Since his second inauguration, the President of the United States Donald Trump has tried to keep one of the promises of his electoral campaign: to eliminate the jus soli(the right of citizenship by birth on the “soil” of the State), which he considered “bad for the country”. The jus soli establishes that anyone born in the territory of a particular State automatically becomes its citizen, regardless of the citizenship of their parents or their ancestry. Currently, ius soli, in different forms, is in force in several European countries (e.g. France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland) and in most countries on the American continent.
What happened in the United States: Citizenship law remains in effect
Since the electoral campaign that led to his second presidential term, Trump has made the abolition of the jus soli one of his workhorses. It was in fact one of the first measures he signed, on January 20, 2025, after his inauguration, with the executive order entitled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship”in which he declared that, 30 days after the entry into force of the text, children born to irregular immigrants would lose their right to citizenship. The order was blocked a few days later as “unconstitutional” and faced several steps in the following months, until June 30, 2026.
The Supreme Court of the United States, yesterday, although divided on the issue, rejected Trump’s executive order by majority, maintaining the jus soli and reaffirming the consolidated principle according to which, since 1868, the Constitution guarantees citizenship to almost all (excluding children of foreign diplomats and some people belonging to occupying forces) children born on US soil: therefore all children born to parents without documents or to parents temporarily present in the country become citizens from birth.
As John G. Roberts Jr., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, explained, the decree issued by Trump violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution ratified after the Civil War – and federal law. “Citizenship, then as now, represented the right to have rights: the right to participate freely in our political community. The 14th Amendment extended that promise to every person born free in this land. We keep that promise today,” Roberts wrote.
Vice President JD Vance called the sentence a “very serious mistake” and assured that the battle against ius soli “is far from over”.
The map of the countries in which the ius soli exists
In addition to almost all countries on the American continent, ius soli is in force in various European countries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland, in different forms.
In Canada, with a few exceptions (e.g. the children of foreign diplomats), anyone born on Canadian territory automatically becomes a citizen, regardless of their parents’ citizenship or immigration status. It’s about jus soli applied in pure form.
In the United Kingdom, children born in British territory are granted citizenship at birth only if at least one of their parents is a British citizen or holds permanent residence permit. If neither parent meets the requirements, children can gain citizenship at a later date (e.g. if they live in the UK continuously until they are 10 years old). This mode was established with the British Nationality Act of 1981, in force since 1983.
In Germany a limited ius soli has been in force since 2000. Children born on German territory to foreign parents obtain citizenship if at least one of them has legally resided in the country for at least 5 years (until 2024 there were 8!) and has a permanent or stable right of residence.
In France it exists jus soli conditional: those born to foreign parents do not automatically become French, unless one of the parents was also born in France. Citizenship, in other cases, is obtained at 18 years of age if, starting from the age of 11, at least 5 years of habitual residence in the country have passed; if the child has resided in France since the age of 8, the request can also be brought forward to 16 years of age by the minor, or to 13 by the parents.
States that continue to apply it jus soli in substantially unlimited form, in addition to those already mentioned, include: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uruguay and Venezuela. Chad, Pakistan, Lesotho and Tanzania have particular or conditional regimes.
THE’Australia abolished it in 1986 jus soli pure. Today, those born in Australia to foreign parents obtain citizenship only if at least one of the parents is a citizen or permanent resident, or if the child lives in Australia continuously for the first 10 years of life. THE’Ireland it was the last European country to have it jus soli pure: it was abolished through a 2004 referendum (the 27th Amendment to the Constitution) approved by a very large majority and entered into force in 2005. It now requires citizenship or previous legal residence of the parents.
Fiji has abolished it jus soli unlimited in 2009 with the Citizenship of Fiji Decree, moving to a conditional system (at least one parent must be a citizen to guarantee automatic citizenship to the newborn). The Dominican Republic also eliminated him jus soli pure, amending the constitution in 2010: in 2013 a Constitutional Court ruling retroactively established that the children of foreigners “in transit” (including irregular migrants, to target the Haitian community) are not entitled to citizenship by birth.
The jus soli it existed in India, where it was applied from 1950 to 1987, but then removed due to illegal immigration flows arriving from Bangladesh. Malta also amended its legislation in 1989, passing to jus sanguinis (or jus soli highly conditional) to avoid the increase in automatic acquisitions of citizenship.
In Italy there is no ius soli: how to obtain citizenship
In Italy it doesn’t exist ius alone, but it jus sanguinistherefore, following the current law n. 91 of 1992, Italian citizenship is acquired following birth to at least one parent who holds the citizenship of our country. In fact, Italian law does not currently provide for it jus soli (except in exceptional cases).
The status of Italian citizen can be requested by adults who have resided continuously in Italy for at least 10 years (through naturalization) but in compliance with certain requirements, including knowledge of the Italian language, tax regularity, the ability to produce a sufficient income and the absence of impeding reasons. The 10 year time limit is reduced to 4 for existing citizens of the European Union.
In the case of foreigners born in Italy, the request can be submitted starting from the age of 18 and by the age of nineteenth, with the applicant being required to demonstrate that he was born in Italy and that he has lived there stably and uninterruptedly for his entire life. In the case of minors who are children of foreign parents, the minor can automatically become an Italian citizen if one of the two parents in turn obtains citizenship: it is therefore always a matter of naturalization. Finally, Italian citizenship can, as in the majority of countries, also be acquired by marriage.
Even in Spain citizenship is based on jus sanguinis (up to two previous generations): those born to foreign parents, with some exceptions (one of the parents born in Spain, to avoid the risk of statelessness, for children of unknown parents and some categories provided by the Código Civil), do not become citizens, but can submit an application after one year of legal residence. For adults the request can arrive after 10 years.
