First newborn twins to receive different citizenship status

In an unprecedented instance of citizenship case law, married couple Andrew Dvash-Banks (USA/Canada) and Elad Dvash-Banks (Israel) had fraternal twin sons (Aiden and Ethan) via surrogacy, but despite being born within four minutes of each other in Canada on 16 September 2016, only one boy was initially granted US citizenship. The other was rejected when the fathers applied in 2017. This was apparently based on the fact that the twins had been conceived with the sperm of different fathers: Aiden from Andrew and Ethan from Elad.

Backed up by the rights group Immigration Equality, the Dvash-Banks family spent years contesting this decision in the courts, arguing that the law had been applied discriminatorily against them, as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

In February 2021, they were finally successful in gaining US citizenship for both of their sons.

In May 2021, the policy, which declared that a biological connection to a parent was necessary for transnational citizenship, was eliminated.