[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 22, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 22CFR72.7]

[Page 351]
 
                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS
 
                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE
 
PART 72--DEATHS AND ESTATES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 72.7  Reports on deceased persons believed to be United States citizens.

    (a) Verification of citizenship. As Form FS-192 may be accepted in 
courts of law, or considered elsewhere, as evidence of United States 
citizenship at the time of death, the consular officer should consult 
the regulations describing the evidence of citizenship which is 
acceptable for passport and registration purposes and should exercise 
due care in determining the citizenship status of the deceased. In 
doubtful cases he should transmit the Form FS-192 to the Department 
under cover of a despatch stating that the citizenship of the deceased 
has not been verified. The Department will then determine whether Form 
FS-192 may be released to the legal representative, next of kin, or 
other interested person, and will inform the consular officer of 
whatever action is taken.
    (b) Presumptions as to citizenship status. When the deceased was not 
currently documented at a Foreign Service office as a United States 
citizen, it must be assumed that, if the deceased was--
    (1) A native citizen, he had retained United States citizenship at 
the time of death, in the absence of evidence of an affirmative act of 
expatriation under paragraph 1, section 2 of the act of March 2, 1907, 
section 401 of the Nationality Act of 1940, or section 340 or 350 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act;
    (2) A naturalized citizen, he had retained United States citizenship 
at the time of death, in the absence of evidence that he had lost 
nationality of the United States by having a continuous residence for 
three years in the territory of a foreign state as provided in section 
352(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or by having a 
continuous residence for five years in any other foreign state or states 
as provided in section 352(a)(2) of the same act, unless there is 
evidence that his case comes within one of the exceptions established 
under section 353 or 354 of the act. Nationality may also have been lost 
under similar provisions contained in section 404 of the Nationality Act 
of 1940. The term residence as used herein means the place of general 
abode, and residence shall be considered continuous for the purpose of 
sections 350 and 352(a) (1) and (2) of the act where there is a 
continuity of stay but not necessarily an uninterrupted physical 
presence in a foreign state or states or outside the United States.