Ep 41: Roots and Rights: Exploring Birthright Citizenship, Pros, Cons and Its Implications.
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We discuss the concept of Birthright Citizenship, its historical context, and its implications for foreign nationals in the U.S.
The 14th Amendment defines it.
We explore the ongoing debate surrounding the potential removal of birthright citizenship. We delve into the responsibilities of U.S. citizenship (taxes), which are not being discussed.
We touch on the global perspective of citizenship and the importance of compliance with immigration and tax laws.
Finally, we give you some practical tips if this situation impacts you, especially if you are on a work visa.
You are going to need to rely on our super strength - the immigrant mindset to get through this.
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Jane Mepham, CFP® (00:07)
We are back with another episode of the International Money Cafe podcast. In this podcast, Manasa and I talk about immigrants, naturalized citizens, green card holders, foreign nationals on work visas, as well as US expats overseas. And we talk a lot about finances, taxes, as well as life.
issues that impact the group. And so in today's episode, we're going to talk about a topic that solidly impacts, especially those who are foreign nationals on work visas. And it's something
Manasa Nadig, EA (00:49)
you
Jane Mepham, CFP® (00:50)
that's been in the news a lot lately. We're going to talk about the idea or the concept of birthright citizenship. What does it mean? How did it come to be?
And more importantly, why is it such a hot topic today? And for those that could be impacted, we'll end with some takeaways, things you can consider or things you wanna keep doing. So let's start by defining birthright citizenship.
Manasa Nadig, EA (01:21)
Yes, yes. So if you remember, we spoke briefly about this in another episode we did about domicile. And we talked about a concept called "jus soli" Now, "jus soli" really is the right of the soil, which means that if you were born in a particular country, then you automatically become a citizen of that country.
And this was further solidified in the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment to the US constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. basically the way that
clause reads, and I can read it to you, is all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive
any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. So this is what the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment of the US constitution says. And there's a little more historical context to this.
which was highlighted by a significant Supreme Court case, I believe was 1898 was when it was passed. And this was the United States versus Wong Kim Ark. it's widely talked about in many forums these days. So I'm just going to briefly mention here this case.
affirmed that the right to citizenship was also available for children born in the U.S. to foreign parents. And this is where our clients come in. Right, Jane?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (03:55)
Right. And before we even talk about how it comes in, let's sort of go into the current debate and what's happening. So as we know, on January 20th this year, the current administration issued an order to get rid of the birthright citizenship. And of course, there are two sides of every one of these discussions. There's a group that's saying, yeah, let's get rid of this.
It's encouraging illegal immigration. It's not right. And on and on it goes, I completely get that side. And then you have the other side, which is really where our clients come in, where as long as you were in the US legally, you have kids, they are allowed to become citizens of the country. And as we know, when it comes to work visas and things like that,
Depending on the country you are from, again, you're here legally, you're doing your job, you're doing everything you're allowed to do by law, it does take a long time to become a permanent resident. We know the people from, again, different countries, for example, maybe India, China, and a couple others, where it could take 14, 15, 20 years to become a citizen. And so for these people, if...
you take away the birthright citizenship, obviously there's going to be way more to take into consideration in terms of their careers, in terms of their lives. But what has happened, like I said, there's always two sides to the story. Two judges as of today, and this is moving really, really fast, one judge in Seattle and one judge in Maryland have issued injunctions to block the executive order.
as we are recording this, this has been put on hold. But of course we know this is not the end of the story. Now, one thing I do want to point out, and it's something Manasa and I have talked about because of this coming up. Once you're a US citizen, and maybe there's people that don't think a lot about this, there are responsibilities that come with having a US passport.
with being born on US soil. We've all had a birth tourism where folks will come from different countries. And it's not just the US, but you move to a country, you have your babies because we know those babies will become citizens. But on the US side, the thing we really have to watch out for, if you come to the US, you're born on US soil. Sure, you're a citizen.
but for tax and legal purposes, you are a US tax resident, which means that maybe this is something that's not being talked about. You now need to file US taxes every year on your worldwide assets, right? If you give anybody anything in another part of the world, you need to take US gifting tax considerations into place as well as estate.
taxes into consideration. actually have an episode where we talk a lot about this. And this really brings up the whole idea of being an accidental American. We have another episode where we talked about this and we talked about the most famous accidental American is Boris Johnson, who was born in the US as a kid. So he obviously got the birthright citizenship, ended up leaving the family left and he was a kid.
At some point he sells this apartment in London and IRS wants a cut of the profit. So it's not as easy as saying, yeah, I just want to go to the U.S. and become a citizen. We also need to think about the responsibilities that come with that. And Manasa, that's something I'm not hearing being talked a lot about.
