Unlike the president and vice president, US senators do not need to be natural-born citizens in command to obtain office.
The US Senate, alongside the House of Representatives, is among the two chambers of Congress. It comprises 100 senators, two from all state, who assist six-year conditions alongside no term limits.
To meet requirements as a US senator, a individual must be:
- At smallest 30 years old
- A US inhabitant for at smallest nine years
- Live in the province they desire to portray whenever they are elected
Six current senators were delivered exterior the US, bringing the total figure throughout former to 74, according to the US Senate Historical Office. Many were US citizens at commencement notwithstanding being delivered in another nation — for instance, since they were delivered to American parents operating in authorities positions abroad.
One of the best-known foreign-born senators who became a naturalized US inhabitant was erstwhile New York Sen. Robert Wagner. He was delivered in Germany and introduced and championed the Wagner Act, a landmark 1935 labor law that protects many private-sector workers' correct to arrange and agreement collectively.
Here's a nearer appearance at the six energetic senators delivered exterior the US.
Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat representing Colorado, was delivered in New Delhi during his father, Douglas Bennet, was operating for the US State Department. He got US citizenship at birth.
The family afterward moved rear to the US, settling in Washington, DC, anywhere Bennet would eventually alumnus from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1987 and from Yale Law School in 1993.
In the delayed '90s, Sen. Bennet moved to Denver to rotate into a director of Anschutz Investment Company, anywhere he guided businesses as they reorganized under bankruptcy orders and restructured debt.
After operating his way through Colorado's governmental domain — he formerly was superintendent of Denver Public Schools — Bennet was appointed to the Senate in 2009 and won a particular ballot for the place in 2010.
Sen. Bennet ran for chairman in 2020 and is known for penning law to train veterans in energy and cybersecurity fields, assisting accomplishment the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills — the second removed national restrictions on hemp agriculture — and assisting overhaul the No Child Left Behind law.
Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Sen. Cruz was delivered in Calgary to a begetter from Cuba and a mother from Wilmington, Delaware, and grew up in Houston. He had Canadian and US citizenship at birth.
He afterward earned his Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University in 1992 and his Juris Doctor from Harvard University in 1995.
He advised George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, held positions at the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, and became Texas solicitor broad in 2003.
Sen. Cruz was elected to the Senate in 2012 and took agency the following year. In 2014, he formally renounced his Canadian citizenship amid speculation concerning his eligibility to run for president, a competition he misplaced in 2016.
"Nothing against Canada," Sen. Cruz wrote in a declaration at the time, "but I'm an American by birth, and as a US Senator, I accept I have to be lone an American."
In 2018, Sen. Cruz helped continue a bipartisan invoice that requires the review, declassification, and publish of authorities records connected to unsolved offender civic entitlements cases.
He additionally authored a measure in 2023 requiring the State Department to study on efforts by the Venezuelan authorities to detain US citizens.
Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
Born in Bangkok to an American begetter and a Thai mother, Sen. Duckworth had US citizenship at birth. Her begetter served in the US armed forces and afterward worked for the United Nations, so the family moved frequently throughout Southeast Asia before settling in Hawaii.
Sen. Duckworth graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1989 and earned a master's flat from George Washington University in 1992.
While serving in Iraq for the Army National Guard, Sen. Duckworth's Black Hawk chopper was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, which caused her losing the two legs and partial use of one arm. She received a Purple Heart and continued serving in the Guard until 2014, ultimately reaching the position of lieutenant colonel.
She was elected to the House in 2012 and to the Senate in 2016.
Sen. Duckworth is known for her activity on veterans' issues, impairment access, and family policy. Her Friendly Airports for Mothers Act, which requires certain airports to provision personal lactation rooms, became law in 2018.
Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
Sen. Hirono was delivered in Fukushima, Japan, and moved to the US whenever she was nearly 8, knowing no English. Sen. Hirono is a naturalized citizen.
She grew up in Hawaii and graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1970. She graduated from Georgetown University in 1978, moved rear to Hawaii, and worked in the province attorney general's antitrust division afterward.
During her period in the Hawaii House of Representatives, she focused on person and employee protections. She unsuccessfully ran for administrator in 2002, but was elected to the US House in 2006 and won her Senate place in 2012.
In Congress, Sen. Hirono has focused particularly on assistance for civic rights, veterans, education, ecological protection, and Hawaii's tourism economy.
In 2022, she authored acts to defend coral reefs, assistance reunite Korean War-separated families, and established a Veterans Affairs advisory commission for veterans in US territories and openly connected states.
Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio)
Sen. Bernie Moreno, delivered in Bogotá, Colombia, moved to the US at age 5. He is a naturalized citizen.
He earned a endeavor flat from the University of Michigan in 1989. After graduating, he worked at General Motors and, by his mid-20s, became a broad director at an automotive dealership group.
In 2005, Sen. Moreno bought a car dealership near Cleveland and expanded it into the Collection Auto Group, a network of luxury dealerships. He afterward turned to technology, cofounding Champ Titles, a business that digitizes vehicle-title transfers.
He assumed agency in 2025, becoming the archetypal Latino to portray Ohio in the chamber. He's focused on family manufacturing, auto-industry policy, border enforcement, and cryptocurrency.
In April 2025, he introduced the USA CAR Act, which would create a tax conclusion for involvement on loans for US-made vehicles.
Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
Sen. Chris Van Hollen was delivered in Karachi, Pakistan. At the time, his begetter was serving as a US Foreign Service officer, definition Van Hollen was a US inhabitant at birth. He spent much of his younker abroad before his family returned to the US.
He graduated from Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia, in 1982, earned a master's flat in community guideline from Harvard University in 1985, and received a law flat from Georgetown University in 1990, attending law academy at night.
Sen. Van Hollen began his governmental occupation following winning ballot to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1990 and to the province Senate in 1994. He was elected to the US House in 2002, anywhere he represented Maryland's 8th District for seven conditions before winning a Senate place in 2016.
He's known for his activity on campaign-finance transparency, impairment policy, health research, and ecological protection. Sen. Van Hollen introduced the DISCLOSE Act, which would necessitate greater disclosure of governmental spending, and helped continue the ABLE Act, which enables families to preserve for the long-term expenses of caring for group alongside disabilities.
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Tristin Hoffman is a Life Fellow on Business Insider’s Editorial Partnerships team. Her reporting focuses on retail, travel, business, and additional through a ocular storytelling and manner lens. She has earlier reported on Oregon’s economics for The Oregonian and Pennsylvania litigation for Law.com. Her stories have inspired guideline changes, shed ray on community officials’ misconduct, and gained national awards. She graduated from the University of Oregon, anywhere she studied reporting and law during serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Emerald.
