Citizenship
Citizenshipis alegalrelationshipbetween a person and acountry.Usually the country is the one they were born in, lives in, supports, and in return gets protection. A person is usually a citizen of the country where he or she is born, but sometimes a person will apply fornaturalization,to become a citizen in another country. There are countries which allow dual (two) citizenship, and countries which do not.
Definitions
[change|change source]A citizen is a member of asovereigngroup of people that have certain rights.Governmentsprotect these rights or take advantage of them. Some Governments mayexilepeople from citizenship laws on such matter vary between countries.
- People born in the country may be citizens byJus soli,right of soil. Those having citizen parents may benatural borncitizens.
- Some countries also recogniseJus sanguinis,the right of members of the nationaldiasporato be citizens. Jus sanguinis comes from Latin meaning "right of blood" which basically means one can inherit citizenship by descent from a parent and in some cases a grandparent or even more distantancestors.
- Foreigners can also benaturalizedas citizens.Naturalizationmakes them citizens of their new country. Many countries require that they give up their citizenship of their old country, but some countries have permanent citizenship; you can't quit such a citizenship.
- People who are citizens of more than one country, with approval of both Governments, aredual citizens.They may legally enter and live in either country.
- A person who has no citizenship is called astateless person.There are many causes of statelessness: wars, refugees, people whose birth was never registered, people born in a territory which is not recognised as a state, and so on. Some countries are very generous in giving stateless people citizenship, and some are not. The problem is well-known, but there is no general solution.
- Citizenship may be permanent. Some countries remove citizenship for various reasons, and some citizensrenouncetheir citizenship.
Citizenship in Canada
[change|change source]People born inCanadabecome citizens of the country byJus solieven if their parents are not citizens.
In 2018 theNew York Timesreported that 20% of babies born inRichmond HospitalinRichmond,British Columbia,were born to mothers involved inbirth tourism.[1]This means that the babies automatically acquire Canadian citizenship.
Citizenship in the European Union
[change|change source]Citizenship in the United States
[change|change source]Related pages
[change|change source]References
[change|change source]- ↑Bilefsky, Dan (2018-12-31)."'Birth Tourism' Is Legal in Canada. A Lawmaker Calls It Unscrupulous ".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2020-09-12.