Legal status establishing the person as a subject of a sovereign state
This article is about legal status between a country and its subjects. For a person's sense of belonging to a nation, seeNational identity. For citizenship of a country, seeCitizenship.
This articleis missing information about many countries. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(August 2019)
Nationality is thelegal status of belonging to a particularnation, defined as agroup of people organized in one country, under one legal jurisdiction, or as a group of people who are united on the basis of citizenship.[1][2][3]
Ininternational law, nationality is alegal identification establishing the person as a subject, anational, of asovereign state. It affords the statejurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the state against other states.[4] The rights and duties of nationals vary from state to state,[5] and are often complemented bycitizenship law, in some contexts to the point where citizenship is synonymous with nationality.[6] However, nationality differs technically and legally from citizenship, which is a different legal relationship between a person and a country. The noun "national" can include both citizens and non-citizens. The most common distinguishing feature of citizenship is that citizens have the right to participate in the political life of the state, such as byvoting orstanding for election. However, in most modern countries all nationals are citizens of the state, and full citizens are always nationals of the state.[7]
Ininternational law, a "stateless person" is someone who is "not considered as a national by anystate under the operation of its law".[8] To address this, Article 15 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights states that "Everyone has the right to a nationality", and "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality", even though, by internationalcustom and conventions, it is the right of each state to determine who its nationals are.[9] Such determinations are part ofnationality law. In some cases, determinations of nationality are also governed bypublic international law—for example, bytreaties onstatelessness or theEuropean Convention on Nationality.[10] For when a person lacks nationality, globally only 23 countries have established dedicated statelessness determination procedures. Even where such procedures exist, they still have shortcomings in accessibility and functionality, preventing stateless people from accessing rights connected to being determined stateless.[11]
The general process of acquiring nationality is callednaturalization. Each state determines in itsnationality law the conditions (statute) under which it will recognize persons as its nationals, and the conditions under which that status will bewithdrawn. Some countries permit their nationals to havemultiple nationalities, while others insist on exclusiveallegiance.
Due tothe etymology of nationality, in older texts or other languages the word "nationality", rather than "ethnicity", is often used to refer to anethnic group (a group of people who share a common ethnic identity, language, culture, lineage, history, and so forth). Individuals may also be considered nationals of groups withautonomous status thathave ceded some power to a larger sovereign state.
Nationality is also employed as a term fornational identity, with some cases ofidentity politics andnationalism conflating the legal nationality as well as ethnicity with a national identity.
Nationality is the status that allows a nation to grant rights to the subject and to impose obligations upon the subject.[7] In most cases, no rights or obligations are automatically attached to this status, although the status is a necessary precondition for any rights and obligations created by the state.[12]
In European law, nationality is the status or relationship that gives the nation the right to protect a person from other nations.[7]Diplomatic andconsular protection are dependent upon this relationship between the person and the state.[7] A person's status as being the national of a country is used to resolve theconflict of laws.[12]
Within the broad limits imposed by a few treaties and international law, states may freely define who are and are not their nationals.[7] However, since theNottebohm case, other states are only required to respect the claim(s) by a state to protect an alleged national if the nationality is based on a true social bond.[7] In the case of dual nationality, the states may determine the most effective nationality for the person, to determine which state's laws are the most relevant.[12] There are also limits on removing a person's status as a national. Article 15 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights states that "Everyone has the right to a nationality," and "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality."
A person can be recognized or granted nationality on a number of bases. Usually, nationality based on circumstances of birth is automatic, but an application may be required.
Nationality by family (jus sanguinis). If one or both of a person's parents are citizens of a given state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well.[a] Formerly this might only have applied through the paternal line, butsex equality became common since the late twentieth century. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry orethnicity and is related to the concept of anation state common inEurope. Wherejus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. Some states (United Kingdom,Canada) limit the right to citizenship by descent to a certain number of generations born outside the state; others (Germany,Ireland,Switzerland[15]) grant citizenship only if each new generation is registered with the relevant foreign mission within a specified deadline; while others (Italy, for example[16]) have no limitation on the number of generations born abroad who can claim citizenship of their ancestors' country. This form of citizenship is common incivil law countries.
