President Donald Trump recently claimed that the United States is the only country in the world that offers citizenship to children born on its soil, regardless of the parents’ nationality. However, this statement is not accurate.
While it’s true that the U.S. practices jus soli (the right of soil), which grants citizenship to anyone born on U.S. territory, many other countries also follow this principle, including the U.S.’s neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Several countries in the Americas, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru, also offer jus soli, meaning that children born there automatically acquire citizenship.
In Europe, however, the majority of countries practice jus sanguinis (the right of blood), which grants citizenship based on the nationality of one or both parents. According to a European Parliament briefing, no country in the European Union grants unconditional birthright citizenship to children born there to foreign parents.
That said, several European countries do have a form of jus soli, but these systems come with conditions. Typically, these conditions require the parents to have lived in the country for a certain amount of time before the child is born. European countries with such conditions include Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, and the UK.
Some European states also practice a form of double jus soli, where children born in the country to foreign parents can acquire citizenship if at least one parent was also born there. Countries that offer this system include France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.
In Belgium and Greece, double jus soli exists but with additional conditions. Furthermore, in some countries like Spain, jus soli is restricted by rules around dual citizenship. In Spain, children of foreign citizens can acquire citizenship through jus soli only if they renounce any other citizenship acquired at birth.
In summary, while birthright citizenship is not as widespread in Europe as it is in the Americas, some European countries do offer variations of jus soli with certain conditions attached.
