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30 Countries with Birthright Citizenship (3 with Parental Perks Too) · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Most second passports cost six figures or require years of residency.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a world region where the price is a simple plane ticket.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: More than 30 countries in the Americas grant citizenship at birth to any child born on their soil.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Three of them will even fast track the child's parents to a passport of their own.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: In this video, you'll learn the 30 countries where citizenship by birth works, three with special conditions to watch out for, and at the end, three that reward the parents too.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: For investors building a Plan B for the next generation, the Americas are the world's most generous region for citizenship by birth, or what's often called birth tourism or USOLI.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: More than 30 jurisdictions in a single hemisphere grant automatic citizenship to any child born inside their borders, regardless of what passport the parents hold or how much time they're present.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: The only routine exclusion is children of foreign diplomats accredited to the host country.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: This applies across Central and South America, in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and in most independent Caribbean states as well.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: No other part of the world comes close to this level of freedom.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, no European country has had unconditional birthright citizenship policies since Ireland amended its constitution in 2004.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Across Asia, Africa, and Oceania, citizenship passes almost exclusively through bloodline, not soil.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: The legal term for this is USOLI, citizenship by soil, and almost every country still practicing it sits in the Western Hemisphere.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: However, as we mentioned at the beginning of the video, three countries in the region attach conditions to their birthright policy.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you give birth in any of them without legal status, the child does not automatically get a passport.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Colombia's constitution requires that at least one parent be Colombian, or that at least one parent be legally domiciled in Colombia at the moment of their child's birth for him or her to receive citizenship automatically.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Tourist status alone does not qualify.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: You need a valid residence visa.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: A 2023 law extended this to foreigners covered by Colombia's temporary migration protection mechanisms, including the program that replaced the older PEP for Venezuelan migrants.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Home to arguably the strongest citizenship and passport in the Western Hemisphere, Chile excludes children of foreign diplomats and children of what its 2021 immigration law calls transient foreigners, meaning tourists and people in brief transit.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: A child of a resident foreigner qualifies automatically.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: A child born to tourists can opt in within one year of turning 18 under a separate procedure.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: But it is not automatic at birth.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Moreover, newly elected President Cast campaigned on the promise to end birthright citizenship and deport citizen children of immigrants who were illegally in the country at the time of birth.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Dominican Republic is the most restrictive of these three.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: The 2010 Constitution, reinforced by a 2013 Constitutional Court ruling, excludes children born to foreigners residing illegally or in transit.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: The policy has generated statelessness challenges that international bodies continue to criticize, yet little movement since that ruling.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you're considering a birth-based citizenship strategy, it appears parents in these three countries need legal residency in place before the birth of their children.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the United States has a caveat but no special conditions.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, the country still grants citizenship to every child born on its soil under the Fourteenth Amendment.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: But the rule is being challenged.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Executive Order 14160, signed by President Trump on January 20, 2025, sought to restrict birthright citizenship to children with at least one parent who is a U.S.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: citizen or lawful permanent resident.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Federal courts blocked the order before it took effect on February 19th, 2025.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the 1st of April 2026 in Trump vs.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Barbara, and a ruling is expected by the end of the court's term in late June or early July of 2026, perhaps by the time you see this video.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe to our channel or to our newsletter on the website so you don't skip a beat like this and miss program updates and investment opportunities.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Until the court rules, birthright citizenship for children born in the United States applies as it has for more than a century.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you're considering a US birth as part of a multi-jurisdictional strategy, confirm the legal status as of the actual birth date.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, if you want to compare citizenship pathways across all 196 countries on Earth, including naturalization timelines, citizenship by descent, citizenship by marriage, and yes, which countries still granted at birth, IMI's citizenship catalogue covers it all in one place.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the tools available exclusively to our private community of IMI sovereign members.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's discuss the countries with more liberal birthright policies for your goals.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina is where the parent angle gets interesting.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: But also where it just got harder.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina still grants unconditional citizenship to anyone born on its territory under Lay 346, the country's nationality law.