A recent court ruling has determined that a child born to a South Korean woman in the United States cannot hold dual citizenship if the mother did not reside in the U.S. for at least two consecutive years before and after the birth.
On Feb. 24, the Seoul Administrative Court’s Administrative Division 1 ruled against the plaintiff, A, in a lawsuit challenging the rejection of A’s nationality selection application by the Seoul Southern Immigration Office. This decision followed an earlier ruling against A in December of last year.
A was born in July 2003 in Oregon, U.S. Both of A’s parents held S. Korean nationality, so A acquired both S. Korean and U.S. citizenship. However, S. Korean nationality law requires dual nationals to choose one citizenship before the age of 22. To retain dual citizenship, individuals must pledge not to exercise a foreign nationality in S. Korea.
However, making this pledge does not automatically guarantee dual nationality. The individual must prove that their parents did not engage in “birth tourism,” meaning they did not stay in the foreign country for two consecutive years around the birth. The S. Korean government evaluates birth tourism based on whether either parent resided in the country for at least two consecutive years before and after the birth.
A, who turned 20 in February last year, pledged not to exercise a foreign nationality in South Korea and submitted an application to the Seoul Southern Immigration Office to select South Korean nationality.
However, the immigration office rejected the application, determining that A’s mother had frequently traveled to the U.S. around A’s birth but had not stayed there for two consecutive years, meaning A was ineligible for dual nationality.
