Children born in wedlock automatically qualify, and may be petitioned by either citizen-parent.
Children born out of wedlock to citizen-mothers also qualify.
Adopted children may also qualify, but only if the adoption was finalized prior to the child's 16th birthday and certain procedural requirements with regard to the adoption have occurred. Stepchildren may qualify if the step relationship was established before the child's 18th birthday. Special rules apply to foreign orphans adopted by U.S. citizens. One effect of this change is that it is no longer necessary to ascertain whether a child born out of wedlock is regarded as legitimate or illegitimate for purposes of determining whether a child may be petitioned by a natural father.