My SIL’s mom, by an odd twist of fate, ended up with zero passports for a little over a year. She was Dutch born and raised but married her French college boyfriend. They ended up living in Switzerland raising a family. Their kids (SIL and her sibs) all had only Egyptian passports. Citizenship/birthright/marriage laws were archaic back in the 1960s.
Anyway, SIL’s mom tried to go back to the Netherlands to visit family but they seized her passport, said she had surrendered her rights when she married a non-citizen (this would not have been true for a man). She had carefully filed taxes in the Netherlands for 50 years without living there. She was sent back to France who did not know exactly what to do with her now that she had no citizenship anywhere despite living in France the past 15 years.
Some countries are still gender-unequal when it comes to fathers but not mothers being able to pass nationality by descent to their children: http://www.refworld.org/docid/532075964.html
It is not difficult to imagine someone being born stateless today, due to the uncoordinated nature of various countries’ nationality laws.
Some countries have nationality primarily based on birth in the country, with more limited nationality by descent (for example, some countries specify that nationality acquired only by descent when born outside the country cannot be passed along in the same manner to the next generation). Others have nationality based primarily on descent, with few or no provisions for acquiring nationality by being born in the country to non-citizen parents.
So if parents who cannot pass nationality by descent are living in a country that does not grant nationality by birth in the country have a kid there, the kid may be stateless.
The person who I know had to relinquish all other citizenships to obtain a German citizenship. Maybe @DonnaL is in the special category but I would check.
My understanding–which may be wrong–is that EU citizenship isn’t sufficient to be able to attend an EU university for EU fees;you have to be a resident of the EU for some # of years?–3 I think–before you are.
MIL has four - Cuba by birth, Spanish because of her parents, Venezuela by naturalization, and now US by naturalization.
Happydad has three - Cuba by birth, Venezuela and US by naturalization.
Happykid has two - Venezuela by birth and US as citizen born abroad. She is miffed that her dad hasn’t done the paperwork for the Spanish citizenship he has a right to, because then she could eventually get an EU passport herself.
I only have the US passport.
Last time I checked, Happykid and I could also both be Cuban.
I am Canadian by birth, but was naturalized in the USA due to my mother’s citizenship. Aside from summer in Toronto, I have not lived in Canada since age 3. I have interest in regaining my citizenship and perhaps living there at some point. The consulate website makes it sound possible, for me as well as my kids. I so wish I had gotten this sorted out when they were younger! It would have expanded grad school possibilities.
My brother and sister were born in the USA, but had British birth certificates from my dad. Apparently because I was born in a Commonwealth country, I could not be British as well. Or so I have always heard.
@Tanbiko, I have no idea what the rule is in general*, but it is 100% not necessary to relinquish U.S, citizenship if one obtains restored German citizenship under article 116(2). I know quite a few people who hold dual U.S. and German citizenship that way.
*Obtaining naturalized German citizenship in the normal way is an entirely different process, and entirely different rules apply.
My son-in-law has US and Russian passports. My brother has US and Croatian passports. I qualify for Croatian citizenship but have not pursued it. I just have a US passport. I know quite a few people with two passports, but no one with more than two.
You may continue to hold citizenship when you are born or entitled bc others were born there. The “move to and become” citizenship may not be permitted. My partner has dual US Mexico by birth/parent US.
My one question: why? Why would you need them all? It sounds as if you have one country at least in the EU, so what is the point with the rest?
No it is not common to have more than 2, and even this is a 20th century thing. When folks immigrated in the 16, 17 or 1800s, this dual thing was not presumed. They were happy to get US citizenship and that was then end of it. It was not considered a temporary thing for work or an “option”.
It wasn’t too long ago that if you wished to become a US citizen, you had to renounce all other citizenships, so yes, this is most definitely a more recent thing. I bet those that freak out re: fears about globalism don’t care for it much.
It’s not about “globalism” as much as I think people fear that no one has a commitment to a country if they hold multiple passports. No commitment, just “options”.
I am not keeping my citizenship with 4 countries due to needs. One country is where I was born. One country is where my mom was born and where is buried. One country is where my wife was born and where one of her parent’s is buried and where we have a summer house. And the last country is USA where we live for the last 13 years and where we plan to retire. I see no reason to renounce my citizenship from any of these countries unless I am asked to. I explained above but holding a passport for 3 of these countries helps me when I travel for business and fun.
Certain countries ask visa from US citizens but not from the country I have a passport. Also it is better to provide my non US and non European passport when I check in at a hotel in India or Uzbekistan. US citizens and EU citizens are target to more attacks than the other passports I hold. I speak 3 languages fluently and I can have basic communication on my wife’s country. So I speak the language for all 4 countries I have citizenship of. 3 of them fluently. So what is the harm? We didn’t aim to have all these citizenship. It just so happened.
My immediate family only holds one passport. My SIL holds two. US which she received after marriage to my brother and her country of birth. She used to use both when she visited her parents. The US passport to Europe and her other passport from Europe to her country of origin. She said it made the airport travel faster and in some years safer. Her second passport is a Middle East country.
