Doctor loses US citizenship 61 years after living in America
Siavash Sobhani, a long-time resident of North Virginia and a respected doctor, has recently been stripped of his citizenship at the age of 61.
He told The Washington Post that he received a letter from the US State Department in February, following his application for a new passport, stating that his father was a diplomat at the Iranian Embassy and he should not have been awarded citizenship at the time of his birth.
The letter states that children born in the United States to parents enjoying diplomatic immunity do not automatically become citizens of the United States. It said Sobhani enjoyed diplomatic immunity from the jurisdiction of the US at the time of his birth and so he did not acquire citizenship.
But this is Sobhani’s first experience with this problem in his more than thirty years of practicing medicine. Every time his passport was reissued during his life, the US State Department again verified that he was an American citizen.
Siavash Sobhani, who turned 62 recently, had begun to consider retiring. He and his spouse intended to travel the world for a year in search of a neighbourhood where they could purchase a house.
He must now apply for lawful permanent residence and fulfil the State Department’s guidelines.
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