What happens if a child is born at sea?

Question

Is you have a baby on a ship or airplane over international waters.

Answer 1

I not sure what happens when a kid is born over sea. That could be the FAA's choice to decide. Why you do ask?

Answer 2

Are you asking in reference to the nationality of the child, since he/she wasnt born in a particular country?

Answer 3

Nothing if it's a normal birth. If there ar3e complications hoe there's a doctor on board. Actually neither an airlines nor a cruise line will allow an expectant mother on board after the 28th week of pregnancy. SO.. no problem.

Answer 4

Then that's 1 more life on this Earth. :)

Answer 5

I'm not sure if its a FAA regulation or not, but the golden rule for woman who are pregnant is to not fly at all after their second tri-mester, so having a child in an airplane is highly unlikely.

Answer 6

I think the answer is very different for a ship and for an airplane.  Ships are registered to a country and flying that country's flag. The ship captain has more power than an airplane captain.  Ocean voyages can be very long, with doctors onboard. I'm sure many many babies were born on ships in the old days before air travel.  I believe the baby's nationality is that of the parents, and the baby's place of birth (which need not be the same as his nationality) is the country to which the ship is registered.

Answer 7

Assuming you're talking about nationality...

Most likely, the child's nationality will be determine by the parents' nationality.  However, this is an extremely complicated question and depends greatly on the citizenship laws of all the countries involved (parents' nationalities as well as the last country departed, ships' registrations, etc).

And for documentation purposes, I've heard from someone who was born on a private sailboat somewhere in the Atlantic that in her passport under place of birth, instead of a country, it has latitude and longitude coordinates!

Speaking to the medical issues of the actual birth...

Airlines and passenger ships do limit travel late in a pregnancy to reduce the chances of this happening, so it's relatively uncommon.  The most common situation is on private boats, as in the case above case, and the families are usually aware of the potential complications when they set sail.