Childbirth in Italy

augigi, CNS · Dec 5, 2006

Yes, you have to be a NATURAL BORN citizen to be President in the United States. Natural Born doesn't necessarily mean you were born physically in the USA...you just had to be a US Citizen at birth. Arnold Schwartznegger is trying to get a Consitutional Amendment that would allow a naturalized citizen to run for President.
I believe that is also true for certain positions of national security.
The reason the founding fathers had this rule is so you never had to worry about a President having a personal issue with an alliance to another country.
Can you imagine us having a President, that let's say, was a native Canadian, and then us having a war with Canada....how confident would you be that a Commander-in-Chief would be making decisions based on what is right for our country? I wouldn't.
I believe in appreciating your culture (neither one of my own parents were from the USA), but when I see people in the USA carrying foreign flags during demonstrations and BASHING the USA in the process...I think they should exercise another right the USA gives them...the right to leave and go back home. If things were so great in their own country, they wouldn't be here...so I say...don't come here and bash my country and damand "rights" that you couldn't get back home...isn't that the entire reason you are here? My parents and my grandparents all felt the same way...either you came here to be an American or you didn't.
That's not a USA thing...If I decided to move and be a citizen to France, or Germany, or Austrailia, etc. I think they would have every right to expect the same thing from me.
Part of taking the oath when you become a US Citizen is you FORMALLY RENOUNCE your previous alliance to your former country.

That's what confuses me - if you have to "formally renounce" your previous alliance to your former country, where is the problem becoming president etc? Obviously your alliance is to the US if you have "formally renounced" your previous country..? I can see where this rule would come from, but there was not much multiculturalism back in those days.

Trauma, even though your kids were US citizens at birth, they can't be president because they were not physically born in the US? Interesting - never knew this.

PS: BSNToBe2009: People go to other countries all the time, for various reasons. I don't think you can assume they left their own country because things were "not so great" in their own country. Many people just like to experience another country. Take me for example; I think my country is the best in the universe, but I'm planning to go work in the US for a few years for the work experience. I don't plan to become an American.

RGN1 · Dec 6, 2006

Just giving birth in Italy is unlikely to make your child a dual citizen. He or she will still be counted as US because that's where you're from. This is the case in the UK & as Italy is part of the European Union I think that the same applies there. Any child born after 1982 (I think - or there abouts anyway) in the UK is not automatically considered a British citizen & is not automatically entitled to a British passport. Italy is quite likely to have similar laws about this.

Most transatlantic flights are reluctant to fly women passed 27 weeks in case they go into labour during the flight (I know because I went to New York when I was 26-27 weeks & was told a week later they would have had serious issues about me flying) & your insurance - holiday or other will not cover you for the birth.

With the risk of DVT from the flight & the fact that it probably will not do jot for the babies citizenship I think it's just not worth it.

Italy is truly a beautiful country & what I think would be better is that you all save up for a trip of a lifetime to go back & find his roots at a later, more suitable time!

BSNtobe2009 · Dec 7, 2006

I must say I find that rather insulting.I dont necessarily think that people go to America to "be an American" as you say. There are many reasons why people go there. People may have been born there, lived there all their life yet have parents that are not American and so will have a natural affiliation for their heritage. Are you saying that these people dont have the right to have their opinions be heard in what is supposed to be a democratic country, just because they dont happen to have ancestry from that said country?
My husband is American, so are his parents, grandparents and beyond. I have no desire whatsoever to "become" American, I am English and always will be, it just so happens that I fell in love with someone who wasn't, does that mean then, that I can't come to America and be critical of anything there, dont I have the right? That sounds pretty much like a dictatorship to me and not a democracy.

Please re-read my post, I was specifically referring to those that were naturalized American citizens.

BSNtobe2009 · Dec 7, 2006

I can speak to the dual citzenship thingie for Japan (1980) and Spain (1985). Hubby and I are both US citizens (born here). However, we were active duty military overseas when we had our children. First son, born in 1980 in Japan was offered dual citizenship but we turned it down because he would have then been eligible for the draft in Japan at the age of 18. In Spain, in 1985, our second son was born - dual citizenship was not even an issue since both parents were US citizens.
Personally, I wouldn't have my child overseas - it was very, very different from what I was used to and the language barrier during pregnancy, labor and delivery adds stress that isn't needed.
As to if my kids could be president of the USA - nope - they were born overseas and in order to be President, they must be natural-born US citizens:
"An understanding of the nation is essential for the role of President. The framers of the Constitution strongly believed that a person must be born in the United States in order to fully understand the country."
A.P.E. - The Presidential Requirements
Hope this helps.

