[rahimnathwani]

"I think that in the vast, vast majority of countries (all of them?), you receive the citizenship of your parents, regardless of the country in which you're born."

For the UK at least, it's not that simple, unless your parents were born in the UK. If your parents citizenship is due solely to one/both of your grandparents being UK citizens (i.e. your parents were also born overseas), you might not be entitled to UK citizenship.

I don't recall the details, but IIRC you need to live in the UK for some time in order to pass on citizenship to your child.

The US has similar rules.

[jnbiche]

> The US has similar rules.

US doesn't have citizenship by descent (the grandparents situation you're describing). So it has no similar rules.

[rahimnathwani]

The situation I'm describing is different from what you call 'citizen by descent'.

I'm describing a situation in which:

- grandparent was a UK citizen born in UK

- parent was born outside UK, but had UK citizenship at birth

- child was both outside UK, and is not automatically a UK citizen, because parent didn't ever live in the UK

The US has similar rules. They determine what happens to a child if at least one parent is a US citizen, but that parent was born outside the US. If the parent lived in the US for many years (I don't recall the exact #), then the child gets US citizenship. If the parent never lived in the US, then there are other conditions that may or may not result in the child getting citizenship.

[joshuamorton]

Yes it does. It can get complex, but in the simplest case, if your parents are married and both citizens, you will be to, no matter where you were born.

[jnbiche]

I'm well aware of this, since I have close family that your situation applies to. Actually, if your parents are married and even one is a US citizen, you will be too, always.

This may just be a terminology disagreement, but that's typically not what is considered "citizenship by descent".

What we're describing is considered by the US to be "citizenship by parents" or "acquired citizenship". On the other hand, "citizenship by descent" is the European tradition of awarding citizenship to grandchildren and even great-grandchildren of citizens. The US doesn't have citizenship by descent (in fact, it's true that there's a single situation when your grandparent's citizenship can matter to someone trying to assert US citizenship, but it's only as a kind of "tiebreaker" if your parents weren't married and one was a US citizen).

[dragonwriter]

> > in the simplest case, if your parents are married and both citizens, you will be to, no matter where you were born.

> I'm well aware of this, since I have close family that your situation applies to. Actually, if your parents are married and even one is a US citizen, you will be too, always.

You are both wrong.

If both parents are US citizens and at least one of them has ever been a resident of the US or one of itd outlying possessions, you acquire citizenship at birth.

If your parents are married, one is a US citizen, and the other a non-citizen national, the US citizen parent must have been resident in the US for at least one year for you to automatically acquire citizenship at birth.

If the non-citizen parent isn't a national, the citizen parent must be resident in the US for five years, at least two of which were after the age of 14.

https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume1...

[evansd]

> Actually, if your parents are married and even one is a US citizen, you will be too, always.

Interestingly it's even more subtle than this: you can be a US citizen, but if you haven't spent enough time living in the US (for a definition of "enough" when years spent as a child count for more) then your citizenship doesn't automatically pass on to your children.