Since this is in the news today due to a Supreme Court ruling – here is some background on “birthright citizenship”: Citizenship by “birth right” (location) is rare in the world – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking
The short summary is most countries base a child’s citizenship on the parent’s ancestry/citizenship.
Some countries – the U.S., Canada, and some others in the Americas provide citizenship based on where the child is born. Where the US has no limitations, some of those countries limit citizenship to children born to a parent who has legal residency in the country of birth.
The U.S. allows any one to give birth in the U.S. or a U.S. territory and receive citizenship for the child. This mechanism is written in to the US Constitution. Upon reaching age 21, the child can sponsor their parents and other family members for citizenship in the U.S.
To obtain birthright citizenship, the child can be born in a U.S. territory including remote Pacific Island territories that the U.S. has held since (roughly) World War II.
