So I did some digging and there are a few interesting answers.
The first is that any version of Superman who landed in earth prior to 1940 may fall under the Nationality Act of 1940. The act grants birthright citizenship to “children found in the United States with unknown parentage”. So the Kent’s would not technically need to lie for Clark to be granted citizenship. A baby randomly found in Kansas could reasonably be assumed (even if incorrect) to have been born in the US and granted citizenship.
However the second answer is better because it was already answered in one Superman story. The “Armageddon 2001” storyline has Superman running for and eventually being elected President. To be elected President you must be a natural born citizen. The argument is that the “pod” Superman arrived in was actually a “Kryptonian Birthing Matrix”.
Unlike in most films and modern media, where Superman’s parents put him in a rocket as a baby and send him away, the “Kryptonian Birthing Matrix” is all Superman has ever known. He wasn’t born and then put in a rocket, he was always inside the “Birthing Matrix”. As a result when he landed on Earth and left the “Birthing Matrix”, that is when he was actually born.
So I did some digging and there are a few interesting answers.
The first is that any version of Superman who landed in earth prior to 1940 may fall under the Nationality Act of 1940. The act grants birthright citizenship to “children found in the United States with unknown parentage”. So the Kent’s would not technically need to lie for Clark to be granted citizenship. A baby randomly found in Kansas could reasonably be assumed (even if incorrect) to have been born in the US and granted citizenship.
However the second answer is better because it was already answered in one Superman story. The “Armageddon 2001” storyline has Superman running for and eventually being elected President. To be elected President you must be a natural born citizen. The argument is that the “pod” Superman arrived in was actually a “Kryptonian Birthing Matrix”.
Unlike in most films and modern media, where Superman’s parents put him in a rocket as a baby and send him away, the “Kryptonian Birthing Matrix” is all Superman has ever known. He wasn’t born and then put in a rocket, he was always inside the “Birthing Matrix”. As a result when he landed on Earth and left the “Birthing Matrix”, that is when he was actually born.