Pakistani Babies Born in the US Will Keep Automatic Citizenship After Supreme Court Ruling

In a landmark 6-3 decision on June 30, 2026, the United States Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship — confirming that every child born on American soil, including newborns of Pakistani parents on student, work, or tourist visas, remains a US citizen by birth.

By Life in Pakistan Editorial Desk · July 2, 2026

The case, formally known as Trump v. Barbara, closed a turbulent 18-month legal battle over whether the US Constitution still guarantees citizenship to every baby born on American soil, regardless of the immigration status of their parents. For the half a million-strong Pakistani-American community — including tens of thousands of families where mothers are on H-1B, F-1, or visitor visas and fathers are not yet green card holders — the ruling brings immediate relief and a return to certainty.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts held that “children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.” The court reaffirmed the 1898 precedent United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which had already settled the same question for children of Chinese parents in San Francisco.

What the Supreme Court actually decided

The case centred on Executive Order 14160, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” which Trump signed on January 20, 2025 — his first day back in the White House. The order directed federal agencies to stop issuing citizenship documents to any child born in the US after February 19, 2025, unless at least one parent was a US citizen or lawful permanent resident (green card holder).

Five justices ruled the order violated the Fourteenth Amendment. A sixth, conservative Brett Kavanaugh, agreed it violated federal immigration law, even if not the Constitution itself. Three dissenters — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — would have allowed the order to stand.

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community.”
— Chief Justice John Roberts, majority opinion

The decision is final. The executive order never actually took effect, because lower federal courts had blocked it nationwide since February 2025, but the Supreme Court ruling removes any remaining legal ambiguity.

Why this matters for Pakistani families

Pakistan is one of the largest sources of temporary-visa holders in the United States. According to US State Department data, more than 200,000 Pakistanis were on F-1 student visas and another 60,000-plus on H-1B specialty occupation visas in 2025, with thousands more on H-4 dependent visas, L-1 intracompany transfers, and visitor visas. Many of these families had newborns during the 18 months the order was being litigated.

Had the order survived, those children would have faced a bureaucratic no-man’s-land — unable to obtain a Social Security number, US passport, or federal benefits without proof of citizenship, and excluded from automatic Pakistani citizenship by descent under Pakistan’s Citizenship Act unless specific registration steps were completed through the NADRA Family Registration Certificate (FRC) process.

Two citizenship tracks for Pakistani-American newborns

Newborns on US soil now have a clean dual-track status. First, US citizenship is automatic at birth under the court’s ruling. Second, Pakistani citizenship by descent is available provided the birth is registered with the NADRA birth registration system and the parents obtain a Pakistan-origin Machine Readable Passport (MRP) before the child turns 18.

What “subject to the jurisdiction” actually means

The court’s narrow exception — children of foreign diplomats — does not apply to ordinary Pakistani visa holders. Diplomats’ children are the only class that the original 1868 drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment specifically excluded, because they owe formal allegiance to a foreign state. Pakistani H-1B workers, F-1 students, and tourists, by contrast, are subject to US laws, US taxes, and US courts — hence “subject to the jurisdiction.”

The numbers behind the ruling

The Migration Policy Institute estimated that had the order taken effect, the number of children born in the US without a defined legal status could have reached 6.4 million by 2050. With the ruling, that projection is now off the table.

What happens next: Trump, Congress, and the next round

Within hours of the ruling, Trump responded on Truth Social, calling on Congress to “start TODAY” on legislation that would end birthright citizenship through ordinary statute rather than executive action. He argued no constitutional amendment was needed.

Senator Lindsey Graham’s Birthright Citizenship Act of 2025 (S. 304) and its House companion (H.R. 569) remain pending but have made no movement since the ruling. Immigration lawyers on both sides of the aisle describe them as effectively dead on arrival in the current Congress.

What Pakistani parents should do right now

1. Apply for the baby’s Social Security Number at the hospital. The SSA processes this through the birth registration form; no separate visit is needed in most states.
2. Order the US passport. Form DS-11, both parents present, $135 fee. Processing time is currently 6-8 weeks.
3. Register the birth with NADRA. Use the NADRA online birth registration portal within 60 days of arrival in Pakistan to preserve the child’s Pakistani citizenship and Pakistan passport eligibility.
4. Check CNIC status for the baby. Once NADRA registration clears, request a Juvenile CNIC through the 8171 Pak Identity system.
5. For children born before the ruling: No retroactive paperwork is required. The Supreme Court’s decision confirms citizenship for every child born on US soil, including those born between February 19, 2025 and June 30, 2026.

Practical warning

Frequently asked questions