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Some facts about automatic citizenship by birth around the world

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A Canadian passport is displayed in Ottawa on July 23, 2015. International law does not require Canada to give citizenship to babies born on its soil, the federal government is telling the Supreme Court — an argument that could inadvertently bolster a recent Conservative party resolution aimed at stemming so-called birth tourism. Canada is one of fewer than three dozen countries that follow the practice of citizenship based on birthplace and some -- including Australia and Britain -- have modified or ended automatic birthright in recent years, the government says in a case that will determine whether the Toronto-born sons of Russian spies are Canadian citizens. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA – Countries with automatic citizenship by birth: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Lesotho, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Examples of countries that have ended or modified automatic birthright citizenship in recent decades: Thailand (1972), Portugal (1981), United Kingdom (1983), Australia (1986), India (1987), Malta (1989), Ireland (2005), New Zealand (2006), Dominican Republic (2010).

Countries with automatic birthright citizenship that have one or more explicit exceptions: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Lesotho, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, United States.

(Source: Minister of Citizenship and Immigration’s filing in the current Supreme Court case of Alexander Vavilov, who along with his brother Timothy was born in Canada to parents who were Russian spies)

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