00:00What if I told you that in some countries, giving birth is the fastest way to get a new passport?
00:06Some call it a constitutional right, others call it a loophole, but it's called just-so-li.
00:12And it could mean a passport at birth in a range of different countries. So there are many different
00:18countries that offer just-so-li with unrestricted rules. So if you give birth in these countries,
00:25your child is automatically granted citizenship for being born here. There are some countries that
00:31do offer this, but there are some restrictions that come with it. And there are countries that
00:36obviously do not offer this at all. And we're going to go through which countries do offer it
00:41and a little bit about our personal story about giving birth in another country.
00:47Okay. So we get asked this question extremely often because we had our first child in Thailand.
00:54And the first thing everybody says, as soon as we tell them that is,
00:58is she Thai? Does she have a Thai passport? Do you guys have citizenship? And we have to tell
01:03everybody all the time, no, that's not actually how it works in Thailand and actually pretty much
01:10all of Asia, right? Most of Asia and a lot of Europe as well.
01:15Your child will only get citizenship in a country like Thailand if one of the parents
01:20is from Thailand. So for us, that was not the reason that we had our child in Thailand.
01:26Man, you can go into more details as to why we did, but just straight off the bat,
01:30we had our first child overseas. It was one of the best experiences we ever had,
01:35one of the best decisions we ever made, but we didn't do it for the reason of getting
01:40a passport or a path to citizenship.
01:43That being said, it is an incredible incentive to maybe pick somewhere else to have a child
01:50and a very popular way for people to collect a new passport, especially with the current
01:56situation with different governments and different things that are going on in different countries.
02:01Having the option to be able to go to another country as a citizen with a passport is a major
02:07game changer in life for a lot of people. But for us, we chose Thailand because the hospitals
02:14were absolutely great. I was so well looked after. Another reason was as someone who doesn't
02:21have a huge support system, I was able to supplement that in Thailand a lot easier than I would have
02:27been able to in my home country of Canada. We were able to afford someone to come clean our home.
02:33We were able to get more food delivered, things that just made our lives a lot easier when
02:37I was a lot more tired postpartum and breastfeeding, so unable to take care of our house as much
02:44as I normally would. These things were a lot more accessible in Thailand for us.
02:50So this may apply a little bit more to digital nomads. We've met a lot of digital nomads who are
02:57in
02:57the position we were in a couple of years ago where they're contemplating having a child, but because
03:03they're nomads, they think that they just have to go home to their home country and have a child,
03:08which is often like us. Like we're from different countries and we've met a lot of couples where one
03:13of the parents is from somewhere in Europe, for instance, and maybe the other one is from Australia
03:18and they have to decide where they're going to go to have their child. And they think that they have
03:23to go
03:24back home for the entire, I guess, pregnancy and then the postpartum. And that just isn't the case.
03:30You can have a child pretty much wherever you want, and you can pick where you think suits you,
03:36both for lifestyle and for healthcare. And we chose Thailand for obvious reasons.
03:42We also think for nomads, it's kind of preventing a lot of people from having children, thinking that
03:48you have to stop traveling or that it's not safe to have a child somewhere that you don't have a
03:54support system or that you're just not familiar with. But we had a really great experience.
04:03So one of the things that actually made giving birth in another country, just like very much
04:09peace of mind was that we had health insurance that covered the entire thing. So we use safety wing
04:15nomad insurance. We had been covered by safety wing for a number of years before I got pregnant
04:21and, uh, it covered everything. It covered my pregnancy ultrasounds. Um, anytime that I wasn't
04:29feeling Lila, we're going to keep having interruptions because this is the reality of having a child.
04:39So they covered everything and having the peace of mind to know that if anything went
04:45sideways or if anything came up that we weren't expecting, uh, that we would be covered as well.
04:51And it also covered Lila too. So if anything was irregular or, you know, things happen when you
04:57give birth that you just don't plan for, we knew that she was covered as well. And that was just
05:02a
05:02lot of peace of mind. Uh, I couldn't recommend safety wing enough. It was just a really peaceful
05:09experience. And I was just able to really enjoy my pregnancy experience, my postpartum experience,
05:15um, because we were financially covered and, um, also going somewhere with warm weather while you're
05:22pregnant. As someone from Canada, I just didn't think I'd be able to handle the winters while I
05:28was pregnant. And I'm really glad that I did that. So it felt like it helped grow my baby and,
05:33um,
05:34just made me feel a lot healthier. I do want to go through some of the countries that do offer
05:39this
05:39without any restrictions. So if you do decide that you want to give birth in one of these countries,
05:43you will be granted citizenship and your child will get a passport as well as you as a family will
05:51be
05:51able to get passports as well because of your child. And sometimes this is referred to as an anchor
05:57baby. This is also another term used for this. A lot of people find this a bit contradictory
06:02with mass immigration, that sort of thing going on at the moment. Um, it is a bit of a touchy
06:07subject,
06:07but it is something that is quite important to talk about. So we're going to put on the screen here,
06:12a list of countries that offer just solely with automatic citizenship. If your child is born there.
