Can a baby exit Estonia for the first time on an Australian passport?
I'm Australian and live with my Estonian wife in Estonia. Our daughter was born here in Estonia and is therefore an Estonian citizen. We're thinking about moving back to Australia at some point (my wife has an Australian permanent visa application in progress) and from what I've researched online, it'll be cheaper for us to make our daughter an Australian citizen (by descent) than it would be to get her a permanent visa as well. I've also read that you can't be a dual Australian/Estonian citizen.
My question is: if we apply for my daughter to become an Australian citizen here in Estonia before we leave, and she gets an Australian passport, what'll happen (if anything) when we turn up to the airport in Estonia to leave? I'm wondering if they're going to think it odd that a baby born here is leaving the country for the first time on a foreign passport...
Best Answer
This is not particularly odd at all. Most countries do not have jus soli, and Estonia is indeed among the countries which don't. Therefore, babies born to foreigners in Estonia are not Estonian, and so leaving the country for the first time on a foreign passport isn't an unusual occurrence.
On the other hand, some countries do have laws requiring citizens to enter and sometimes to leave using that countries passport. For example, Australian citizens are required to use their Australian passport when entering Australia. It's possible that this is the case for Estonia, but I've not been able to find anything on the subject in English.
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