What are the requirements to be president of the United States?

Q: How old do you have to be to run for president?

A: According to Article II of the U.S. Constitution, a person must be at least thirty five years old and a U.S. resident for fourteen years.

Q: Do you have to be born in the United States to be president?

A: According to the U.S. Constitution you must be a "natural-born citizen" in order to be eligible to serve as president of the United States. Traditionally, that has been interpreted to mean that a person must be born on U.S. soil, since citizenship is granted to anyone born in the United States regardless of his or her parents' citizenship. However, the legal bounds of the definition "natural-born citizen" have not yet been tested in court, since no person born outside the U.S. has ever been a major party nominee or won the presidency. The 2008 Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, was born at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, but the area was controlled by American Forces at the time, so there were no legal challenges to his eligibility. As of 2016, Republican candidate Ted Cruz came the closest to challenging the definition of "natural-born citizen" during the GOP primary process. Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother and Cuban father who had met and married in the United States. Many legal experts contend that Cruz has a "natural-born citizen" because he was born to a U.S. citizen at birth and therefore not a naturalized citizen.