Jus soli (Birthright Citizenship)

[Renew Deal]

I came across this and I think people will find it interesting. It's about "birthright citizenship" in various nations.

In naturalization, jus soli (Latin: right of the soil)<1>, also known as birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognized to any individual born in the territory of the related state.<2> At the turn of the nineteenth century, nation-states commonly divided themselves between those granting nationality on the grounds of jus soli (France, for example) and those granting it on the grounds of jus sanguinis (right of blood) (Germany, for example, before 2000). However, most European countries chose the German conception of an "objective nationality", based on blood, race or language (as in Fichte's classical definition of a nation), opposing themselves to republican Ernest Renan's "subjective nationality", based on an every-day plebiscite of one's appartenance to his Fatherland. This non-essentialist conception of nationality allowed the implementation of jus soli, against the essentialist jus sanguinis. However, today's increase of migrants has somewhat blurred the lines between these two antagonistic sources of right.

Countries that have acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness will grant nationality to otherwise stateless persons who were born on their territory, or on a ship or plane flagged by the country.


Specific national legislation Jus soli is observed in 16% of the world, the United States being the largest practitioner.
States that observe jus soli include:
Antigua and Barbuda<4>
Argentina<4>
Barbados<4>
Belize<4>
Bolivia<4>
Brazil<4>
Canada<4>
Chile<5> (children of transient foreigners or of foreign diplomats on assignment in Chile only upon request)
Colombia<4>
Dominica<4>
Dominican Republic<4>
Ecuador<4>
El Salvador<4>
Fiji<6>
Grenada<4>
Guatemala<4>
Guyana<4>
Honduras<4>
Jamaica<4>
Lesotho<7>
Mexico<4>
Nicaragua<4>
Pakistan<4>
Panama<4>
Paraguay<4>
Peru<4>
Saint Christopher and Nevis<4>
Saint Lucia<4>
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines<4>
Trinidad and Tobago<4>
United States<4>
Uruguay<4>
Venezuela<4>

Modification of jus soli In a number of countries, the automatic application of jus soli has been modified to impose some additional requirements for children of foreign parents, such as the parent being a permanent resident or having lived in the country for a period of time. Jus soli has been modified in the following countries:

United Kingdom on 1 January 1983
Australia on 20 August 1986<3>
Republic of Ireland on 1 January 2005<3>
New Zealand on 1 January 2006<3>
South Africa on 6 October 1995<3>
France also operates a modified form of jus soli

German nationality law was changed on 1 January 2000 to introduce a modified concept of jus soli. Prior to that date, German nationality law was based entirely on jus sanguinis.<3>

Modification of jus soli has been criticized as contributing to economic inequality, the perpetuation of unfree labour from a helot underclass,<3> and statelessness.

Abolition of jus soli Some countries which formerly operated jus soli have moved to abolish it entirely, only conferring citizenship on children born in the country if one of the parents is a citizen of that country. India did this on 3 December 2004, in reaction to illegal immigration from its Muslim neighbor Bangladesh, though jus soli was progressively weakened since 1987.<8> Malta also changed the principle of citizen to jus sanguinis on 1 August 1989, in a move that also relaxed restrictions against multiple citizenship.<9>


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli