US Citizen Dad, ESTA Mom, non-ESTA baby

hudsonmiears wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 9:30 am

Hello, I am going to have a child soon and I would like to be able to travel with the child to the US along with my wife within the first year to visit family. I am struggling to understand the exact visa process for a baby, or whether it will be possible. I am a US citizen, living with my wife (dual citizen UK and Bulgaria, already holding an ESTA) in Bulgaria, and the baby will be born in Bulgaria as a Bulgarian citizen (not eligible for ESTA). I cannot impart US citizenship to the child because I haven't lived there since I was 14 years old.

My current understanding of the process is this:
1. Get the baby a Bulgarian passport
2. Apply for a B2 Visa, which likely won't need an interview because the baby will be under the age of 13
3. The visa will be valid for up to 10 years.

My concerns are:
1. Am I missing any part of the process here? Is there a special scenario for children?
2. What is the likelihood that the visa is denied?
3. Will I face difficulties with entering with my wife and baby? I have heard from another family which is half US, half Bulgarian that the Bulgarian mom and child were never granted a visa to the US at the same time.

Thanks in advance for any help

A child born outside the United States to one U.S. citizen parent and one non-U.S. citizen parent may be entitled to citizenship providing the U.S. citizen parent has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for five years, at least two years of which were after reaching the age of fourteen, prior to the birth of the child. These five years do not need to be consecutive.

[/Birth of U.S. Citizens and Non-Citizen Nationals Abroad
If you are a U.S. citizen (or non-citizen national) and have a child overseas, you should report their birth at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate as soon as possible so that a passport and/or Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) can be issued as an official record of the child’s claim to U.S. citizenship or nationality. The U.S. embassy or consulate will provide you one original copy of an eligible child’s CRBA.quote]

Your first steps would be the above to confirm if the child is actually American. With the quotations above, I believe that your child should be.
It seems that you're a natural (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli) born American.

If child is already American, then dear old Uncle Sam cannot and wouldn't grant child a visa or ESTA.
If child isn't which I doubt, why not get the child a British passport and get an ESTA which is faster and hassle free.
If all that fails for whatever reason, then apply for visa with your copy of data page attached. or just simply walk into the American consulate and talk to them. That should come under your consular services.

providing the U.S. citizen parent has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for five years, at least two years of which were after reaching the age of fourteen

then apply for visa with your copy of data page attached

just simply walk into the American consulate and talk to them. That should come under your consular services.

hudsonmiears wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 10:31 am

Which page is this?

hudsonmiears wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2023 10:27 am

providing the U.S. citizen parent has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for five years, at least two years of which were after reaching the age of fourteen

Unfortunately, I have not been physically present in the US for two years after the age of fourteen (there's a possibility I have via various holidays, but I certainly have no proof of that and they list passport stamps as bad evidence).