80 | Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic clause to the effect that children born on national territory to foreign parents “in transit or residing in the country illegally” shall not be Dominicans. 174. According to the Constitutional Court, “foreigners in transit” fall into four groups subsequently designated as “non-immigrant foreign workers” by the 1939 Immigration Law and its Regulations. Under Article 3 of that law, the following four groups of persons are classified as non-immigrant foreign workers: a) visitors (on business or for study, recreation or diversion); b) transient persons; c) persons working in some capacity aboard ships or aircraft; and d) temporary day workers and their families. Under the 1939 Immigration Regulations, “transient” persons may remain in the country for ten days. Here the Constitutional Court wrote that “foreign nationals in transit must not be confused with transient foreign [which] is simply the second group of persons under the category of […] non-immigrant foreign workers […] in other words, in transit.” Thus, according to the Court, “children born in the country of parents who fall into one of these four categories are not entitled to acquire Dominican nationality based on the principle of jus soli.” 179 175. The Constitutional Court also confirmed the Supreme Court’s 2005 case law expanding the interpretation of the expression “in transit” by excluding from Dominican nationality any child of parents in an irregular migratory situation. 180 In this regard, the Constitutional Court concluded that “these persons may not claim that their children born in the country are entitled to Dominican nationality, […] as it is legally indefensible to assert that a de facto illegal situation creates rights.” Following this line of reasoning, the Court pointed out that “foreign who do not have authorization to live in the country must be subsumed into the category of foreign in transit.” It further maintained that under Dominican case law “foreigners in transit” are those who do not have a legal residency permit. 181 176. Because the Inter-American Court’s interpretation of the phrase “in transit” in the judgment it delivered in the Case of the Yean and Bosico Girls v. Dominican Republic could have some bearing on the case of Juliana Deguis Pierre, the Constitutional 179 180 181 Regarding this, in its observation on the present report, the Dominican State stated that: “On September 23, 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic issued judgment TC/0168/13, which ruled, interpreting the constitutional system on nationality in force in the Dominican constitutional system since 1929, that persons born on Dominican territory of foreign parents with an irregular status cannot have the Dominican nationality” (underlining added). See Dominican Republic, Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the Organization of American States. Note MP-RD-OEA 1395-15: Note whereby the note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Observations of the Dominican State on the “Draft Report of the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic” is forwarded. December 21, 2015, p. 4. Dominican Republic, Supreme Court of Justice, Judgment No. 9 of December 14, 2005. Cf. Judgment TC/0168/13. Supra note XX, p. 6. In its observations on the present report, the Dominican State stated that judgment TC/0168/13 of the Constitutional Court ratified the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Justice of December, 14, 2005, reasserting that children born on the territory of the Dominican Republic of foreigners having an irregular migratory status or in transit do not receive Dominican nationality. See: Dominican Republic, Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the Organization of American States. Note MP-RD-OEA 1395-15: Note whereby the note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Observations of the Dominican State on the “Draft Report of the Situation of Human Rights in the Dominican Republic” is forwarded. December 21, 2015, p. 5. Organization of American States | OAS