FACTOID # 168: There are 11 countries where the average woman has more than six children. Ten of them are in Africa.
 
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Encyclopedia > Dual national

Multiple citizenship is simultaneous citizenship in two or more countries, whether it is recognised by all countries or not. Citizenship is membership in a political community (originally a city but now usually a state), and carries with it rights to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen. ... A country, a land, is a geographical area that connotes an independent political entity, with its own government, administration, laws, often a constitution, police, military, tax rules, and population, who are one anothers countrymen. ...


Dual citizenship (being a citizen of two nations) is by far the most common type of multiple citizenship, but nothing in international law prevents individuals from establishing citizenship in more than two countries. Some countries prohibit their citizens from establishing citizenship in another country or only permit it in certain circumstances or for certain countries. Other countries place no restrictions upon citizens wishing to become citizens of other lands. International law deals with the relationships between states, or between persons or entities in different states. ...

Contents


Incidence

Each country has different requirements for citizenship, as well as different policies regarding dual citizenship. An Australian study estimated that 4-5 million Australians (up to 25% of the Australian population) had dual citizenship in 2000. An estimated sixty percent of Swiss nationals living abroad in 1998 were dual citizens. Approximately 89 countries in the world officially allow some form of dual or multiple citizenship. In the United States it is estimated that millions of Americans are also citizens of other countries. In spite of very restrictive German laws, there was an estimated in 1994 1.2 million dual citizens with German citizenship. 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...


Issues

There are some legal issues about dual citizenship and government services. For example, an American citizen with a second nationality and passport may have issues getting a security clearance if that person prefers to use the non-American passport or work within the United States government.


While multiple citizenship can be helpful as the individual can carry two or more passports, it is prudent to realize that each citizenship carries responsibilites, such as the risk of conscription or "the draft", as well as pledging allegiance to more than one state, and having to observe travel restrictions, embargoes and sets of laws issued by multiple governments governing one's behavior domestically and while travelling abroad. Also, a drawback peculiar to a few countries such as the U.S., citizens are the obligated to pay taxes in both the country of origin and the actual country of residence. The United States has employed conscription (mandatory military service, also called the draft) several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War. ... Allegiance is the duty which some think a subject or a citizen owes to the state or to the sovereign of the state to which some think he belongs. ... A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. ... In international commerce and politics, an embargo is the prohibition of commerce and trade with a certain country. ... A tax is a compulsory fee paid by individuals or businesses to a state, or to functional equivalents of a state, including tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements. ...


The numbers are large and increasing. Millions of people in the world are now citizens of more than one country. The number of multiple citizens is going to increase rapidly as people become ever more mobile, living, marrying and having children in multiple countries over the course of their lives.


It brings important personal opportunities and responsibilities. As a citizen of a country, you have the opportunity to live there, go to school, work, get medical care, have children, buy property, and retire. There may be agreements to allow freedom of movement to other countries, as in the European Union. There may also be responsibilities connected with citizenship, such as potential mandatory military service. Japanese secondary school students in uniform. ...


Examples

Example 1: A person born in Canada, to a Canadian citizen and an American citizen would have Canadian citizenship by birth, and may also have US citizenship, depending on certain circumstances (the parents' marital status, date of the child's birth, and whether the US citizen parent has met certain physical presence requirements). If the requirements have been met, then the child would also be a US citizen, and therefore would have dual citizenship. // Possession of Citizenship U.S. citizens have the right to participate in the political system of the United States (with reservations for prisoners, ex-prisoners, and naturalized persons), are represented and protected abroad by the United States (through U.S. embassies and consulates), and are allowed to reside in the...


Example 2: A person born to American parents in the United States who moves to the United Kingdom may, after five years of legal residence (or three years if married to a British citizen) become a British citizen, and therefore will hold dual British/US citizenship.


Example 3: A child is born in Canada to British born parents. The child is entitled to dual citizenship at birth. Lex sanguinis applies for his British citizenship through his blood relationship with his parents, and Lex soli applies for his Canadian citizenship because of his birth on Canadian soil. Jus sanguinis (Latin for right of blood) is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognised to any individual born to a parent who is a national or citizen of that state. ... Jus soli (Latin for right of the territory) is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognised to any individual born in the territory of the related state. ...


See also

The United Kingdom has arguably the worlds most complex nationality laws, because of its former status as an imperial power. ... A foreign-born Japanese is a person who was originally born outside Japan and later acquired Japanese citizenship. ... Indian citizenship/nationality law: The Constitution of India provides for a single citizenship for the entire country. ... Jus soli (Latin for right of the territory) is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognised to any individual born in the territory of the related state. ... Jus sanguinis (Latin for right of blood) is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognised to any individual born to a parent who is a national or citizen of that state. ... Nationality law is that branch of a countrys legal system wherein legislation, custom and court precendent combine to define the ways in which that countrys nationality and citizenship are transmitted, acquired or lost. ... -1...

External links

General

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe Systems for representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create those documents. ...

Australia

  • Citizenship FAQ

Canada

India

  • Ministry of Home Affairs, Citizenship Division

United Kingdom

  • British citizenship, Home Office

United States



 
 

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