A ruling has been issued stating that even if a Korean woman gives birth to a child in the United States, the child cannot be recognized as a dual national if the woman did not reside in the U.S. for two consecutive years before and after the birth.
According to the legal community on the 24th, the Administrative Division 1 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Director General Yang Sang-yoon) ruled against Plaintiff A in a lawsuit to cancel the rejection of nationality selection registration filed against the Seoul Southern Immigration Office last December.
A was born in July 2003 in Oregon, USA. Both of A's parents are Korean nationals, so A acquired both Korean and American nationality. However, our nationality law requires dual nationals to choose one nationality before the age of 22. To maintain dual nationality, a pledge must be made not to exercise foreign nationality in South Korea.
However, making a pledge does not guarantee recognition of dual nationality. It must be acknowledged that the parents did not engage in birth tourism. Our government determines whether it was birth tourism based on the criteria of whether the father or mother resided in that country for two consecutive years before and after the child's birth.
In February last year, when A turned 20, A pledged not to exercise foreign nationality in South Korea and filed a report to select South Korean nationality with the Seoul Southern Immigration Office.
However, the immigration office rejected A's application. The immigration office determined that A's mother frequently traveled to and from the U.S. around A's birth but did not reside there for two consecutive years, thus falling under the case of being unable to be recognized for dual nationality.
According to the court, A's mother, B, left for the U.S. in August 2000 and returned to Korea about ten days later. Then, in July 2003, A was born in the U.S. The two returned to Korea the following month and then left for the U.S. again in April 2011. It is said that they repeatedly entered and exited the country until 2012-2015.
A filed an administrative lawsuit against the rejection decision. During the trial, A stated, "My mother stayed in the U.S. for more than two years when the periods before and after my birth are combined, and she traveled to the U.S. not for the purpose of obtaining American nationality but to give birth to me at a U.S. hospital run by my grandfather."
However, the court did not accept A's claim. The court noted, "In principle, dual nationality can be recognized in cases where parents have continuously stayed abroad for more than two years before and after the child's birth date." It added, "Simply having the combined total of arbitrary durations of stay before and after the child's birth date exceeding two years does not imply recognition of dual nationality."