Fong Nai Sun by Fong Kwok Wah, His Next Friend v. John Foster Dulles, as United States Secretary of State and the United States Department of State

This appeal arises from a judgment of dismissal of the complaint which complaint was filed in the district court by Sun, pursuant to Section 903 of Title 8 U.S.C.A. Section 903 provides:

such person may bring and maintain an action for a declaration that he is a national of the United States. The district court dismissed the action upon motion of the United States’ attorney primarily upon the ground that plaintiff’s evidence did not prove the essential requirement, to-wit, that he had been so denied a right or privilege, D.C., 117 F.Supp. 391 .

The facts are that Sun, who claimed that he was born in China of a native Chinese mother and of a father, a member of the Chinese race but a born national and resident of the United States, applied to the American consul at Hong Kong on the 7th day of May, 1951, for a passport to the United States, using the consul’s form for a “native citizen”. After filling in the answers to most of the questions propounded in it, he properly acknowledged it, and the consular officer received and filed it. Attached to the application was a photograph signed by Sun and it is not denied that it was a photograph of the applicant. Accompanying the…