Birth on board an aircraft
Guest
(Querist) 02 June 2012
This query is : Resolved
Dear Sirs:
A pregnant Russian woman travelling from New Delhi to Japan gives birth to a healthy baby boy aboard an Indian aircraft when the plane was flying over Chinese airspace.
What shall be the nationality of the newborn??
Devajyoti Barman
(Expert) 02 June 2012
He would be Indian citizen because of registration of the aircraft with India.
ajay sethi
(Expert) 02 June 2012
he would be an indian citizen
Tajobsindia
(Expert) 02 June 2012
With utmost respect to above two Experts whom I admire I strongly disagree to their hasty reply omitting placing reasoning while taking into consideration the application of the jus soli and jus sanguinis principle in such matters.
The subject of birth aboard aircraft and ships is one with a long history in public international law. The law on the subject, despite the provisions of Article 3 the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, is complex, because various states apply differing principles of nationality, namely jus soli and jus sanguinis, to varying degrees and with varying qualifications.
Under the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, Articles 17–21, all aircraft have the nationality of the state in which they are registered, and may not have multiple nationalities. For births, the law of the aircraft's nationality is applicable, and for births that occur in flight while the aircraft is not within the territory of any state, it is the only applicable law. However, if the aircraft is in or flying over the territory of another state, that state may also have concurrent jurisdiction, and the locus in quo principle may apply to the exact position of the aircraft when the birth occurred.
Guest
(Expert) 02 June 2012
I am of the view that nationality of any person is with reference to the jurisdiction of the country in which he takes birth, not with reference to the carrier of any country on which birth took place.
Sudhir Kumar, Advocate
(Expert) 02 June 2012
The ships and aircarfts are governed by the principle of floating island of the country of whose ship they carry.
Guest
(Expert) 02 June 2012
In this regard, I have already posted my personal views in my previous post. Notwithstanding different principles being adopted by different countries about the nationality of an air-borne child, I am of the view that some uniform law needs to be made by the intervention of the UNO
No doubt, the United Nations consider a child born in-flight to have been born in the airplane's registered country. But all the countries have their own set of laws about nationality and birth place of an air-born or ship-borne child.
Some countries point to the city where the child first disembarked the plane as the place of birth, and to the airplane's registered country as the place of citizenship. Needless to mention, nationality and birthplace are two different topics where citizenship or nationality is typically a larger issue and may require some paperwork.
According to U.S. law, if you were looking for the birth certificate for a child born on a U.S.-registered plane (or ship), you would have to figure out if the vessel was heading away from the United States or toward it when the birth occurred. For an outbound flight, you'd likely find the birth certificate stored at or accessible through the U.S. State Department. If the flight was inbound and landed somewhere in the United States after the birth, you would contact the county where the plane landed to find the record.
Contrarily even in US different states the principle adopted by the different states is different. As far as Texas State in the US is concerned, you can fill in the county and city of birth with the county and city where the child was first removed from the plane, and you should include a citation of where the birth shows up in the aircraft's flight log. For the location of the structure where the birth occurred (which is typically the city and county of a hospital), the county should be "In flight," and the city should be the name and flight number of the aircraft and the latitude and longitude coordinates of the point over which the child entered the world.
Many countries of course grant automatic citizenship to a child born on a vessel that is registered to that country, so it's likely that an in-air birth could result in dual citizenship.
Guest
(Querist) 04 June 2012
Thank You all!
Guest
(Expert) 04 June 2012
You are welcome.
Shonee Kapoor
(Expert) 20 June 2012
Indian Citizen as of now.
Regards,
Shonee Kapoor
harassed.by.498a@gmail.com
