Andorra Court Grants Citizenship to Surrogate Daughter of Baroness Thyssen

Andorra's Superior Court of Justice has ruled that filiation through surrogacy must be treated as equivalent to full adoption for nationality purposes, granting citizenship to Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza de Caszon, a daughter of Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza born via surrogacy in California in 2006.

The administrative chamber's 30 March 2026 decision overturned government rejections from February 2025 and a Batllia ruling that upheld them. The US citizen, whose maternity link to Thyssen was validated by an Andorran court in 2017 based on a California judgment, sought a passport in September 2023 under two routes: Article 11.2, citing local schooling, and Article 8.2, for children of foreign nationals with 10 years of prior permanent residency who are fully adopted.

Officials dismissed both applications, citing insufficient schooling proof and arguing surrogacy fell outside adoption provisions in the 2004 nationality law. The Batllia agreed, leading to an appeal. Judges deemed the law's silence on surrogacy—predating its common use—a gap to fill through constitutional equality principles, international obligations, and the 2019 Qualified Law on the Person and Family. That law treats filiation by nature, assisted reproduction, or adoption as producing identical effects and allows recognition of foreign surrogacy judgments.

The court found excluding surrogacy-born children discriminatory based on filiation origin, breaching equality rules and Article 157 of family law. With Thyssen's foreign maternity title already approved and residency requirements met, Carmen qualified under Article 8.2. The ruling revoked the Batllia decision, deemed government actions unlawful, and is final, obliging authorities to issue her passport.

The precedent affects Thyssen's other daughter from a 2006 California surrogacy, Sabina Thyssen-Bornemisza de Caszon, whose identical application remains pending at the Batllia despite simultaneous filing. Sources expect the decision to speed up and favour her case. Both sisters, long-term Andorran residents educated at Agora School, maintain strong local ties through friendships and activities, despite global family connections and current overseas studies. They view Andorra, not the US—where their births were circumstantial—as home.

The outcome coincides with parliamentary moves to update nationality laws for contemporary family structures, with broader implications for similar claims.