The Northern Virginia doctor knows at least that much about his situation. He knows he is no longer considered a citizen of the United States — the place where he was born, went to school and has practiced medicine for more than 30 years — and that he also belongs to no other place.
A letter from a State Department official informed him that he should not have been granted citizenship at the time of his birth because his father was a diplomat with the Embassy of Iran. The letter directed Sobhani to a website where he could apply for lawful permanent residence.
We do that in other areas of law. Notable examples include common law marriage, statutory limitations on prosecution and adverse possession of property.
In common law marriage, a couple who lives together and publicly claims to be married can gain the legal benefits of marriage without a formal ceremony or documentation. It’s fairly uncommon now, and most US states no longer allow it, but a few do, as do other jurisdictions around the world.
In statutory limits on prosecution, there is a time limit for beginning a prosecution for most crimes. It usually doesn’t apply if someone is actively fleeing from prosecution, but does apply if the crime is not discovered or the offender is not identified.
In adverse possession of property, someone who claims to be the owner of property and publicly exercises ownership rights over the property for an extended period of time (usually decades) without legal challenge is the legal owner even if someone can later prove they shouldn’t be.
Look, I’m not arguing against citizenship for people who have lived their lives here and through no fault of their own found out they were illegally here. There’s no need to keep rationalizing or trying to convince me that they should be citizens, I don’t disagree. I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to have them take a citizenship test, or, at least file the paperwork needed to become a citizen. Do the thin that you should’ve done. You’re not being charged with anything. Yeah, there’s a statute of limitations on lots of things, but it gets muddy when it comes to immigration. There are parts of immigration law that do not obey the 5 year federal statute of limitations that would normally apply, but IANAL and don’t know what they are.