If a child is born in Costa Rica of a U.S.-citizen couple, what is the status of that child's citizenship?

Show all answers

Daniel G

Hi

Technically, your child has the right to either or both citizenships. However your confusion is natural given the way the different legislations are worded.

Being the son of two US citizens living abroad, he automatically has US citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (assuming certain conditions are met and he is younger than 18 yrs old at the time he is registered). Check the link to the act below at the INS website. The American Embassy should provide you with further guidance and list any documentation required. Basically, you need to register him to get a " Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America (CRBA)". The CRBA becomes the official record confirming that the child became a US citizen at birth.

Being born in Costa Rican soil, he is also entitled to Costa Rican citizenship. You may want to consider registering him in the "Registro Civil", the Costa Rican authority for such matters.

The kid will not be asked to chose one citizenship at 18. He may, however, do so on his own volition.

Both the Costa Rican government and the US Goverment recognize that dual citizenship exists.

Dual citizenship has a lot of advantages. For example, if you are living in the US and he wants to live abroad for a year when he is older, he would be able to go to Costa Rica and live and work like a national. He could also go to places where one of his nationalities is not welcome (I guess is better to be a Costa Rican in Iran than an American, and by the same token, it is easier to visit Canada as an American than as a Costa Rican)

It also has some drawbacks, as the individual should follow the laws of two countries, and the countries may have conflicting interest in the future, placing dual citizens in an akward position. (Given the close relationship between the US and Costa Rica, you only see these conflicts in CONCACAF soccer games)

Hope this helps.

Charlie

The parents should REGISTER the birth at the American embassy to assure the child's American citizenship. This provides a record that the child was born toAmerican citizens and prevents possiblr problems in the future. Yes, the child IS automaticaaly an American citizen. SOME foreign counties also allow the child to have citizenship in their country...but this varies country to country, so youwould need to ASk immigration service in Costa Rica what their policy is. According to the last site below, looks like Costa Rica does allow dual citizenship. A few countries , like Japan. require a person to renounce American citizenshio to have Japanese citizenship, but Cost Rica does not...and the U.S. definetly does not...so there is no "choice" to make at age 18.

bcn_mimosa

No if your child has dual citizenship thats the way it will always be.. DonÂ´t worry.. You will just have to report it to the u.s. embassy since you are citizens and , in Costa Rica they will report it to the local goverment..

Take care...

Bcn_mimosa

Carolina G

Correcto tiene las dos nacionalidades y puede tenerlas el resto de su vida.

Truth

You heard right.

Jennifer C

I had a child overseas (Honduras) and have been through this process. Your child is not automatically a US just by being born (unless born in the US or on a US military base) but has the right to US citizenship. Just like when a child is born in the US you have to apply for a birth certificate, SS#, or passport you need to go to the US Embassy and report the birth so they can get you started on the proper paperwork to get a US birth certificate, SS#, and passport. Until you do this at the embassy they have no knowledge of your child even being born.

As far as the dual citizen part, it depends on the laws (agreement) between Costa Rica and the US. My child has dual citizenship for life because that's what the law allows for US citizens born in Honduras. But, that law was changed only in the past few years. Before that, at either 18 or 21, one would have to choose which citizenship they wanted to keep. At this point, the Honduran citizenship doesn't do much for us as we are living in the US now and she is only 4. We have a Honduran birth certificate but no passport. But, depending on choices in the future, the citizenship may come in handy.

Your process should be easier than mine because my children only have one US parent instead of two (my husband is Honduran). Having two US parents is a more straight forward process than having just one. Check out the link below for information from the embassy website in San Jose.

Good luck!

Belindita

Not automatically, only if you report it to the American Consulate:

A Consular Report of Birth
When a consular officer determines that a child born outside the U.S. acquires U.S. citizenship at birth, he can issue a Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a U.S. Citizen.This document is official evidence of U.S. citizenship. Schools, Social Security and other institutions throughout the United States accept it and give it the same credence they give to birth certificates from the various states of the United States

You can request the information package "How to Register a Child Born Abroad", by e-mail consularsanjose@state.gov.

hreefdshjfjfjsf

he will be costa rican which would be better than being american.

Dana Katherine

If he is born on a U.S. military base he would be a U.S. citizen automatically. I know this because my sister was born on a military base outside of the U.S. and she is a citizen.

I am not sure about the dual citizenship but it seems to make sense.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: