Anyone who is a natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old, and has lived in the United States for at least 14 years can run for president. Those three tests in Article II of the Constitution are the entire baseline. You do not need a college degree, a clean criminal record, prior political experience, or any particular level of wealth. A few specific constitutional provisions can bar an otherwise eligible person from the office, and separate federal and state rules govern how you register as a candidate and get on a ballot, but the eligibility question itself is narrow.
The Three Constitutional Requirements
Article II, Section 1 lists exactly three qualifications: natural-born citizenship, a minimum age of 35, and 14 years of U.S. residency.1Cornell Law Institute. U.S. Constitution – Article II The 12th Amendment applies the same three tests to anyone running for vice president, so a running mate who fails one of them is also ineligible.
The Constitution does not spell out when the age requirement must be satisfied. The prevailing understanding is that a candidate must be 35 by the day they take office, though no court has issued a decisive ruling.
The 14-year residency requirement carries its own ambiguity. The text does not say whether those years must be consecutive or can be added up over a lifetime. Early drafts of the clause included the phrase “in the whole,” suggesting a cumulative total, but that language was dropped before ratification. The question has rarely mattered because serious candidates almost always have long, uninterrupted ties to the country.
What “Natural-Born Citizen” Actually Covers
The Constitution never defines the phrase, and it has generated more legal debate than any other eligibility term. Most constitutional scholars and the Congressional Research Service read it to cover two groups: people born on U.S. soil and people born abroad to U.S. citizen parents.2Constitution Annotated. ArtII.S1.C5.1 Qualifications for the Presidency
Birth on American soil is the straightforward case. If you were born in the United States or a U.S. territory, you are a citizen at birth. A narrow exception applies to children of foreign diplomats with full immunity, who do not acquire citizenship this way.
Birth abroad to U.S. citizen parents is the second category. The first Congress reinforced this reading in the Naturalization Act of 1790, which described children born overseas to American citizens as “natural born citizens.”2Constitution Annotated. ArtII.S1.C5.1 Qualifications for the Presidency Practically, someone born in a military hospital abroad to American parents is generally treated as eligible. Someone who came to the U.S. and became a citizen through the naturalization process is not.
What Can Disqualify an Otherwise Eligible Person
Meeting the three baseline tests is necessary but not always enough. Three constitutional provisions can bar someone from the presidency.
Term Limits Under the 22nd Amendment
No one can be elected president more than twice. The 22nd Amendment adds a less familiar wrinkle: if a vice president or anyone else in the line of succession takes over and serves more than two years of another president’s term, that person can only be elected once in their own right.3Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Second Amendment A vice president who steps in with 18 months left could still win two full terms of their own. One who finishes out the last two-and-a-half years is capped at a single election.
Impeachment Followed by a Senate Disqualification Vote
When the Senate convicts an impeached official, it may take a separate vote to bar that person from ever holding federal office again. That disqualification vote needs only a simple majority.4Constitution Annotated. U.S. Constitution Article I Section 3 Impeachment without conviction does not trigger a bar. Conviction alone, without the extra disqualification vote, does not either.
The 14th Amendment Insurrection Bar
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies anyone who previously swore an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion, or gave aid or comfort to those who did.5Congress.gov. Fourteenth Amendment Section 3 The provision originally targeted former Confederate officials, but its language is not limited to that era. Congress can lift the disability for any individual by a two-thirds vote of both chambers.
A Criminal Record Does Not Disqualify a Candidate
This surprises many people. The Constitution contains no provision barring someone with a criminal record from running for or serving as president. Eligibility is limited to age, citizenship, and residency. A felony conviction, an active indictment, or even imprisonment does not add a fourth requirement.6Congress.gov. Federal Legal Implications of Former President Donald Trump’s Indictment Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs ran for president in 1920 while serving a federal prison sentence and received nearly a million votes.
Many state and local offices carry felony disqualification rules, which is partly why people assume the same applies to the presidency. It does not. The only criminal-adjacent bar is the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause, and that requires a specific finding of rebellion against the government, not a general conviction.
Registering as an Official Candidate
Constitutional eligibility tells you who can run. Federal law decides who counts as a candidate. Under Federal Election Commission rules, you become a candidate the moment you raise or spend more than $5,000 on a campaign for federal office.7Federal Election Commission. Registering a Candidate Crossing that line starts a 15-day clock to file the required paperwork.8Federal Election Commission. Instructions for Statement of Candidacy (FEC FORM 2)
Two forms anchor the process. FEC Form 2, the Statement of Candidacy, identifies you, your party affiliation, and the office you seek, and designates your principal campaign committee. That committee then files FEC Form 1, the Statement of Organization, within 10 days.7Federal Election Commission. Registering a Candidate Every campaign committee must have a treasurer; no contributions can be accepted and no spending can occur while that position is vacant.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 30102 – Organization of Political Committees
Presidential candidates also file a public financial disclosure on OGE Form 278e with the Office of Government Ethics. If you cross the $5,000 FEC threshold after April 15, you have 30 days to file. If you become a candidate before April 15, the report is due by May 15. Candidates who stay in the race must refile every May 15 that follows.10U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Public Financial Disclosures: Candidates for President and Vice President of the United States The report covers assets, income, liabilities, and financial positions that could create conflicts of interest. Knowingly falsifying a report or failing to file carries civil penalties of up to $50,000, plus potential criminal penalties.11Congress.gov. Financial Disclosure and the Supreme Court
Getting on the Ballot
FEC registration makes you a candidate in the eyes of federal law. It does not put your name on any ballot. Ballot access is controlled by the states, and the rules vary sharply depending on whether you run in a party primary or as an independent.
Major-party candidates typically reach the ballot through the party’s primary or caucus process, with each state party setting its own deadlines, filing fees, and petition rules. Independent and third-party candidates have a harder path. Signature requirements for independent presidential candidates range from a few hundred in some states to well over 100,000 in others. A nationwide independent bid means collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with each state enforcing its own rules on who qualifies as a valid signer, when petitions are due, and how signatures are verified.
Filing fees swing just as widely. Some states charge nothing. Others charge several thousand dollars. In many states, candidates who cannot afford the fee may substitute a petition signed by a set number of registered voters. Deadlines, formats, and notarization requirements differ from state to state, which is why even well-funded campaigns hire ballot access specialists to handle the paperwork.