Title 8 — Aliens and NationalityRelease 119-73not60

§1406 Persons Living in and Born in the Virgin Islands

Title 8 › Chapter 12— IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY › Subchapter III— NATIONALITY AND NATURALIZATION › Part I— Nationality at Birth and Collective Naturalization › § 1406

Last updated Apr 3, 2026|Official source

Summary

People in several groups were made U.S. citizens on February 25, 1927. Former Danish citizens who lived in the Virgin Islands on January 17, 1917, and who were living in the islands, the United States, or Puerto Rico on February 25, 1927, became citizens if they did not keep Danish citizenship under the treaty with Denmark of August 4, 1916, or if they later gave up that Danish citizenship in court. People born in the Virgin Islands who lived there on January 17, 1917 and who were in the islands, the United States, or Puerto Rico on February 25, 1927, and who were not citizens of any foreign country, also became citizens. The same is true for those born in the islands who were living in the United States on January 17, 1917 but were in the islands on February 25, 1927 and were not foreign citizens. Also, anyone born in the Virgin Islands who on June 28, 1932 lived in the continental United States, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, or another U.S. territory and was not a foreign citizen became a U.S. citizen, no matter where they lived on January 17, 1917. Anyone born in the Virgin Islands who was under U.S. authority and was born on or after January 17, 1917 but before February 25, 1927 became a U.S. citizen on February 25, 1927. Anyone born in the islands on or after February 25, 1927 and under U.S. authority is a U.S. citizen at birth.

Full Legal Text

Title 8, §1406

Aliens and Nationality — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The following persons and their children born subsequent to January 17, 1917, and prior to February 25,1927, are declared to be citizens of the United States as of February 25, 1927:

(1)All former Danish citizens who, on January 17, 1917, resided in the Virgin Islands of the United States, and were residing in those islands or in the United States or Puerto Rico on February 25, 1927, and who did not make the declaration required to preserve their Danish citizenship by article 6 of the treaty entered into on August 4, 1916, between the United States and Denmark, or who, having made such a declaration have heretofore renounced or may hereafter renounce it by a declaration before a court of record;

(2)All natives of the Virgin Islands of the United States who, on January 17, 1917, resided in those islands, and were residing in those islands or in the United States or Puerto Rico on February 25, 1927, and who were not on February 25, 1927, citizens or subjects of any foreign country;

(3)All natives of the Virgin Islands of the United States who, on January 17, 1917, resided in the United States, and were residing in those islands on February 25, 1927, and who were not on February 25, 1927, citizens or subjects of any foreign country; and

(4)All natives of the Virgin Islands of the United States who, on June 28, 1932, were residing in continental United States, the Virgin Islands of the United States, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, or any other insular possession or territory of the United States, and who, on June 28, 1932, were not citizens or subjects of any foreign country, regardless of their place of residence on January 17, 1917.

(b)All persons born in the Virgin Islands of the United States on or after January 17, 1917, and prior to February 25, 1927, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States are declared to be citizens of the United States as of February 25, 1927; and all persons born in those islands on or after February 25, 1927, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are declared to be citizens of the United States at birth.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

8 U.S.C. § 1406

Title 8 — Aliens and Nationality

Last Updated

Apr 3, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60