Is citizenship of the country you are born in an absurd privilege?

Pedro_P

Canada and the US are debating their policy. Perhaps it is ridiculous that 10 million people in the world are stateless while so many of us take our citizenship for granted.

Proud Canadian … Conservatives are calling for changes to citizenship rules. Photograph: Alamy
▼  Should you automatically have a right to citizenship of the country in which you are born, regardless of where your parents are from?
Most governments around the world would answer “no”. Jus soli, also known as birthright citizenship, is not terribly common these days. In the UK, for example, anyone born in the country after 1983 only becomes a citizen if a parent is a British citizen or is “settled” (ie has permanent residency) in the UK at the time of birth. Similar provisions operate across Europe. By contrast, the US and Canadagrant automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
But the North American embrace of birthright citizenship may not have much of a future. Last weekend, Canada’s Conservative party passed a resolution calling for the government to stop granting citizenship to people born in Canada if their parents are not citizens.
The US has also been having a debate about birthright citizenship. In July, Michael Anton, a former national security official in the Trump administration, said in the Washington Post that “citizenship shouldn’t be a birthright”. “The notion that simply being born within the geographical limits of the United States automatically confers US citizenship is an absurdity,” he argued.
To some degree, Anton is right. It is absurd that being born within the geographical limits of the US confers you incredible freedom of movement, whereas being born within the geographical limits of, say, Gaza, ensures that travel is a constant nightmare. It is an absurdity that 10 million people in the world are stateless while citizenship is something many of us take for granted. As the question of birthright citizenship becomes more of a hot topic in North America, it would behoove us all to check our citizenship privileges.

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soothsayer

This is going to create huge problems. Imagine a situation where you are born in a country which says you are not a citizen because your parents are not citizens or settlers and you migrate to a country which states that your citizenship is from the place you are born- The poor chap is neither here nor there! Let alone privileges-he has no identity.

Buddha480

Of course not - you do not choose the country you are born in or indeed your parents. This is another aggressive move by the Far Right

Rhett_Bassard

Canada and US should join the majority.

Pedro_P

To paraphrase the great Spanish writer Pío Baroja, who said: "Nationalism is cured by traveling and Carlism is cured by reading."
One could say that indeed, nationalism is cured by traveling (something that I lived in my own flesh)... And certainly, ignorance is healed by reading.

KH_Hirsch

I think the one piece missing is that if you get US or Canadian citizenship by birthright you could also have one or maybe even two citizenships handed down from your parents. Which one does now take preference and when would one person have to decide which to keep or not at all and keep all? In Europe there is dual citizenship possible within the EU based on citizenship of parents but not due to location of birth.