That actually isn't true, if they were American Citizens at the moment of their birth, regardless of their PLACE at birth, that is what a natural born citizen is. It is a popular misconception that you have to be born on US soil to be a natural born citizen.

There are only two types of citizenship the USA recognizes...NATURAL BORN, and NATURALIZED. Anytime that at least one parent has a current, US Citizenship, and have actually lived at any point in their life in the USA, their children are natural born.

The only time a child of a US Citizen would not be a citizen at birth, is if that child was A) Born abroad, and B) If the parent had NEVER lived in the USA.

muffie, RN · Dec 7, 2006

congrats on your pregnancy

rn4ever? · Dec 7, 2006

Just to share what I read years ago, I read that a child born in an airplane or ship may acquire the citizenship of the country where the vessel/plane was registered.

springgarden · Dec 8, 2006

I got to say I found many of the previous post shouting I AM IGNORANT to be polite.

How can one a poster say that people come to America because where they are coming from is not so great? For you info, people come to America for many reasons. You just cannot assume every non American accent is an immigrant and not in American for specific reasons and going to his country or whereever that he thinks is the Best in the whole universe.

If you think everyone living in America wants to be American, that is a mirage. There who are proud of every aspect of their culture and that doesn't make them less entiled to what other Americans are entiled to.

Where has Arnold said he's trying to get a constitutional amendment? This is news to me.

I do not know the facts of the laws regarding citizenship in the US but if it allows for dual citizenship I would recommend it as an life long gift to your child. I have a few friends who have given there child the gift of dual citizenship for various reasons. I'll have to say though that the countries were predominantly English speaking because that is the only language they can speak.

Baring financial issues, I'll say go for it.

RGN1 · Dec 8, 2006

I do not know the facts of the laws regarding citizenship in the US but if it allows for dual citizenship I would recommend it as an life long gift to your child. I have a few friends who have given there child the gift of dual citizenship for various reasons. I'll have to say though that the countries were predominantly English speaking because that is the only language they can speak.
Baring financial issues, I'll say go for it.

You're missing the point - the parents are both born & bred in the USA therefore, the child, even if born in Italy, will not be entitled to dual citizenship unless the family then settle in Italy & become naturalized there. In which case the whole family will be entiltled to have dual citizenship should they so choose. Just like us when we come to the USA. Our children could become dual citizens if we/they wish, when we apply for our citizenship because we will be working & living in the USA. The same applies, bar some minor differences no doubt, in most countries around the world.

Therefore, it's not worth the risk or expense of going to Italy to have a baby who will still remain a US citizen regardless because I gather that they will return to the USA after the birth. They are not planning to live & work in Italy after the birth, from what the post implies, so the baby is not likely to be allowed Italian citizenship just for being born there.

Does that make it clearer?

RGN1 · Dec 8, 2006

Just to share what I read years ago, I read that a child born in an airplane or ship may acquire the citizenship of the country where the vessel/plane was registered.

I'm pretty sure this is not the case anymore, I'm fairly sure that your citizenship is taken from your parents/place you live now.

rn4ever? · Jan 1, 2007

For anyone interested, this link explains what happens to the citizenship of the child when he/she is delivered while the mother is aboard a plane:Howstuffworks "If a child is born on an airplane, what's his citizenship?"

I'm pretty sure this is not the case anymore, I'm fairly sure that your citizenship is taken from your parents/place you live now.

ajaxgirl · Jun 2, 2007

I'm pregnant and my husband has this big idea that I should have the baby in Italy (his mother country). He thinks this will make the baby a dual citizen.
Does anyone know anything about this or where would be a good place to find out?

So did you decide Italy or Canada? Or did you stay in the US?

suzanne4, RN · Jun 2, 2007

She is still in the US.