Imagine a couple from Britain heading overseas for a two-week holiday. Nothing unusual — until the baby decides to arrive several weeks early. The child is born in a foreign hospital, given a local birth certificate and begins life thousands of miles from the country where its parents live. So what nationality is the baby? The obvious answer might be: the nationality of the country where it was born. But nationality is considerably more complicated than that. Your birthplace doesn't necessarily determine your nationality There are two broad principles that countries use when deciding citizenship. The first is known as jus soli, Latin for “right of the soil”. Under this principle, being born within a country's territory can give a person citizenship. The second is jus sanguinis, or “right of blood”. Under this system, citizenship is primarily inherited from a person's parents. Different countries use different combinations of these principles. That means a baby's nationa...
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