06:18So North and South America, most of the Americas follow this model. Places like the United States,
06:25Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, and most of the Caribbean
06:34nations like Jamaica and Barbados. There's also Costa Rica. I do believe, and it is a very common
06:39place that I know a lot of nomads go because there is a lot of midwives and a lot of
06:45support
06:45that you can get in Costa Rica for having a child. It's been somewhere that I also looked,
06:51looked to. Um, so something worth looking into if you are sort of maybe shopping around for somewhere
06:57to have a peaceful place to have a child, that's one that I would probably recommend.
07:02So then there's a few countries that offer conditional or restricted just solely. And that
07:08basically means that it's the same thing. You get the birthright, but the condition is that in these
07:13countries, at least one parent usually must be either a citizen, a permanent resident, or have lived there
07:20legally for several years. So that's an important thing to remember, live there legally. So maybe
07:27you're there on a work permit, um, on a permanent residency, but you're not a citizen. Then if your
07:32child is born there, your child will still get given citizenship and then so will you eventually
07:37because you are a parent. So those countries include the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany,
07:44Australia, New Zealand, and Portugal, which again are all amazing countries. If you're thinking about
07:51moving or maybe, I don't know, to me, it seems like just a good second option because I think if
07:57we've
07:57learned anything over the last five or so years is that nothing is certain. And I know during the
08:04pandemic, we would have loved to have had a second passport to be able to go somewhere else where it
08:09wasn't as restrictive. And I think it's important these days that you cover all your bases because
08:14you really, really not never know what's going to happen down the pipeline. Okay. So countries that do
08:19not offer this is primarily most of the Middle East does not offer this and most of Asia. So we
08:26had
08:26a daughter in Asia. So like we said, she was not granted a passport and neither were we still had
08:32a
08:32wonderful experience. That's just how it works. They don't offer it. So maybe when you're considering
08:38or if you're considering having a child overseas, this is something that you want to look into.
08:43And also just having the peace of mind, obviously having good health insurance.
08:48And anyway, aside from like getting the passport, if you are a digital nomad, why not have your child
08:55somewhere you actually want to be like Costa Rica sounds like an amazing place to have a child. I think
09:00we might consider doing that for our second baby anywhere in the Caribbean, imagine spending your
09:06pregnancy and postpartum somewhere in the Caribbean and then getting also a passport on top of that.
09:12I think one of the biggest reasons that people aren't having children at the moment, even though
09:16they want to, is because they don't have a support system as well. And being able to go somewhere that
09:21you can maybe afford a little bit more support because it is a very challenging time, even with the extra
09:28added support that we were able to bring in housekeepers, that sort of thing. It was still a super
09:34challenging, but at least we had that support, a little bit more support system because we don't
09:41because we don't have that large village like we used to back in the day. But having a child is
09:47just
09:47such a blessing. So being able to do things a little bit different and work your way around the system
09:53so you can still have the child that you want to have. So it's important to note for safety wing,
09:58there is a 10 month waiting period. So you can't just decide you're going to go overseas somewhere
10:05and have a child sign up to safety wing and boom, you're covered. There is a 10 month waiting period
10:09and that's for obvious reasons. So if you're already a digital nomad and you need coverage,
10:15I would recommend signing up to the safety wing complete plan. Now, if you're thinking about having a
10:21child especially, but it also covers you for everything else health related as well, like
10:26checkups covers you for dental, if you need new glasses, if you get injured overseas, any kind of
10:32medical emergency they cover you for. And if you're thinking of having a child anyway, you might as well
10:38get on that plan now. And then they actually cover you for 80% of everything starting from the moment
10:45you're pregnant up until postpartum. So all of those checkups that you need to do, any scans or anything
10:52and including the delivery they cover you for. And that means you get access to private healthcare,
10:59which you probably wouldn't get back home. I know we wouldn't. No, that's right. Yeah. I think one of
11:04my favorite parts was that safety wing covered things like acupuncture and prenatal massages. So things
11:12like that, that I was helping either prepare my body for pregnancy or during pregnancy when I really
11:19needed some self care, those things were covered as well through the insurance. Yeah. I just couldn't
11:25recommend it enough. I just felt like I was well taken care of and all my needs were met. So
11:31if you
11:32are interested in checking out safety wing and you're wanting to do something like this, like we did,
11:37we'll leave a link to safety doing down in the description. You can check it out for yourself.
11:41And maybe let us know if you're thinking about having a baby overseas and one of the countries
11:46we listed interests you, let us know which one down below you're thinking about. I know Costa Rica
11:51sounds pretty cool or maybe one of the Caribbean countries. Yeah. Yeah. Which one do you think
11:55would be best and where would you have the best time? We'd love to hear about it. Let us know
12:00if this
12:00video helped you. What do you think of Just So Lee? Do you support it? Do you not support it?
12:05We want to hear
12:05your thoughts. Let us know down in the comments, like, and subscribe, and we will see you guys in the
12:10next video. Bye.
12:11Bye.
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