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Posted 5/6/2013 3:53 PM (GMT 0)
It popped in my head, don't know why.

Let's pretend that your girlfriend/wife is pregnant and could give birth in the very near future. However, you decide to go with her on vacation for 2 weeks in Mexico anyways.

While there, it turns out that the baby needs to come out earlier than planned and she goes to the hospital there to deliver.

Now, here is my question. Is that baby a Mexican citizen now, or still a US Citizen (if the couple originates from the US)

Normally, you are a citizen of the country you are born in.

 

Posted 5/6/2013 4:02 PM (GMT 0)
Funny, we just looked this up for someone at work that was going on vacation @ 5 months pregnant.  This is what we determined---

Babies born to non-citizens are not Mexican citizens as per Mexico's constitution. The baby would be a US citizen.

 

Posted 5/6/2013 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
cool, cool.

I wonder if every country adopts the same rules. For example, if you were to travel to Europe, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Dominican....Asia.
Posted 5/6/2013 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
It's going to be American Citizen for sure. You'd need to go over to the consulate and report "birth abroad". If it has Mexican Citizen I don't know I guess so. If so your son/daughter will have the privilege of two passports.
Posted 5/6/2013 11:30 PM (GMT 0)
Nope, every country does not follow the same rules. General policy in the US is that babies born to American parents are American citizens - regardless of where they are born. Whether or not that baby would have dual citizenship depends entirely on whether the country where the baby is born recognizes dual citizenship.

Anecdote: I was born in the UK to American parents. I have dual citizenship. Germany, for example, does not recognize dual citizenship, which means that at a certain age (23 I think), the child must choose either German or American (or whatever nationality) citizenship.
Posted 5/7/2013 2:44 AM (GMT 0)
Adding OT to OT... I have a family friend who is Israeli-American. He was born in Israel to American parents so he had dual citizenship but never spent any time in Israel. Went back to visit at age 40 and was detained at the airport when he tried to leave because he had never served his compulsory military service!!
Posted 5/7/2013 3:14 AM (GMT 0)

cherchezlafemme said...


Anecdote: I was born in the UK to American parents. I have dual citizenship. Germany, for example, does not recognize dual citizenship, which means that at a certain age (23 I think), the child must choose either German or American (or whatever nationality) citizenship.

Not true at all. I'm German and I have a German colleague who was born in Connecticut to German parents. She's over 23 now and holds 2 passports :-)

My situation is different. I could go for American citizenship and I'd automatically lose German citizenship. But there is a Beibehaltungsgesetz, a law which lets you keep your German citizenship as well but it's super expensive.
Posted 5/7/2013 4:44 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah it's complicated and based on the country's laws. My youngest is a triple national (?) because she has Canadian and Italian nationality via my husband and I but was born in the US and so is a citizen automatically. My oldest was born in the UK but since neither one of us has a claim on British nationality she couldn't get it (the changed their laws in the 80s). I'm trying to see if they can get some sort of pseudo Indian nationality since I'm Indian born but India does not allow dual nationality. That is likely to change though since they want the non residents to reinvest in the country and to make it as easy as possible. The more the better, since you never know what the future will hold.
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