64 countries, including the U.S., grant citizenship to babies born in the country, depending on parents’ status.
A general rule: if born in the Americas, you can claim “right of soil” citizenship in the birth country. Many countries restrict this “right of soil” citizenship (also known as “jus soli“) to those whose parents are in the country legally. The U.S. does not have this restriction.
Anyone from anywhere in the world can give birth in the U.S. or a U.S. territory and their child receives automatic U.S. citizenship. This does not give citizenship to the parents, however. But, at age 21, the child can petition to grant citizenship to their parents under family re-unification rules.
If born in Europe or Africa, you only get citizenship if one or more of your parents is a citizen or permanent resident. This is known as ” jus sanguinis” or “right of blood”, meaning your citizenship is based on your specific ancestry and not the location of birth.
A complete list: Citizenship by Birthright: “Right of Blood” and “Right of Soil” if the Child is Born in a Foreign Country (immigrantinvest.com)
Am guessing a new trend will be expectant mothers who travel to other countries to give birth – so their child can get dual citizenship. Russian women have been doing this: A different form of “immigration privilege”
Update
There is a concept known as “birth tourism” to give birth in the United States or its territories: What Do We Know About ‘Birth Tourism’? – FactCheck.org. Some think it is large, however, the data on the incidence is limited.
- Man sentenced for helping pregnant Chinese women travel to give birth in the US
- Birth Tourism: Chinese Flock to the U.S. to Have Babies
- ‘A lot of these women had no idea what they got into’: inside the world of birth tourism | Documentary | The Guardian
There have been claims that 50,000 to 100,000 Chinese mother’s give birth in the US each year but those are likely very exaggerated estimates. It is more likely that there are 20,000 to 40,000 such births – from all countries combined – each year. Claims that one million or more babies from China have been born in the U.S. appear unlikely to be true.