Not my experience… for the US, a citizen born abroad simply needs to fill out a CRBA form and wait a few weeks, or if you are starting from scratch, you don’t necessarily have to stay in the US and just apply for a green card and wait in your home country until you receive your visa and subsequent approval notice (consular processing), and being an indefinite green card holder is pretty much inconsequential.
However, although my mom is a citizen, I have to still go through the NWOHR process and file tons of paperwork, and then live in Taiwan for at least 365 days. Not a big deal if I’m planning to stay, but as explained here, my mom (not even me) just wants to make sure my aunt doesn’t rip me off when the inevitable happens (and I’m participating to ensure she doesn’t get more than what she already defrauded from my grandma), and I have to pay off my car and sell it, put my stuff in storage, probably risk breaking up with my girl (not many long-distance relationships last, and I’ve made it a point to find someone local when I started dating and now I’m pretty much going back on what I fought for) and all that jazz, and at least from what I’ve researched, you can’t just be an indefinite NWOHR the same way someone can indefinitely hold a green card either.
Correct me if I’m wrong on any of the above, but that’s what I heard.