Child born aboard aircraft

My wife and I had a trip for end of year holidays. As we were onboard coming back to Tanzania, my wife started feeling intense abdominal pain. Although we thought it was normal discomfort considering it was during the last days of her pregnancy, the pain took so long with every minute contractions. Our efforts to locate a doctor on board proved fruitful. After some time, my wife gave birth to a baby girl. Since then, we have been discussing the citizenship status of our first born without answers. Kindly provide us with legal guidance.

RT, Bukoba

Congratulations for the baby girl, and thanks for your intriguing question. Citizenship status is country-specific: it depends on the laws of a specific country. Generally, most countries recognize citizenship by birth; citizenship by descent and citizenship by naturalization, and in some countries, by registration.

In Tanzania, a person becomes a citizen by birth if they are born in Tanzania and one of the parents is a citizen of Tanzania; and by descent, if a person is born outside Tanzania and either parent is a citizen of Tanzania. However, for those born outside Tanzania, they only become citizens of Tanzania by descent if at the time of birth, either of their parents was a citizen of Tanzania by birth. This implies that if a person is born outside Tanzania and at the same time, both parents are citizens of Tanzania by descent, such a person does not automatically become a citizen of Tanzania. They can only become citizens of Tanzania by naturalization.

Of importance, under the Citizenship laws of Tanzania, a person born aboard on registered ship or aircraft, or aboard an unregistered ship or aircraft of the Government of any country, is deemed to have been born in the place in which the ship or aircraft was registered or, as the case may be, in the country whose Government owns that aircraft or ship. As such, your baby girl can only become a citizen of Tanzania, by birth, if you or your wife are a citizen of Tanzania by birth and you boarded a Tanzanian-registered aircraft.  Further, she can become a citizen of Tanzania by descent if you boarded a foreign registered aircraft and either of her parents is a citizen of Tanzania by birth. If you boarded a foreign-registered aircraft and neither of you is a citizen of Tanzania by birth, your baby girl cannot acquire Tanzanian citizenship either by birth or descent, except by naturalization. The next question in such an instance is what citizenship will your daughter acquire if that is the case? We do not have all the details to answer this additional question put forward by the QnA FB Attorneys team. You may wish to consult your lawyer for further guidance.