Nationality by birth (jus soli). Some people are automatically nationals of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated inEngland, where those who were born within the realm weresubjects of the monarch (a concept pre-dating that of citizenship in England) and is common incommon law countries. Most countries inthe Americas grant unconditionaljus soli citizenship, while it has been limited or abolished in almost all other countries.
In many cases, bothjus soli andjus sanguinis hold citizenship either by place or parentage (or both).
Nationality by marriage (jus matrimonii). Many countries fast-track naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen. Countries that are destinations for such immigration often have regulations to try to detectsham marriages, where a citizen marries a non-citizen typically for payment, without them having the intention of living together.[17] Many countries (United Kingdom,Germany,United States,Canada) allow citizenship by marriage only if the foreign spouse is a permanent resident of the country in which citizenship is sought; others (Switzerland,Luxembourg) allow foreign spouses of expatriate citizens to obtain citizenship after a certain period of marriage, and sometimes also subject to language skills and proof of cultural integration (e.g. regular visits to the spouse's country of citizenship).
Naturalization. States normally grant nationality to people who have entered the country legally and been granted a permit to stay, or been grantedpolitical asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. In some countries, naturalization is subject to conditions which may include passing a test demonstrating reasonable knowledge of the language or way of life of the host country, good conduct (no serious criminal record), and moral character (such as drunkenness, or gambling, or an understanding of the nature of drunkenness, or gambling) vowing allegiance to their new state or its ruler and renouncing their prior citizenship. Some states allowdual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to formally renounce any other citizenship.
Nationality by investment oreconomic citizenship. Wealthy people invest money in property or businesses, buy government bonds or simply donate cash directly, in exchange for citizenship and a passport. Whilst legitimate and usually limited in quota, the schemes are controversial. Costs for citizenship by investment range from as little as $100,000 (£74,900) to as much as €2.5m (£2.19m)[18]
Nationals normally have theright to enter or return to the country they belong to.Passports are issued to nationals of a state, rather than only to citizens, because a passport is a travel document used to enter the country. However, nationals may not have theright of abode (the right to live permanently) in the countries that granted them passports.
An immigration inspection sign atShanghai Pudong International Airport with the English term "Chinese nationals" and the Chinese term for "Chinese citizens (中国公民)".
Conceptuallycitizenship and nationality are different dimensions of state membership. Citizenship is focused on the internal political life of the state and nationality is the dimension of state membership ininternational law.[35] Article 15 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to nationality.[36] As such nationality in international law can be called and understood as citizenship,[36] or more generally as subject or belonging to asovereign state, and not as ethnicity. This notwithstanding, around 10 million people arestateless.[36]
Today, the concept of full citizenship encompasses not only active political rights, but fullcivil rights andsocial rights.[7]
Historically, the most significant difference between a national and a citizen is that the citizen has the right to vote for elected officials, and the right to be elected.[7] This distinction between full citizenship and other, lesser relationships goes back to antiquity. Until the 19th and 20th centuries, it was typical for only a certain percentage of people who belonged to the state to be considered as full citizens. In the past, a number of people were excluded from citizenship on the basis of sex, socioeconomic class, ethnicity, religion, and other factors. However, they held a legal relationship with their government akin to the modern concept of nationality.[7]
Among the 6 forms of British nationality, only British Citizens have the automatic right of abode in theUnited Kingdom,Isle of Man andChannel Islands, all the others do not have an automatic right to enter and live in the UK at all. Although the status of aBritish Overseas Territories citizen (BOTC) is derived from a connection of an overseas territory, it does not guaranteebelonger status in that territory (which confers citizenship rights) as it is defined by the law of the territory itself which may be different from the British nationality law.[37]
This is the status conferred to people who were legal residents inLatvia upon restoring independence, but not eligible for Latvian citizenship—mainly ethnic Russians who migrated during the Soviet occupation period.
