Baby born in Argentina- what passport does he need?

[Leannee.xx]

Hello everyone,

I wonder if someone can help me. I’m a British National and I have been in Buenos Aires since October 2020. I gave birth to my son here in April and my husband now has a new job offer in turkey so we need to leave the country. I’ve applied for my babies UK passport and I am waiting. I’m confused as I’m sure someone has told me before that if a baby is born here, he can only leave on an Argentina passport. Does anyone know if that is the law? I would prefer him to have just British as I don’t think we will live here or be back here for future work.

thank you!
Leanne

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

It makes no difference if your child has an Argentine passport and then gets the British one. I would just get the Argentine one and then sort the rest out later.

Your child being born outside of the UK means that if your child happens to have children with a non Uk citizen then their children do not qualify for British passports. Just something to be aware of. This is regardless of whether their first passport is British.

 

[ben]

Per Argentine law, unless you are in Argentina as a diplomat or something of the sort, your son is Argentine by virtue of being born in the country.

There are a couple of exceptions to the rule, and you do not appear to qualify for any of them. He cannot depart Argentina on a British passport.

The only way I can imagine not to need him to get a passport, would be to fly to a country that allows him in with an Argentine DNI (say, Brazil) and then to continue on with a British passport.

If he returns to Argentina on a British passport, per current regulations they will allow him to enter and leave on that foreign passport, as long as he is here under 180 days. If he overstays for any reason then again he can only depart on an Argentine document.

 

[Rich One]

Perhaps the opinion of the UK Consul in BA , would be helpfull..! IMHO.

United Kingdom - Passport & Nationality - British Passport | Can I Claim British Citizenship | Philip Gamble

United Kingdom - Passport & Nationality - Find out if you qualify forBritish Citizenship, ask our British Nationality experts for more assistance.

www.whatpassport.com

 

[FrankPintor]

IANAL but I expect Ben has nailed it. I ran into a similar situation in Chile, found out at the airport… my bad but still very frustrating. I expect a lot of countries apply this rule.

 

[BAHibs]

Most likely you are not thinking this far ahead but as an Argentine he would have the right to live and work anywhere within South America due to the MERCOSUR agreement when he is older, might be a thought to get him a passport (and subsequently renew it) just in case he ever wants to do something like that.

 

[jblaze5779]

Aren't you stuck paying AR global wealth tax though...? Just a question.

 

[antipodean]

Aren't you stuck paying AR global wealth tax though...? Just a question.

It’s not like US citizenship (one of the only few in the world that tax all citizens regardless of residence.) Argentine wealth and income taxes only apply if the citizen lives here for long enough to become a tax resident. Even then, a citizen can always leave and establish tax residency elsewhere to no longer have a liability in Argentina.

One never knows what this country will do in the future especially when they run out of things to tax... but until that day, Argentine citizenship has more pros than cons, even if just for the passport portfolio making it easier (and cheaper!) for westerners to visit countries like Russia or Iran plus above mentioned residency and work options in South America.

 

[Leannee.xx]

Thank you everyone for your replies.. very interesting points have been made. I was just reading about dual nationality and that now a lot of countries don’t want you having more then two nationalities. My husband plays football so we are constantly moving and if my son has his two nationalities already, I feel it will deprive him the opportunity of having a passport in the country where we eventually settle down for example. This seems like a stupid question, but because my son was born here he will always be Argentine? Therefore already has his dual nationality? Or it’s processing and getting his Argentine passport that makes him a dual national?

thank you everyone!!

 

[antipodean]

Thank you everyone for your replies.. very interesting points have been made. I was just reading about dual nationality and that now a lot of countries don’t want you having more then two nationalities. My husband plays football so we are constantly moving and if my son has his two nationalities already, I feel it will deprive him the opportunity of having a passport in the country where we eventually settle down for example. This seems like a stupid question, but because my son was born here he will always be Argentine? Therefore already has his dual nationality? Or it’s processing and getting his Argentine passport that makes him a dual national?

thank you everyone!!

As I understand he will always be Argentine in the eyes of Argentina and thus eligible to apply for a passport. Argentine citizenship by birth can never actually be renounced, so he already has it with or without the passport.

Have a closer look into the country where you aim on settling down as few countries that allow multiple nationalities in the first place actually draw the line at having only two nationalities/ citizenships.

"Dual citizenship" usually only applies as a concept to countries where the rule does not generally permit holding other nationalities unless you fall into a loophole (e.g. children of Austrians, Germans, Koreans, etc born in Argentina where citizenship cannot be renounced.)

Some countries that permit multiple nationalities simply say after you have naturalized as a citizen you are not allowed to acquire further citizenship (like Brazil, Ireland etc.) but it does not usually apply if citizenship is based on decent. On the other hand, some countries say if you want to naturalize as a citizen then you must renounce previous citizenship if possible but they still allow natural-born citizens to acquire other nationalities.

These days multiple nationalities is commonplace - having three or four passports is not that hard for many people and rarely raises an eyebrow. It's generation globalization.

PS - There is also an advantage to Argentine-born Argentine citizens wishing to naturalize in Spain (and thus fast-track EU citizenship)