Formal eligibility requirements for the presidency of the United States include qualifications based on age, citizenship, and residency status.

According to the Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution, a person can qualify for running for the US presidency if he or she meets the following formal requirements:

The minimum age requirement is 35 years old. Many youth right organisations advocate for lowering of the age requirement, in order to let younger people to participate in the election as candidates. At the same time, there is no maximum age requirement, which leads to recurring discussions if certain presidential candidates are too old to run for presidency. The person to be a naturally born American citizen. Which means that the person can not have obtained American citizenship through the naturalization process, after previously being a citizen of a different state. This clause is present in the constitution in order to safeguard the USA from foreign influence. The person has to live in the United States for 14 consecutive years and be able to prove this resident status. It means that a candidate cannot reside long term in some other countries, though he or she might still be an American citizen. This clause prevents detachment from countries realities, which would make a person unequipped for the presidency.