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: The benefit for the parents is what changed in 2025.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Before May of 2025, foreign parents of an Argentine-born child received permanent residency immediately on family reunification.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Under President Mile's decree 366 of 2025, those parents now start with temporary residency and must meet additional conditions before transitioning to permanent residency.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Proof of sufficient means, clean criminal record, the works.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: The standard naturalization timeline is two years of continuous legal residence, which is one of the shortest in Latin America, alongside the Dominican Republic.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: But the same decree requires uninterrupted presence during that period.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: In practice, any departure resets the clock.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina's Usoli rule is intact, but its family reunification pathway is considerably less generous than it was two years ago.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: That sets up the question this video is really about.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Which countries actually do reward the parents in addition to the child?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: There are three, and they're worth understanding in order.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, Mexico reduces the naturalization period for parents of a Mexican-born child from the standard five years to two.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Under Article 20 of the Ley de Nacionalidad, applicants still need to demonstrate Spanish proficiency and basic knowledge of Mexican history and culture.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: The stronger than most expect Mexican passport offers visa-free access to Schengen, the UK, Japan, and most of Latin America.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Two years to a passport with that reach on the back of a single birth is a serious return.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: A note on Panama here, since it often gets mentioned in the same breath.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Panama reduces standard naturalization from five years to three for foreigners with a Panamanian spouse or a child born on Panamanian territory of a Panamanian father or mother.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Two foreign parents whose child becomes Panamanian by USOLI alone do not qualify.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: They stay on the standard and oft-debated five-year track.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Panama looks like a parental perk country on paper, but the perk only applies if one parent is already Panamanian.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, number two, Costa Rica's constitution grants citizenship to any child born in the country subject to a registration formality.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Immigration law 8487 creates a parallel residency track for the parents.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Parents of a Costa Rican-born child qualify for permanent residency from the outset, skipping the three-year temporary residency waiting period that applies to most other immigration routes, including the country's investor visa, which starts at$150,000 in real estate investments.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Each foreign parent applies as a principal applicant.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Dependent minor children can join, and work authorization is unrestricted once the card is issued.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Costa Rica does not offer a fast track to naturalization, so the standard seven-year residency and Spanish requirements still apply if you want the citizenship itself.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: But the residency benefit, with work rights, public health system access, and a path to staying permanently without renewal cycles, is one of the America's most valuable parent perks.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, number one, Brazil pairs unconditional birthright citizenship with the region's fastest fast track for the parents.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Any child born in Brazil is Brazilian by birth, with only the children of foreign government officials excluded.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Foreign parents of a Brazilian-born child can apply directly for permanent residency under the family reunification category, commonly known as VITEM, without going through a temporary residence stage.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: As long as the parental relationship remains, the status is valid indefinitely.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, there is no minimum investment, income threshold, or no language requirement at the permanent residency stage.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And citizenship follows quickly.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Parents of a Brazilian child qualify for naturalization after just a single year of permanent residency, against the standard four-year timeline.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Applicants must only demonstrate Portuguese proficiency and a clean criminal record.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: In practice, the full process can take closer to two years once document preparation and administrative processing are factored in.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: But the legal minimum of one year is one of the shortest naturalization tracks anywhere in the world.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: A family that times the pregnancy and immigration steps well can hold Brazilian citizenship within two to three years of the child's birth.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's a passport with visa-free access to most of Europe, Russia, the UK, Japan, and South Korea, and preferential rights via the Community of Portuguese language countries block in Portugal and other Luciphone nations.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Not bad for the price of a maternity ward.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, this is exactly the kind of strategy our members are actively trading notes on inside IMI Sovereigns, a private community for investors and entrepreneurs sharing real experiences with birth tourism, Plan B portfolios, and tax optimization.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can join at imidaly.com slash IMI Sovereigns.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now that you understand how the cheapest second passport in the world works, the next logical step is figuring out how to stack more of them.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: We made a video called How to Stack Three Passports in Three Continents in Only Six Years for Free, which is on your screen now.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's the natural next step to a fully mobile Plan B portfolio.
• 11:01
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• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: See you in that next video.