Is my son a Brit?!
Dec 30th 2010, 3:10 am
#46
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 41
Re: Is my son a Brit?!
Not directly on point but related is the growing problems of expats having kids overseas (or their foreign-born kids have kids overseas) and the resulting 'stateless'-ness that is befalling these kids. There was an interesting article about this a few weeks ago.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/11...less-children/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/11...less-children/
"But Chloe, who was born a month later in Brussels to Canadian and Algerian parents, is still stateless."
Article 10 of Belgium's nationality law states that children born on Belgian soil automatically receive Belgian nationality, if they would otherwise be stateless.
Sounds like a typical case of a badly informed council clerk saying 'non' ... easy to fix.
Law text in Dutch: http://suisse.juridat.be/cgi_loi/loi_N.pl?cn=1984062835
French: http://suisse.juridat.be/cgi_loi/loi_F.pl?cn=1984062835
There is a German version somewhere as well but I can't be bothered to look for it.
Dec 30th 2010, 9:49 am
#47
Retired
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 34,649
Re: Is my son a Brit?!
Interesting! However, I have the feeling there's a cock-up somewhere.
"But Chloe, who was born a month later in Brussels to Canadian and Algerian parents, is still stateless."
Article 10 of Belgium's nationality law states that children born on Belgian soil automatically receive Belgian nationality, if they would otherwise be stateless.
Sounds like a typical case of a badly informed council clerk saying 'non' ... easy to fix.
Law text in Dutch: http://suisse.juridat.be/cgi_loi/loi_N.pl?cn=1984062835
French: http://suisse.juridat.be/cgi_loi/loi_F.pl?cn=1984062835
There is a German version somewhere as well but I can't be bothered to look for it.
"But Chloe, who was born a month later in Brussels to Canadian and Algerian parents, is still stateless."
Article 10 of Belgium's nationality law states that children born on Belgian soil automatically receive Belgian nationality, if they would otherwise be stateless.
Sounds like a typical case of a badly informed council clerk saying 'non' ... easy to fix.
Law text in Dutch: http://suisse.juridat.be/cgi_loi/loi_N.pl?cn=1984062835
French: http://suisse.juridat.be/cgi_loi/loi_F.pl?cn=1984062835
There is a German version somewhere as well but I can't be bothered to look for it.
What's even more pertinent is that based on the facts posted, the child isn't stateless.
"Ian Goldring and his wife Yamina Guidoum, 43-year-old consultants based in Brussels, were not aware their daughter Chloe would be stateless until after her birth last year in Belgium, where the family of three has been marooned since.
Mr. Goldring, who was raised in Canada after being born in Bermuda where his Canadian father was working as an accountant, cannot pass on his citizenship because Ottawa changed its laws in 2009 to limit nationality to one generation born abroad.
As he was born in Bermuda before 1983, it seems, and his parents were not diplomats, he automatically acquired British nationality, which was converted to full British citizenship in 2002. And his daughter is therefore a British citizen by descent ...
With a British passport for the child, immediate travel issues are resolved and then it would be straightforward for the child to be sponsored for permanent residence in Canada and immediately granted Canadian citizenship upon arrival.
Dec 30th 2010, 10:35 pm
#48
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 41
Re: Is my son a Brit?!
Excellent one, JAJ.
In my field of expertise at least, it's been obvious that journalists almost always a) don't have the foggiest idea what they're writing about, and/or b) make up facts on the spot. So I've been asking myself the question: "If this sort of thing happens in my part of the forest, wouldn't it occur just as frequently in journalism in general? What can I believe when reading my morning newspaper?". The above article does nothing to allay those concerns...
In my field of expertise at least, it's been obvious that journalists almost always a) don't have the foggiest idea what they're writing about, and/or b) make up facts on the spot. So I've been asking myself the question: "If this sort of thing happens in my part of the forest, wouldn't it occur just as frequently in journalism in general? What can I believe when reading my morning newspaper?". The above article does nothing to allay those concerns...
