Vivek Ramaswamy reveals his Indian father is NOT a U.S. citizen and hasn’t taken the U.S. citizenship test

Vivek Ramaswamy revealed that his Indian father is not a US citizen – and said only his mother had taken the citizenship test after repeatedly claiming that his ‘parents’ had taken the test.

The hopeful 2024 told NBC News that his mother took the U.S. citizenship test, but his father did not.

The moment is notable because Ramaswamy, 38, has said that in order to graduate, high school students must pass the citizenship test that immigrants must take before becoming U.S. citizens.

When asked if his father had taken the test, Ramaswamy said, “He didn’t. And that is a choice he made for family reasons.’

“But my mother did,” the biotech entrepreneur added.

Ramamswamy is the son of two Indian immigrants; his wife’s parents also emigrated from India. The couple have two sons, Karthik, four, and Arjun, one.

The father of two explained that his mother took the test and completed the citizenship process after he was born.

Vivek was born to two Indian immigrants in Ohio. He has repeatedly said as part of his presidential platform that those born to illegal, undocumented immigrants in the U.S. should be deported and stripped of their citizenship.

“And I think every immigrant who comes to this country to become a full voting citizen should do the same,” he reiterated.

Ramaswamy not only believes that all immigrants should take the test, but also says that American citizens between the ages of 18 and 24 should take a citizenship test before being given the right to vote.

“I don’t think there’s any reason why every high school student who graduates from this country shouldn’t have to take the same citizenship test that an immigrant, like my parents, had to take to become a citizen of this country,” he said when speaking last month me with Governor Kim Reynolds in the state of Iowa.

Among his other controversial and aggressive immigration positions, Ramaswamy also said that as president he would like to strip citizenship and deport those born in the US to undocumented parents – the so-called Dreamers.

Ramaswamy was born in the US to two non-citizens, meaning he acquired citizenship by birthright.

‘I want to be very clear about that. I think birthright does not and should not apply to the children of parents who entered this country illegally,” Ramaswamy said.

“This is the policy we are going to implement. This is what I have been clear about: the child of illegal immigrants and the families who came here without papers should be sent back to their countries of origin,” Ramaswamy said.

There is a clear distinction between Ramaswamy and those protected under DACA because Dreamers were mostly born to undocumented parents living in the US illegally.

Ramaswamy noted that his parents had immigrated to the country legally.

Vivek Ramaswamy married his wife Apoorva in 2015 and they have two young sons together, Karthik, four, and Arjun, one.

Ramaswamy says his mother took citizenship test after he was born – but reiterates his parents entered the US legally

The 2024 millionaire hopeful wants to completely overhaul US immigration and implement a “meritocratic” – or skills-based – plan to meet US needs.

‘It’s a lottery. Why on earth would you use a lottery when you could instead use meritocratic admission to restore merit,” Ramaswamy said in an interview with Fox News this weekend, criticizing the current H1-B visa program.

H-1B visas allow U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in specialized occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. It is a non-immigrant visa that is highly sought after among Indian IT professionals. Tech companies depend on them to hire tens of thousands of workers from countries like India and China every year.

Apoorva Ramaswamy, Vivek’s wife since 2015 and mother of their two children, told DailyMail.com in an interview on Sunday that her Indian immigrant parents would agree to this system.

“Oh, 100 percent,” she said. “I think immigrants especially know how broken our immigration system is.”

“We want to work so that we can get people who can actually meet the needs that we have as Americans,” she added. ‘That’s the most powerful thing there is. I think immigrants especially know why our system is broken.’