Manasa Nadig, EA (08:14)
Yeah, no, was a recently I was reading the news and I believe someone who was trying to promote the birth tourism, they called it a quote unquote scheme was, arrested and there might be some legal process brought against them. So they're putting a lot of things into place to, prevent what they call this as birth tourism. So definitely.
argument on both sides, I guess, of the debate. let's take a pause here, Jane. What do you think? This is a good place to introduce our mid-roll, right?
Welcome back. So we are talking about birthright citizenship and how it might affect you, our listener, if you are a foreign born national or a naturalized citizen here in the US. And also maybe you're here on a non-immigrant work visa. So we were just talking a bit about the definitions and the historical context and the
pros and the cons and the for and against debate. But let's see, we are hearing this a lot about how the US is one of the few countries where there is unrestricted birthright citizenship. But there are many other countries also that do offer this that
if you have a child born there or jus soli you do acquire the citizenship of that country. And a lot of countries that, in fact, interestingly, Jane and I observed were in North and South America. And we were trying to look this up. And this was pretty interesting. I believe that this could have come down from the previous colonial times where
they were trying to colonize what they called the new world and therefore their immigration policies might have been more lenient back then or more friendlier to get more people to come and settle here, I guess. So the examples of countries are Canada, Mexico, the United States, of course, and a lot of South American
countries which are, I could go on and on, that there's
Jane Mepham, CFP® (12:40)
Sure.
Manasa Nadig, EA (12:41)
a quite long list, Argentina, Brazil, Barbados, Dominica, Ecuador, so on. So there's a lot of South American countries, but there are also other countries where you can get citizenship, but those, they do come with,
some restrictions like the UK has a restriction that you can become a citizen of the UK, but you may either have to have a parent or an ancestor maybe who has to have a UK citizenship and or you have to have lived there for a certain length of time. And I think Germany and Italy also have.
similar, restricted ways of getting citizenship of that country. So, a lot of comparison with other countries right now, which we're looking at, and that's just really interesting how the global perspective on this is, right, Jane?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (13:45)
Yeah, and I think what I'll do is let's bring it back to why do you care about this? if you're a foreign national on a work visa, I think this is a group that's likely to be impacted. And this is the reason we're talking about it. If this passes in the get rid of birthright citizenship.
What it means is if you have kids or once you have kids, they will not be US citizens. And so this does change how you think about, of course, finances and taxes and their future lives. And because before, if they're born in the US, you knew they could at least stay here permanently. You have to take into consideration what their future state is likely to be. You and I,
right now can't do much about which way this case goes. But there are some things we can do. So we're not completely helpless. And we talk a lot about, let's focus on what we can control. the things we can focus on and we can control as this case goes on is one, really avoid the news. You know, what we call doom scrolling. I think that's a word they use.
avoid the overconsumption of, okay, so and so said this, so and so said this, so and so said this. Because watching the news and listening to all the debate going back and forth, I found to be very depressing to say the least. So for your mental health, obviously you want to know what's going on, but you don't need to be in there as part of the news. And then being practical.
We talk a lot about having a 12 month emergency fund. It's key that we have that money. And of course it needs to be liquid. Plus I always talk about the cost of home in case you need to leave at a moment. Notice we want to make sure you are able to take your whole family home. Keep working on your career. Keep an open mind. are countries which have
maybe friendly immigration policies. And it may be worth considering that if this obviously becomes an issue, right? It's really key that you stay in compliance, ensure your immigration status is, you're following all the things you need to do to keep your legal status. We all know the attacks laws in as a US tax resident right now, you need to be filing.
your worldwide taxes. And if there's anything you can do to change your legal status, know, become a green card holder, for example, and it's something you want to pursue, it's absolutely worth talking to a legal expert or an immigration lawyer to see what they can help you with. In other words, don't just keep your head buried in the sand. And then of course, as we all say, we have...
an immigrant mindset. It's really what has allowed us to have come from wherever we came from, come to the US, succeed and actually have great lives. So don't forget that you have a special super strength that you can definitely rely on. So hold on to it. Hold on to it. Anything else you want to add to that Liz Manasa?
Manasa Nadig, EA (17:26)
No, wow, I love what you said in the end. And not to overemphasize, but folks, please stay in compliance with immigration laws and tax laws. And to add on just a little bit about the doom scrolling part, please don't read many WhatsApp forwards and panic.
If you see something that worries you, reach out to an expert to get more into that and find out if it's really something you should worry about. Maybe it's not. So think about that. Yeah. So that's our topic today, Birthright Citizenship. And I guess we covered some really great points. And yeah, Jane, if...
You are ready, we could call it and end the episode here.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (18:20)
Yep, that sounds good to me.
Manasa Nadig, EA (18:22)
All right, thanks for listening, dear listener. And if you have any thoughts that you would like to share about this or any other episode that we have talked about, please send us an email. Go to our website, theiamcafe.com, and you will know how to get in touch with us there. Thank you. Bye.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (18:45)
Bye.
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The speakers' views and opinions discussed in this episode should not be considered financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult your advisor for any legal, cross-border tax, and financial advice.