Kristy A. Belton
Table 4 Special registration: children of deceased citizens
Procedure
Born abroad
Residency
Knowledge
English
Antigua & Barbuda
Automatic
Y30
N
N
N
Bahamas
Automatic
Y31
N
N
N
Barbados
Automatic
32
Y
N
N
N
Belize
Automatic
N
N
N
N
Dominica
Registration
N
Y (3 years)
N
Y
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of
Oath
Grenada
Automatic
Y
N
N
N
Guyana
Automatic
N
N
N
N
Automatic
N
N
N
N
Jamaica
St. Kitts & Nevis
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Automatic
N
N
N
N
St. Lucia
Automatic
N
N
N
N
St. Vincent & the
Grenadines
Automatic
N
N
N
N
Trinidad & Tobago
Automatic
Y
N
N
N
30
Note that this provision holds for children born outside of the country (Constitution Article 113(b-c)) to a father who would have become a citizen upon Independence.
However, the Constitution does not explicitly note the child must be born outside of the country in Article 118. Article 118 states that “the national status” of a child born to a
deceased father is whatever the father’s national status was at the time of the father’s death.
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Note that this provision holds for children born outside of the country (Constitution Article 3(2)) to a father who would have become a citizen upon Independence, but the
Constitution does not explicitly state the child must be born outside of the country in Article 14(3). Article 14 states that “the national status” of a child born to a deceased
father is whatever the father’s national status was at the time of the father’s death.
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Note that this provision holds for children born outside of the country (Constitution Article 2(2)) to a father who would have become a citizen upon Independence, but the
Constitution does not explicitly state the child must be born outside of the country in Article 10(4). Article 10(4) states that “the national status” of a child born to a deceased
father is whatever the father’s national status was at the time of the father’s death.
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Note that this provision holds for children born outside of the country (Constitution Article 94(3)) to a mother or a father who would have become a citizen upon
Independence, but the Constitution does not explicitly state the child must be born outside of the country in Article 100(4). Article 100(4) states that “the national status” of a
child born to a deceased father is whatever the father’s national status was at the time of the father’s death. Note that the interpretive article only refers to the national status
of the father and not of the mother, and the amended 2016 Constitution does not alter the 1973 Constitution in this regard.
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Out of all the countries, St. Kitts and Nevis has the most varied provisions for citizenship acquisition for the spouses and children of deceased citizens, although St. Lucia
also has many distinctions. See the GLOBALCIT database for further differences.
RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-Comp. 2020/3 - © 2020 Authors
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