Kristy A. Belton name, to registration of birth and to a nationality” (Article 9). This provision is to apply in a Member Party State regardless of the immigration status of the parent(s). Again, however, it is often difficult to secure data on how well these countries provide for citizenship to children born of migrants in irregular situations. 3. Comparative analysis of citizenship laws 3.1 Acquisition of citizenship at birth Like the majority of countries in the Americas, citizenship acquisition via ius soli at birth prevails in the Anglophone Caribbean. The exception is The Bahamas, which does not allow a child to acquire citizenship automatically via ius soli unless one parent is a Bahamian citizen.4 In addition to ius soli provisions, countries in the subregion provide for automatic citizenship acquisition at birth through descent (ius sanguinis), although it may be qualified in some contexts. 3.1.1 Ius soli With the exception of The Bahamas, which requires one parent to be a Bahamian citizen, all countries of the Anglophone Caribbean permit ius soli citizenship acquisition at birth automatically. The eleven ius soli countries place restrictions on this provision, however, in the following areas: 1. a child is born to a foreign diplomat and neither parent is a citizen, 5 and 2. one of the parents is an enemy alien and the child is born in a place under enemy occupation. 3.1.2 Ius sanguinis All Anglophone Caribbean countries provide for citizenship via descent, but qualifications exist in some instances. These qualifications may either be gender based or require that a parent be born on the soil to transfer citizenship to a child. Whereas the majority (ten) of the Anglophone Caribbean countries allow for their male and female citizens to pass citizenship automatically to their children born abroad, in The Bahamas and Barbados restrictions exist. Under Bahamian law, children born abroad to a female citizen cannot acquire Bahamian citizenship at birth unless the child is born out of wedlock. If the child is born abroad to a Bahamian mother who is married to a noncitizen father, the child is denied Bahamian citizenship. The child has the right to register for Bahamian citizenship between the ages of 18 and 21.6 4 The Bahamas is an exception to the ius soli rule in the Anglophone Caribbean. This provision is gendered in Barbados and St. Lucia where the ius soli limitation is placed only on the father. While the Constitution of St. Vincent and the Grenadines states that every person born on its territory becomes a citizen (Article 91), the Citizenship Act states that the mother must be a citizen (Article 4). 6 Residency is not required as part of registration. Also note that while the Constitution stipulates registration occurs between the ages of 18 and 21, Form 4 of Regulation 5 states the child must be under 16. 5 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-Comp. 2020/3 - © 2020 Authors 3