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It granted island natives who had been outside the Virgin Islands, but in the United States, on January 17, 1917, and February 25, 1927, to naturalize within one year by petition. It also established a District Court in the Virgin Islands which had the authority of naturalizing aliens and granted statutory federal citizenship to Virgin Islanders.
Virgin Islanders are West Indian people born or from the U.S Virgin Islands. The U.S Virgin Islands is a Unincorporated territory of the United States and as a result Virgin Islanders do not go through the legal immigration procedures a typical West Indies immigrant would.
For the purposes of birthright citizenship, the territory of the United States consists of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Palmyra Atoll. [e] [41] [42] [43] Citizenship, however, was not specified in the original Constitution.
The United States took possession of the islands on March 31, 1917, and the territory was renamed the Virgin Islands of the United States. [27] [29] Every year, Transfer Day is recognized as a holiday, to commemorate the acquisition of the islands by the United States. [30] Rear Admiral James H. Oliver was the first American governor of the ...
In 1927, U.S. nationals of the U.S. Virgin Islands were granted citizenship rights. [86] American Samoa became a U.S. territory in 1929 and its inhabitants became non-citizen nationals. [87] Since passage of the Nationality Act of 1940, non-citizen nationals may transmit their non-citizen U.S. nationality to children born abroad. [88]
After the United States officially took possession of the islands, they were renamed the Virgin Islands of the United States. [60] [61] May 31 is celebrated annually as Transfer Day. [62] Rear Admiral Kitelle ordered yeoman Percival Wilson Sparks, who was known to be interested in graphic design, to design a new flag for the territory. Sparks ...
A letter to the editor regarding the extension of eligibility for American citizenship to all citizens of the United States Virgin Islands was published by The New York Times in 1927. [3] In support of his capacity as a journalist he also helped finance his colleague Ariel Melchior founding publisher of the Virgin Islands Daily News.
After the United States Congress modified the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands to allow a vote on the status of the islands, a vote was scheduled for 1989. It was delayed several times until 1993, when voters were offered the options of integration into the United States, remaining a United States territory or independence. [2]