Fact check: Which European countries practice birthright citizenship?

euronews (in English)

President Donald Trump incorrectly said that the US is "the only country" that automatically confers citizenship to children born in its territory. What's the situation like in Europe?

Transcript

00:00Which countries practice birthright citizenship?

00:08President Donald Trump recently said that the U.S. is the only country in the world

00:12that offers citizenship to a child born on its soil, regardless of the parent's nationality.

00:17Trump made the comments on his first day back in office as he sat in the Oval Office signing

00:22off a raft of executive orders attempting to enact one of his campaign promises.

00:27It's ridiculous. We're the only country in the world that does this with birthright,

00:32as you know. And it's just absolutely ridiculous.

00:36But this isn't true. Plenty of other countries practice the principle of unrestricted jus

00:41soli, meaning right of soil, including the U.S.'s neighbors, Canada and Mexico.

00:46Over in Europe, however, the majority of states practice the principle of jus sanguinis,

00:51which gives citizenship to a child if one or both of their parents are of that nationality.

00:56No country in the EU grants automatic and conditional citizenship to children born

01:01there to foreign parents, according to a European Parliament briefing.

01:05Some countries do have a form of jus soli, but it comes with conditions,

01:09most often that the parents must have lived in the country for a certain amount of time

01:14before the child is born. European countries that have such rules include Belgium,

01:18Germany, Ireland, Portugal and the U.K. Some states practice double jus soli.

01:23This is when children born in a country to foreign citizens can acquire citizenship at birth

01:28if at least one of their parents was also born in the country. Children automatically acquire

01:33citizenship this way in France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

01:38A U.S. judge has temporarily blocked Trump's executive order to redefine birthright citizenship,

01:44calling it blatantly unconstitutional. The president says he will appeal against the decision,

01:49paving the way for a lengthy court battle.

01:53you

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