What is the citizenship of babies born mid-flight?

In the curious case of babies born mid-flight, determining their nationality is not as straightforward as one might think. Different countries follow diverse principles when it comes to granting citizenship to these airborne newborns. The matter revolves around two main concepts: “jus soli” (right of the soil) and “jus sanguinis” (right of blood).

In the United States, if a child is born on a plane over U.S. territory or within its airspace, they automatically receive U.S. citizenship due to the “jus soli” principle. This grants citizenship to anyone born within a country’s territory, including its airspace.

On the other hand, countries like the United Kingdom stick to “jus sanguinis,” where citizenship is determined by the parents’ nationality. Babies born to non-British parents while flying over the UK’s airspace don’t usually gain UK citizenship, according to a report by Simple Flying.

Some nations like Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico offer unrestricted birthright citizenship for babies born within their airspace or territory. However, the situation gets more complicated when babies are born over international waters or in areas without territorial rights.

If a baby is born under these circumstances and could become stateless, the aircraft’s registration nationality might be considered. This means the baby would take the nationality of the country where the aircraft is registered, following the United Nations’ Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

In reality, mid-flight births are rare due to restrictions on flying for pregnant women in their third trimester. Most airlines prohibit such flights, which makes these events quite unusual. In fact, only about 75 in-flight births have been recorded throughout aviation history.

One instance took place on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Chicago in September 2021, where a passenger from Morocco gave birth. Another birth occurred during a flight from Doha to Beirut in July 2019. These births are exceptions, and usually, the child’s nationality aligns with that of the parents.

In these cases, the rules mentioned earlier apply. For instance, a baby born on a U.S. military aircraft during the Afghanistan evacuation in 2021 possessed Afghan citizenship, just like the parents, as the aircraft is not considered an extension of U.S. territory. Thus, the baby’s birthplace doesn’t solely determine their nationality.

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