President Obama I Know How You Feel

I am not Chinese.  Neither genetically nor culturally the teeniest weeniest bit.  I've been sewing a Union Jack tea-cosy today for goodness sake!  And yet my Brazilian ID card insists that I'm from the People's Republic In China.  It's for the same reason that Americans are getting their knickers in a twist about exactly where President Obama was born.  The concept that place of birth dictates nationality is shared by Brazilians too.  For me, who happened to be born in Hong Kong (which at the time was a British Territory) it's a totally bizarre concept.

For Brits, it's all about where your parents and your grandparents were born.  With my father and paternal grandfather born outside of the UK (but still in British colonies), I get citizenship by the skin of my teeth.  My own children got Brazilian passports automatically (since they were born here) and their British ones by descent, mostly due to the fact that my  "Brazilian" husband was born to a British mum, in London.  If my kids in turn have their children outside of the UK,  I believe that my grand children might not get British passports, at least not down our 'line', since British citizenship by descent only stretches to one generation born abroad.

It makes me wonder what would happen to a baby if it were born in another country that does not grant automatic citizenship based on birth (Germany for instance) to British parents who, due to a random set of birth circumstances, can't pass on British nationality.  Anyone know? 

Turns out that understanding citizenship and nationality is so complex that speaking Chinese might have helped after all...