US-born doctor loses citizenship after 61 years

A 62-year-old doctor from Virginia has been stripped of his US citizenship because his father worked as an Indian diplomat to Iran. His citizenship was revoked in February this year, when Siavash Sobhani had applied for a new passport.

Sobhani received a letter from the



State Department who informed him that children born in the United States to parents who are diplomats cannot acquire citizenship. The doctor was informed that he was given US citizenship as a baby ‘by mistake’. It directed him to a website where he could apply for lawful permanent residence.