Citizenship by Descent (born abroad to Grenadian parent)

Person born outside Grenada on or after 7 February 1974 is a citizen by descent if a parent is a Grenadian citizen otherwise than by descent (Constitution s.97).

• Descent (first generation): a person born outside Grenada on or after 7 February 1974 becomes a citizen of Grenada automatically at the date of birth if, at that date, his or her father OR mother is a citizen of Grenada (otherwise than by descent) — Constitution Cap 128A s.97. Acquisition is automatic at birth with NO registration step and NO registration deadline; only one Grenadian parent is required. - Generational limit (one-generation descent abroad): s.97 transmission is excluded where the Grenadian parent is a citizen of Grenada ONLY 'by virtue of this section [s.97] or section 94(3)'. A parent who is Grenadian solely by descent (s.97) — or solely by the colonial out-of-Grenada CUKC-descent route at independence (s.94(3)) — does NOT transmit citizenship to a child born abroad. Thus citizenship-by-descent abroad does not cascade indefinitely across successive foreign-born generations; the chain stops after one generation born abroad to a descent-only parent. - Maternal/paternal equality from independence: both the jus soli provisos (s.96) and the descent rule (s.97) are expressed in gender-neutral terms ('his or her father or his or her mother'), so a Grenadian mother transmits descent equally with a Grenadian father with effect from 7 February 1974. Grenada's Constitution did NOT carry the male-line-only transmission rule common in pre-reform Commonwealth nationality statutes. - Out-of-wedlock construction (s.100(2)): for the purposes of Part VII, any reference to the FATHER of a person born out of wedlock and not legitimated is construed as a reference to the MOTHER. The effect is that an unmarried Grenadian mother's status governs the s.97 descent claim of her non-legitimated child, and the father's status is read out unless the child is legitimated. - Minor-registration entitlement at independence (s.95(2)): a person born outside Grenada who was, on 6 February 1974, a CUKC and under 18 was ENTITLED to be registered as a citizen if his or her parent became a citizen on 7 February 1974 by virtue of s.94(2), provided application was made on the minor's behalf before age 18 (or such later date as Parliament prescribes). This is a transitional registration entitlement (not automatic descent), omitted from.

• Deceased-parent timing rule (s.100(4)): where a person is born after the death of his or her father, the father's national status is taken at the time of the father's death; and where that death occurred before 7 February 1974 but the birth occurred on/after that date, the national status the father would have had if he had died on 7 February 1974 is deemed his status at death. This fixes the reference date for descent claims involving a pre-birth-deceased parent.

Primary statute: Constitution Cap 128A s.97. Operative 1974-02-07–present. Authority: Ministry of Home Affairs.