Last Updated: November 30, 2023, 11:05 IST
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
Siavash Sobhani has spent his entire life in the US, except for a brief period during his childhood when his family moved to Turkey. (Image: Instagram)
61-year-old doctor Siavash Sobhani, born in the US, loses citizenship due to his father’s Iranian diplomatic status. He now faces uncertainty
Siavash Sobhani, a 61-year-old doctor from the US state of Virginia, was unexpectedly stripped of his American citizenship due to his late father’s status as an Iranian diplomat at the time of his birth. This unexpected event left him stateless when he tried to renew his passport in June this year, according to the Washington Post.
US officials claimed that Sobhani should never have been granted American citizenship in 1960 since children born in the US to parents with diplomatic immunity, like his father, shouldn’t automatically acquire citizenship, contrary to the usual rule for all babies born in the US.
“As a member of your parent’s household at the time of your birth, you also enjoyed full diplomatic immunity from the jurisdiction of the United States. Therefore, you did not acquire US citizenship at birth,” read a letter sent by the US State Department.
Sobhani has spent his entire life in the US. His brother, Rob Sobhani, even ran for Senate in Maryland in 2012. The Iranian-American doctor has expressed concerns about living in Iran due to his brother’s political ties to the US and his outspoken views against the government.
Notably, Sobhani discovered that his older brother, born in Kansas when their father was a military student, had an illness that required surgery as a baby. Their father secured a temporary job at the Iranian Embassy to extend their stay in the US through October and November 1961 – the month Sobhani was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
They later lived in Turkey for several years before returning to DC, where Sobhani attended Georgetown Preparatory School. Caught in the legal quagmire, Sobhani wrote letters to US lawmakers Mark R Warner and Gerald E Connolly seeking their assistance. In his letters, he expressed deep respect for the country’s laws and highlighted his commitment to helping people in Virginia and the DC region. Sobhani said that he remains uncertain about regaining his citizenship.