This is the term used to denote the legal residents inEstonia upon restoring independence who are not eligible for Estonian citizenship—mainly ethnic Russians who migrated during the Soviet occupation period.
Rights inTaiwan are granted by both having the nationality and a household registration there. Without a household registration a person does not have automatic right to enter or live in Taiwan. These are mainly overseas ethnic Chinese who have right to the Republic of China nationality under the nationality law.
These people, although technically Chinese nationals, are unable to vote or apply for a passport anywhere because rights in mainland China are associated withhousehold registration which is relinquished upon migration, but rights in the SARs (e.g. right to vote and right to hold a passport) are given topermanent residents which is only eligible after 7 years of continuous residence. (They are eligible for applyingHong Kong Document of Identity for Visa Purposes orMacao Special Administrative Region Travel Permit as travel documents.)
These people, mainly American Samoan, have the right to enter, work, and live in the United States as permanent residents but do not have the samevoting rights as citizens and are barred from holding certain public offices that are restricted to citizens only.
Certain interpretation of the Constitution of Uruguay leads to the belief that the language of the Constitution divides citizens into "nationals" and "non-national citizens".
Even if the nationality law classifies people with the same nationality on paper (de jure), the right conferred can be different according to the place of birth or residence, creating differentde facto classes of nationality, sometimes with different passports as well. For example, althoughChinese nationality law operates uniformly inChina, includingHong Kong andMacau SARs, with all Chinese nationals classified the same under the nationality law, in reality local laws, in mainland and also in the SARs, govern the right of Chinese nationals in their respective territories which give vastly different rights, including different passports, to Chinese nationals according to their birthplace or residence place, effectively making a distinction between Chinese national of mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, both domestically and internationally. The United Kingdom had a similar distinction as well before 1983, where all nationals with a connection to the UK or one of the colonies were classified asCitizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, but their rights were different depending on the connection under different laws, which was formalised into different classes of nationalities under theBritish Nationality Act 1981.
Nationality is sometimes used simply as an alternative word forethnicity or national origin, just as some people assume that citizenship and nationality are identical.[38] In some countries, thecognate word fornationality in local language may be understood as a synonym of ethnicity or as an identifier of cultural and family-basedself-determination, rather than on relations with a state or current government. For example, someKurds say that they have Kurdish nationality, even though there is no Kurdishsovereign state at this time in history.
A Soviet birth certificate, in which thenacional'nost' of both parents (here bothJewish) was recorded. These records were subsequently used to determine the ethnicity of the child, as specified in his internal passport.
In the context of formerSoviet Union and formerSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, "nationality" is often used as translation of theRussiannacional'nost' andSerbo-Croatiannarodnost, which were the terms used in those countries forethnic groups and local affiliations within the member states of thefederation. In the Soviet Union, more than 100 such groups were formally recognized. Membership in these groups was identified on Sovietinternal passports, and recorded incensuses in both the USSR and Yugoslavia. In the early years of the Soviet Union's existence, ethnicity was usually determined by the person's native language, and sometimes through religion or cultural factors, such as clothing.[39] Children born after the revolution were categorized according to their parents' recorded ethnicities. Many of these ethnic groups are still recognized by modernRussia and other countries.
In 2013, theSupreme Court of Israel unanimously affirmed the position that "citizenship" (e.g. Israeli) is separate fromle'om (Hebrew:לאום; "nationality" or "ethnic affiliation"; e.g.Jewish,Arab,Druze,Circassian), and that the existence of a unique "Israeli"le'om has not been proven. Israel recognizes more than 130le'umim in total.[40][41][42]
National identity is person's subjective sense of belonging to one state or to one nation. A person may be a national of a state, in the sense of being itscitizen, without subjectively or emotionally feeling a part of that state, for example a migrant may identify with their ancestral and/or religious background rather than with the state of which they are citizens. Conversely, a person may feel that he belongs to one state without having any legal relationship to it. For example, children who were brought to the US illegally when quite young and grew up there while having little contact with their native country and their culture often have a national identity of feeling American, despite legally being nationals of a different country.
