Acquisition of Nationality

Subject(s):

Diplomatic immunity — Diplomatic missions — Diplomatic relations

This chapter examines Optional Protocol concerning the Acquisition of Nationality to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Prior to the Convention, the position was that States which conferred their nationality as a matter of course on children born within their territory. The optional protocol of acquiring nationality formulated by the International Law Commission extends this rule. Under the protocol, a child whose father or mother is a member of a diplomatic mission of whatever rank and is not a national of the receiving State will not automatically acquire the nationality of the receiving State by virtue of birth within its territory. The exception therefore includes a child born to a father who is a member of the service staff of the mission and whose wife is a national of the receiving State, the illegitimate child born to a woman member of the mission, a child born to the sister of a diplomat married to a national of the receiving State, and a child born to a woman member of the mission married to a national of the receiving State.