Outrage over Aussie woman’s birthright citizenship ‘passport hack’

An Aussie Instagram star revealed she gave birth in Central America so her family could get dual nationality – and it’s left many outraged.

An Aussie social media influencer revealed she gave birth in Central America so her family could get dual nationality.

In a now-viral post, Shannen Michaela explained that over the past few months she has been working on a “comprehensive” guide to Jus Soli.

It is also known as ‘birthright citizenship’ which ultimately means her child will gain an extra passport.

It also means parents of the child will gain permanent residency, “with a pathway to citizenship”.

The 24-year-old health and wellbeing influencer, however, has been heavily criticised over her post with many slamming her using “white privilege” with her “birth tourism citizenship hack”.

“I flew from Australia to Costa Rica to give birth and give my child an extra passport,” she said.

Shannen Michaela, an Aussie Instagram star, revealed she gave birth in Central America so her family could get dual nationality.

“I know from first hand experience how much research, time and energy goes into the whole process; especially if you plan to get a passport in a country you have not visited before.”

The mother-of-one who now holds Costa Rican, British and Australian passports described the birthright citizenship as “the most accessible way to obtain an extra passport”.

“It is an investment in your family, your child’s future and generations to come.”

Shannen said it is a “legal form of immigration” with 31 countries involved that grant birthright citizenships including Costa Rica and the USA.

She was able to do it under Jus Soli – also referred to as birthright citizenship.

The list also includes countries in the Caribbean, such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, a well as Lesotho in southern Africa, and Fiji in the Pacific.

Her clip titled ‘Have a baby and get an extra passport’ has attracted almost half a million views and has been met with hundreds of divisive comments.

Some have thanked the influencer for sharing details of birthright citizenship, adding they are considering to make a move to one of the abiding countries, while others have described it as being for “rich people”.

“This is some privileged sh**,” one person wrote.

“New Age colonialism,” said another, to which Shannen responded: “Absolutely not”.

Jus Soli – Latin for law of soil – means citizenship of a country is based on being born there.

Michaela said “more and more people are leaving the West and searching for a Plan B”.

“With an additional passport, you always have an alternative place to go,” adding that getting a second citizenship was a “protection in case anyone tries to restrict your freedom of movement’”.

“You can choose which tax systems you want to be part of and diversify your assets. Travel freedom is personal freedom and the more passports you collect the more opportunity you create for your family, including generations to come.”

However, this comment didn’t go down too well with some of her almost half a million followers.

It allows the child to gain an extra passport and also means parents of the child will gain permanent residency, ‘with a pathway to citizenship’.

One person sparked a flurry of comments after saying Shannen’s clip is “essentially anchor baby instructions for rich people”.

“Who the f*** do you think has a bunch of money to fly to a foreign country for weeks when heavily pregnant? Who has money to up and move their entire life?” one person asked.

Another said: “You literally said the words ‘diversify your assets’ … you are 100 per cent pointing this video at a specific socio-economic class. You’re either lying or so stupid you don’t see it. Either way doesn’t bode well for your image.”

One person defended the Aussie saying it was a very common thing.

She said ‘With an additional passport, you always have an alternative place to go’.

“I have plans to move to South America and keep working remotely from any country I wish. Travelling is not only a rich people thing,” they wrote.

However, the original commenter fired back saying: “I didn’t say that birth tourism was a rich people thing. It’s been done for decades.”

“I said that this was an instructional video for well-off digital nomads on how to drop an anchor baby. Encouraging Americans to gentrify countries like Mexico in the first place and drive up housing prices for the people that live there on a limited income isn’t the greatest advice to begin with.”

But her post has been met with criticism – with accusing the 24-year-old of ‘new age colonialism’ and being ‘privileged’.

Many commented on Shannen’s post saying the practise should be “illegal”.

“It’s crazy that white people can advertise how to have anchor babies in our countries in Latin America, but the minute the Latinos try to come into white countries they get shot at the border,” one person wrote.

“Yeah this is only seen as a positive if you’re rich and privileged babe.”

Others said “if you’re rich it’s called Jus Soli and it’s looked at positively, if you’re poor it’s called an anchor baby and it’s looked down upon”.

Another said “but when Hispanics do it it’s bad”.

One person hit out at Shannen’s comment on tax and diversifying assets.

“Sooo you’re goin (sic) to use a country’s tax dollars (that you’ve NEVER contributed to) to your personal (likely at least middle class wealth) benefit?”

“Sounds pretty financially abusive to the people who live in that country,” said another.

Shannen has actively responded to a lot of the comments, disagreeing that it is for “rich people”.

“I’d say the Venezualena giving birth in Costa Rica and Russians in Argentina would disagree,” she said in one comment.

Prior to birthright citizenship being abolished in Australia on August 20, 1986, regardless of the parents’ immigration status, all babies born in Australia became Australian citizens.

Now, one or both parents need to be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident to gain citizenship — or have been ordinarily resident in Australia from the day of their birth until they become 10 years old.