Dual nationality is when a single person has a formal relationship with two separate, sovereign states.[44] This might occur, for example, if a person's parents are nationals of separate countries, and the mother's country claims all offspring of the mother's as their own nationals, but the father's country claims all offspring of the father's.
Nationality, with its historical origins inallegiance to a sovereign monarch, was seen originally as a permanent, inherent, unchangeable condition, and later, when a change of allegiance was permitted, as a strictly exclusive relationship, so that becoming a national of one state required rejecting the previous state.[44]
Dual nationality was considered a problem that caused a conflict between states and sometimes imposed mutually exclusive requirements on affected people, such as simultaneously serving in two countries' military forces. Through the middle of the 20th century, many international agreements were focused on reducing the possibility of dual nationality. Since then, many accords recognizing and regulating dual nationality have been formed.[44]
Statelessness is the condition in which an individual has no formal or protective relationship with any state. There are various reasons why a person can become stateless. This might occur, for example, if a person's parents are nationals of separate countries, and the mother's country rejects all offspring of mothers married to foreign fathers, but the father's country rejects all offspring born to foreign mothers. People in this situation may not legally be the national of any state despite possession of an emotional national identity.
Another stateless situation arises when a person holds a travel document (passport) which recognizes the bearer as having the nationality of a "state" which is not internationally recognized, has no entry into the International Organization for Standardization's country list, is not a member of the United Nations, etc. In the current era, persons native to Taiwan who hold passports of Republic of China are one example.[45][46]
Some countries (like Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia) can also remove one's citizenship; the reasons for removal can be fraud and/or security issues. There are also people who are abandoned at birth and the parents' whereabouts are not known.[47][48]
This sectionis missing information about de jure and de facto statelessless. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(November 2023)
Nationality law defines nationality and statelessness. Nationality is awarded based on two well-known principles:jus sanguinis andjus soli.Jus sanguinis translated from Latin means "right of blood". According to this principle, nationality is awarded if the parent(s) of the person are nationals of that country.Jus soli is referred to as "birthright citizenship". It means, anyone born in the territory of the country is awarded nationality of that country.[49]
Statelessness is defined thus in the 1954 Statelessness Convention: "For the purpose of this Convention, the term 'stateless person' means a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation ofits law."[50] A person can become stateless because of administrative reasons. For example, "A person may be at risk of statelessness if she is born in a State that appliesjus sanguinis while her parents were born in a State that appliesjus soli, leaving the person ineligible for citizenship in both States due to conflicting laws."[51] Moreover, there are countries in which if a person does not reside for a specified period of time, they can automatically lose their nationality.[51] To protect those individuals from being deemed "stateless", the 1961 Statelessness Convention places limitations on nationality laws.[52]
^InBurundi, women nationals can confer their nationality on their children if their children are born out of wedlock to unknown fathers or their fathers disown them.
^abcdeWomen only can confer their nationality on their children who are born in the nation; children born abroad can not acquire citizenship.
^abcdefWomen nationals can confer their nationality on their children whose fathers are stateless, whose fathers' identities or nationalities are unknown, or whose fathers do not establish filiation with such children.
^InMadagascar, mothers can confer nationality on children born in wedlock if the father is stateless or of unknown nationality. Children born out of wedlock or to Madagascan mothers and foreign fathers can apply to the nationality until they reach majority.[55]
^Irrespective of gender, Canadian citizens (nationals) can sponsor their spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner, for permanent residency in Canada. Permanent residents then can apply for citizenship by naturalization after living in Canada for three years.[57]
^On 14 May 2019, the IranianIslamic Consultative Assembly approved an amendment to their nationality law, in which women married to men with a foreign nationality should request to confer nationality on children under age 18, while children and spouses of Iranian men are granted nationality automatically. However, theGuardian Council should approve the amendment.[66] On 2 October 2019, the Guardian Council agreed to sign the bill into a law,[67] taking into account the background checks on foreign fathers.[68]
^InIraq, nationality law limits the ability of Iraqiwomen to confer nationality on children who are born without the nation.
