. 7, 1899, For. Rel., 1899, 78, Passport of John Wilson. Quoted in Moore's Dig. III, 1001.