A child’s citizenship often looks fixed at birth, decided by the country named on hospital paperwork and the passports the parents carry. Immigration lawyers and mobility advisers say the opposite is true: citizenship remains one of the few parts of a child’s future that parents can still shape, and the window for shaping it closes at 18.
Three forces determine what passports a child can claim: where they are born, known as “jus soli” or the “right of soil”; who their parents and grandparents are, known as “jus sanguinis” or the “right of blood”; and whether a family pays for citizenship, known as “jus pecuniae” or the “right of money”. Advisers say two of the three are narrowing across wealthy nations while the third keeps growing, which rewards families who act while children remain minors.
Birthplace remains the advantage that can be secured only once, at delivery. A child born
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