What Constitues "Dual Citizenship"

[glorya14]

Who qualifies for "dual citizenship" and "why?" I was always under the impression if you were a citizen of one country, that was it. One county, one citizenship. There seems to be an error in my thinking. Ok, if I were a "citizen" of another country besides the one I was born in, can I vote there? Can I qualify for programs, etc.? Are their "special" countries that qualify for this dual citizenship? Does anyone have any explanation?

[Ned]

Originally posted by glorya14@Jul 18 2006, 01:33 PM
Who qualifies for "dual citizenship" and "why?"* I was always under the impression if you were a citizen of one country, that was it.* One county, one citizenship.* There seems to be an error in my thinking.* Ok, if I were a "citizen" of another country besides the one I was born in, can I vote there?* Can I qualify for programs, etc.?* Are their "special" countries that qualify for this dual citizenship? Does anyone have any explanation?
31871

Hi,

Based on the U.S. Department of State regulations, the Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual citizenship is a “status long recognized in the law” and that “a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both. The mere fact he asserts the rights of one citizenship does not without more mean that he renounces the other,” (Kawakita v. U.S., 343 U.S. 717) (1952).

The Immigration and Nationality Act doesn't define dual citizenship. There are no prohibitions against dual citizenship. While the US government recognizes the existence of dual citizenship and permits Americans to have multiple citizenships, the U.S. Government does not endorse dual citizenship as a matter of policy because of the problems and conflicts which may occur due to citizenship in more than one country. Different countries can have conflicting laws for its citizens.

There is a good web site for you to take a look at: US laws relating to dual citizenship (http://www.richw.org/dualcit/law.html).

Probably the way most people end up with dual citizenship is that they are born in one country, while their parents are citizens of another country. For example, if someone is born on US soil, whose parents are citizens of Mexico, the offspring will have dual citizenship: Mexican and US. That's true even if the parents are in the US illegally. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution says that anyone born in the US and subject to its jurisdiction (offspring born to foreign government officials on US soil are not citizens because they are not considered to be subject to US jurisdiction) are US citizens.

Normally, people with dual or multiple citizenship are able to enjoy all the rights, privileges and requirements of each of their countries' of citizenship. Of course that's where problems can occur. There may be some limitations to that of course, including residency requirements for certain rights and privileges, including voting. There's no easy answer about that.

[cole75]

I can't give you any definites - I am in Canada - my old neighbour had a baby on a vacation in FL and the child had dual citizenship until she was 16 and at which time she had to pick one or the other.

A friend of mine has dual her father is Canadian and mother is American - she was born here but carries both passports.

I thought you had to be one or other but apparently that is wrong!

Nicole

[tdew]

You can obtain Irish citizenship (dual) if one of your grandparents were born there.
Some are doing this in order to be permitted to work in the European Union.

[mercwyn]

Ned has done a wonderful job of explaining this and I will provide a simple example or two.

My ex wife was born in LA to Canadian parents so she was a US citizen by birth and a Canadian citizen because her parents were. This make her a dual citizen. On top of that, she has moved to Australia and is working on becoming an Australian citizen.

Our daughter was born in Utah and is thus a US citizen. She has the option of becoming a Canadian citizen if she wants to be since she is the daughter of a Canadian. If her mother becomes an Australian citizen before my daughter turns 18, my daughter can get her citizenship there as a result of her mother's citizenship. So she could actually end up with triple citizenship.

The interesting part is deciding what passport to use when you travel. I work with several people who have dual US/Brazilian citizenship and they all use their Brazilian passport when they head south and then they use their US on the way north. Or when they are traveling in areas that we consider dangerous for US citizens to travel to, they use their Brazilian passports.

[glorya14]

My huaband was born in Greece and is an American citizen. Can he and I, by virtue of marriage, get Greek passports in addition to our American passports? Can we use either one whenever we choose?

[Ned]

Originally posted by glorya14@Jul 18 2006, 07:36 PM
My huaband was born in Greece and is an American citizen.* Can he and I, by virtue of marriage, get Greek passports in addition to our American passports? Can we use either one whenever we choose?
31917

There are too many senarios possible here to answer your questions, but here are a few observations.

It's possible your husband may still be a citizen of Greece, but then again he may have formally renounced Greek citizenship when he became a naturalized US Citizen, and Greece may had rules about keeping or losing citizenship by virtue of becoming a naturalized citizen of another country. Without being considered a legal national of Greece, or without being a citizen of Greece at this point he couldn't get a passport from Greece.

It is highly unlikely you're either a Greek national (I don't know if there even is such a thing legally in Greece) or a Greek citizen. For you to be a Greek citizen I believe you would have had to apply to become a citizen of Greece and be accepted for citizenship by the Greek government, and I'd bet you haven't. I'd also bet you haven't been living in Greece, so therefore, if there is a such thing as a Greek National, you wouldn't be that either. Therefore, I'd bet you can't get a Greek passport either.

As to which passport to use if you had two or more. US Citizens are required to show a US passport to reenter the country. Most people always use their passport of the country they're entering in the case of multi-country citizenship.

All that being said, I say again that I can't answer your questions specifically. If you're really interested in finding out what options the two of you have you should see an attorney specializing in immigration and naturalization.