^InKuwait, a person whose father is unknown orwhose paternity has not been established may apply for Kuwaiti citizenship upon the age of majority.
^InLebanon, women only can confer their citizenship on their children who are born out of wedlock and whose Lebanese mother recognizes them as her children during such children's minority.
^InSyria, mothers only can confer nationality on their children who are born in Syria and whose fathers do not establish filiation of such children.
^InUnited Arab Emirates, mothers only can confer nationality on their children who have lived in the UAE for at least six years.[70]
^abcvon Bogdandy, Armin; Bast, Jürgen, eds. (2009).Principles of European Constitutional Law (2nd ed.). Oxford: Hart Pub. pp. 449–451.ISBN9781847315502.
^Sassen, Saskia (2002)."17. Towards Post-National and Denationalized Citizenship". In Isin, Engin F.; Turner, Bryan S. (eds.).Handbook of Citizenship Studies. SAGE Publications. p. 278.ISBN978-0-7619-6858-0.Archived from the original on 2021-09-30. Retrieved2016-05-06.Today the terms citizenship and nationality both refer to the national state. In a technical legal sense, while essentially the same concept, each term reflects a different legal framework. Both identify the legal status of an individual in terms of state membership. But citizenship is largely confined to the national dimension, while nationality refers to the international legal dimension in the context of an interstate system.
^abc"CITIZENSHIP & NATIONALITY".International Justice Resource Center (IJRC). 15 November 2012.Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved2020-07-07.
^Oommen, T. K. (1997).Citizenship, nationality, and ethnicity: reconciling competing identities. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. p. 6.ISBN978-0-7456-1620-9.
^Slezkine, Yuri (Summer 1994) "The USSR as a Communal Apartment, or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism"Slavic Review Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 414-452
^Boletín Oficial del Estado of Spain, n. 68 of 2007/03/20, p. 11872.Archived 2011-06-09 at theWayback Machine Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia. Article 1: «Andalusia, as a historical nationality and in the exercise of the right of self-government recognized by the Constitution, is constituted in the Autonomous Community within the framework of the unity of the Spanish nation and in accordance with article 2 of the Constitution.»
^US District Court, Washington, D.C.,Roger C. S. Lin et al. v. USA,archived from the original on 2017-03-30, retrieved2017-08-06,Plaintiffs have essentially been persons without a state for almost 60 years.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes,archived from the original on 2016-12-21, retrieved2017-08-06,The Republic of China passport carried by native Taiwanese people clearly indicates the bearer's nationality as 'Republic of China.' Under international standards however, such a nationality designation does not exist. This is explained as follows. ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, territories, etc. These three-letter abbreviations have been formally adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as the official designation(s) of a 'recognized nationality' for use in manufacturing machine-readable passports, carried by travelers in order to deal with entry/exit procedures at customs authorities in all nations/territories of the world. According to these three-letter ISO country codes adopted by ICAO, the 'Republic of China' is not a recognized nationality in the international community, and thus there is no 'ROC' entry.
^abUnited States Code, Title 8 (Aliens and Nationality), Chapter 12 (Immigration and Nationality), Part I (Nationality at Birth and Collective Naturalization), §1401 (Nationals and Citizens of United States at Birth)
White, Philip L. (2006). "What is a nationality?Archived 2008-09-12 at theWayback Machine", based on "Globalization and the Mythology of the Nation State", in A.G.Hopkins, ed.Global History: Interactions Between the Universal and the Local Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 257–284
