Birth right

[sanctus]

Just a question:

I know that if I go with my girlfriend to the US and she gives birth to a kid, the kid would have US nationality.

But what happens when an american couple comes to switzerland and has a kid here? Because as the kid isn't born on american ground it doesn't have automatically the US citizenship and in switzerland we have "blood-right" (ie. if your parents are swiss you are too no matter where you were born) so the kid doesn't get the swiss citizenship.

Is this kid then a citizen of the world (ie not belonging to any country)?

[Boerseun]

The kid would get the citizenship of the country of origin as indicated on the mother's passport (I think...) - but ONLY if the mother goes to her home country's embassy/consulate in Switzerland and actually registers the birth.

 

Otherwise, she won't be able to get documentation for the kid, so the kid won't be able to fly out of the country with her, the kid won't have any passport or anything. So, if she doesn't register the birth, the Swiss gov won't know about any documentary link between the mom and the kid, and the kid will most likely be seen and regarded by the law as an abandoned Swiss orphan, and will prolly be treated as such. If she can't prove a documentary link between her and the kid on exiting Swiss soil, they would have to assume she kidnapped the kid and is part of some dubious child-smuggling ring. Her passport says that she entered Switzerland without a kid, now she wants to leave with one?!?! Then, if she didn't register the kid at her home country embassy or consulate, and the kid gets registered as a Swiss citizen, after the gov assumes its an abandoned Swiss orphan, she'll have to go through all the legal schlepp of actually adopting the kid. And the government will probably much rather give its orphans away to Swiss families...

 

Law sucks, I know. But international law sucks even worse.

[Cedars]

Just a question:

 

But what happens when an american couple comes to switzerland and has a kid here? Because as the kid isn't born on american ground it doesn't have automatically the US citizenship and in switzerland we have "blood-right" (ie. if your parents are swiss you are too no matter where you were born) so the kid doesn't get the swiss citizenship.

Is this kid then a citizen of the world (ie not belonging to any country)?

 

The kid is a citizen of the country they were born in. But being a child of an american allows for the parent to apply for and get citizenship for the child in a very easy process (compared to obtaining citizenship as an immigrant). As I understand it, once this paperwork is done, the citizenship becomes effective as of the date of birth rather than the day the paperwork is finished.

 

http://www.travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html

 

http://www.travel.state.gov/family/adoption/info/info_457.html

 

Its a dual citizenship. I know a few people who were born in Canada and the parents were US citizens. The kids has citizenship in both countries. The process became a bit more complicated in 2000/2001. Theres alot of benefit for a person with dual citizenship and I wish when my kid was born I would have gone up to Thunder Bay for a few weeks.

[Qfwfq]

Not all countries grant citizenship by ius soli and not all grant it by inheritance. This means that there can be apolids, offspring having right to no citizenship. Most countries do however make provisions for such cases and I would think the children of US citizens can always get US citizenship. Are you sure they can't? Of course there's alway naturalization.

[pgrmdave]

The wiki on US citizenship is well written: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_citizenship#Acquisition_of_citizenship

 

It explains how a child born on foreign soil can be a citizen of the United States.

[InfiniteNow]

Her passport says that she entered Switzerland without a kid, now she wants to leave with one?!?!

Maybe she'd have to claim the kid when passing through customs? :cocktail:

[IDMclean]

Alright, scoobies, There are some claims here, which might be called extra-ordinary. I would like to see some evidence, particularly from Boerseun as his seems the most extra-ordinary and the most like conjecture.

 

I will not even contribute at this point anyfurther than making a call for evidence, as I do not understand international affairs beyond knowing i need a passport to leave this country and that I am a US citizen because this is where I was born.

[Freddy]

[quote name=Cedars

Its a dual citizenship. I know a few people who were born in Canada and the parents were US citizens. The kids has citizenship in both countries. The process became a bit more complicated in 2000/2001. Theres alot of benefit for a person with dual citizenship and I wish when my kid was born I would have gone up to Thunder Bay for a few weeks.[/quote]

 

A friend of my wife is a Canadian who married an American and she has dual citizenship. I refuse to accept this that we allow people to take the oath and keep their original citizenship as it makes a mockery out of the citizenship oath.

[Cedars]

A friend of my wife is a Canadian who married an American and she has dual citizenship. I refuse to accept this that we allow people to take the oath and keep their original citizenship as it makes a mockery out of the citizenship oath.

 

Its been accepted for Americans to hold dual citizenships (just like the original question asked) for a very long time.

 

A quote from this page: http://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html

 

"Many other countries do not recognize the act of renouncing their citizenship as part of US naturalization, so a new US citizen may very likely still be considered a citizen by his old country. This is apparently a big reason why the State Department decided (in 1990) not to go after people any more, as a rule, when they continue to let their old country treat them as a citizen despite US naturalization."

 

and another quote from the above link:

 

"Many countries do not recognize the renunciation of old citizenship which is part of the US naturalization ceremony. Canada, for example, requires that someone who wants to give up his citizenship has to go to a Canadian embassy or consulate and sign a special form in the presence of Canadian officials."

 

Theres alot of really good information in the link I posted regarding alot of issues involving citizenship including bits about if you serve in a foreign military and whether or not you can retain your US citizenship.

[sanctus]

Thanks for all the answers.

 

Cedars about you last post, I have double citizenship (swiss ans italian) and when the army service was still compulsory in Italy I had to go to an ialian embassy and sign a form and as soon I got to the place i was going in Italy I had to go the police station to sign something else. Otherwise I would have been sent by force to the italian army! It didn't matter what I had done in switzerland...

[Freddy]

Its been accepted for Americans to hold dual citizenships (just like the original question asked) for a very long time.

 

A quote from this page: http://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html

 

"Many other countries do not recognize the act of renouncing their citizenship as part of US naturalization, so a new US citizen may very likely still be considered a citizen by his old country. This is apparently a big reason why the State Department decided (in 1990) not to go after people any more, as a rule, when they continue to let their old country treat them as a citizen despite US naturalization."

 

and another quote from the above link:

 

"Many countries do not recognize the renunciation of old citizenship which is part of the US naturalization ceremony. Canada, for example, requires that someone who wants to give up his citizenship has to go to a Canadian embassy or consulate and sign a special form in the presence of Canadian officials."

 

Theres alot of really good information in the link I posted regarding alot of issues involving citizenship including bits about if you serve in a foreign military and whether or not you can retain your US citizenship.

 

I know all about it I do not agree with it and want it changed so that the US government only recognizes US citizenship. My wife's friend wants to keep both so she can have better options! This means to me she did not take her oath seriously. Well, when I am running things dual citizenship will be banned.

[Qfwfq]

I don't understand what the US should have against dual citizenship.

 

Otherwise I would have been sent by force to the italian army! It didn't matter what I had done in switzerland...

When I enquired here about my dual citizenship, after knocking on a lot of doors, I was told that I would be OK here if I had done a military service in Canada lasting at least six months. I'm not sure such a possibility is available there. This was back in the '80s.

[Ganoderma]

Another countries example. I am Canadian and living in Taiwan. If I fill out the appropriate paperwork and follow the steps (one being 18 months military service) then I can have dual citizenship for Canada and Taiwan. Naturalization here in Taiwan takes 10 years, or 3-5 if married. My children (my wife is Taiwanese) will have dual citizenship once we file the paper work after birth.