FUN FACTS: The paper trail for Ilhan Omar’s claimed derivative citizenship in 2000 is missing key pieces, and the age math doesn’t add up. Omar has said she became a U.S. citizen in 2000 before turning 18 through her father: “I became a citizen actually before I turned 18. My father became a citizen and so I got my citizenship through that process.” USCIS conducted a diligent search and found no record of naturalization for her father, Nur Omar Mohamed (or variants such as Nur Said Elmi Mohamed). A Certificate of Non-Existence was issued. Her story of automatic citizenship depends on him having naturalized while she was still a minor. That foundational record has not been located. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library records originally listed her date of birth as October 4, 1981. With that date she turned 18 in 1999, so by 2000 she was already an adult. Derivative citizenship rules then in effect generally required the child to be under 18 when the parent naturalized. She would have been too old. In May 2019, after the age discrepancy drew attention, Omar’s congressional staff asked the library to change the birth year from 1981 to 1982. The library changed it without requiring a birth certificate or naturalization record. Staff noted the original 1981 date came from widely available sources. Official records now list October 4, 1982.