Expat children born abroad find themselves without citizenship

An increasing number of expats working in countries other than their own are finding difficulty getting citizenship for their children born abroad.

Expat parents are discovering that you can’t automatically pass on your citizenship to children born in another country.

Neither will foreign countries automatically give citizenship to children born on their soil.

In the case of couple Maria Jose Poblete, husband Christopher Ferreira and baby son Mateo who are based in Paris. The mother, Poblete was born in Canada and raised in Chile. Her husband, Ferreira was born in France. Their son was also born in France this year.

Mateo’s parents had to get his citizenship from Chile from his Chilean grandparents because his mother, Poblete could not pass on her Canadian citizenship to Mateo.

International Organization for Migration (IOM) citizenship laws are not tailor-made for families who pursue careers in countries other than their own. This problem of children born without legal citizenship leave many parents stuck in foreign countries because their babies cannot get passports without citizenship.

In another case, Patrick Chandler and wife Fiona Zou had a daughter in Beijing. Their daughter Rachel born in China, was stateless for over a year until their parents were able to get Irish citizenship for her.

The father, Chandler was born in Libya to Canadian parents. Chandler was raised in Canada. Zou, the mother is Chinese but was unmarried to Rachel’s father, Chandler, at the time of Rachel’s birth.

Due to the unmarried status, Zou was unable to pass on her Chinese citizenship to her daughter, despite the fact that she and her daughter were born in China. Zou was able to get Irish citizenship for her daughter through her paternal grandfather who was born in Ireland and migrated to Canada 4 decades ago.

The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness states that when a child is ineligible for citizenship at birth, the country where he or she was born must grant them citizenship. The process can be difficult and parents often need legal help to get citizenship for their children born abroad.

source:http://www.seek4media.com/