Comparative regional report on citizenship law: Anglophone Caribbean With regard to filial extension, wherein a child’s parents were not citizens of a country at the time of the child’s birth, but who have since acquired it, Guyana and Jamaica presently35 allow for the minor child of “any citizen” parent to register as a citizen at the Minister’s discretion. This provision would accommodate the children born to parents who naturalise or register for citizenship later in life. Filial extension also exists in countries that allow for citizenship by investment (CBI), such as Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis.36 Citizenship extension also applies to other relatives in CBI countries (see below, Table 5). Beside countries with CBI programmes, a number of countries contain provisions that declare that the child of “a citizen” is able to acquire citizenship via procedures that do not fall under ius soli and ius sanguinis provisions. The language of these provisions typically takes the form, “The Minister may at his discretion cause the minor child of any citizen of [name of country] to be registered as a citizen of [name of country].” Of the 12 countries, only Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada do not have such explicit registration procedures for the minor child of a citizen.37 While this special registration language is broad enough to include a parent who acquires citizenship through registration or naturalisation, Belize is explicit that the special registration procedure for minors of citizens only applies to those whose parent acquired Belizean citizenship via registration. In all cases where this language exists, the child must be a minor (18 or younger), except for those who are entitled to register under this provision in St. Lucia or St. Vincent and the Grenadines (where the individual can register under this provision until age 21). Finally, only Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis 38 ask for the minor to take an oath of allegiance, and only Dominica stipulates a 3-year residency requirement for the child. In addition to special registration procedures for the children of individuals who become citizens, the majority of countries allow for citizenship acquisition after birth once the paternity of the citizen father is established (filial transfer). Only Belize, Grenada and St. Lucia have no such provisions. In Dominica, the child must be under 18 to acquire citizenship via registration once paternity is established and it is a discretionary process.39 In Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, registration is an entitlement once paternity is established. It seems that Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago allow for the automatic acquisition of citizenship once paternity is 35 Other Anglophone Caribbean countries contain Independence-era provisions that allow for filial transfer in cases where, at Independence, the parent “becomes” or “would have become” (if not for death) a citizen upon Independence. 36 Conditions on the limit of filial transfer include age (typically the child is less than 18 or, if between ages 18 and 26, must be actively enrolled in school and still a dependent of the citizenship-by-investment applicant parent). Note that Belizean nationality law continues to state that a “dependent” relative of an “economic citizen” may receive citizenship, which includes the economic citizen’s father and mother as well as her/his father-in-law and mother-in-law in cases where they are incapacitated or unable to work. However, it is likely that this legal provision is no longer applied as Belize ended its citizenship by investment programme in 2002. 37 Both Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago have a provision for the acquisition of citizenship by minors in general, regardless of parental citizenship status. 38 In St. Kitts and Nevis, this can be waived if the minor is a Commonwealth citizen. 39 A Bill is currently under review in Dominica on the guidelines surrounding the establishment of paternity. Please see Government of Dominica (2016). 12 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-Comp. 2020/3 - © 2020 Authors