I have made a lot of videos about visas and immigration and the like, and the one thing
that is core to any discussion on those topics is… passports, which I already made a pretty
popular video on.
However, in order to get a passport, you need to be a citizen or national of a certain country.
So, what exactly is citizenship?
And how do some people have two of them?
At its most basic level, citizens are defined as basically being “members” of their
respective countries.
Citizenship is basically the highest legal status of anyone living in the country (unless
the country has a thing for natural-born citizens), and entitles people to live, work and study
permanently in the country, and also lets them get the passport given to citizens of
the country.
The best way to think of the concept of citizenship is essentially as a kind of contract between
an individual and the government of a certain country.
Being an American citizen, there are of course no limits to how long I can stay in the US,
nor are there limits on work and study, and I can vote in elections.
That being said, there are also a few things I may have to do in return.
For one, serving in the military may be a requirement, depending on your country.
Many countries have mandatory conscription laws in place, requiring all citizens of a
certain age (though usually only for men) to serve in the country’s military.
Though many of these countries are either at war with or have potentially volatile neighbors,
like Israel, both Koreas, Syria, and Switzerland.
The US doesn’t do this anymore (for good reason), but it is required that all American
men above the age of 18 sign up for the draft.
You know, just in case.
Also, you have to pay US taxes, even when you’re not in the US.
That part is more or less unique to the US, but it is why many American expatriates may
relinquish their citizenship after immigrating to another country.
Citizenship was first conceived in ancient Greece, basically alongside the concept of
democracy itself.
This is because citizens are different from subjects, since citizens generally had some
sort of a say in how their city-state, or polis, was run.
You can’t be subjugated and help rule the country, after all.
It has been suggested that citizenship was essentially a protection of one’s personal
freedoms, in order to keep free citizens from becoming slaves, should something happen to
them financially.
However, citizenship in ancient Greece was actually quite an exclusive thing, as residing
foreigners and slaves weren’t citizens.
Also women, because why not be sexist?
This concept of citizenship was taken and adapted (among other things) by the Romans,
who used the idea more inclusively, though with different ranks, in that being a second-class
citizen was actually a pretty good deal.
This idea expanded further in modern times, as medieval kingdoms started to turn into
modern, democratic nation states.
Citizenship started to morph into its current meaning, which was essentially being a member
of the nation.
Basically everyone born and raised in a particular modern nation is a citizen of that nation.
Granted, every country has different rules on who can become a citizen, some familial,
some life-related, some probably even ethnic, but it’s mostly a similar series of processes
and results.
And yes, some countries even allow you to simultaneously be a member of their country
and of another country.
There are many benefits to dual citizenship, even beyond the ability to live, work and
vote in more than one country, as different countries also have different visa requirements
attached to their passport.
For example, a dual US and German citizen could visit everywhere either side could visit
without a visa, just by presenting different passports to certain customs officials.
This is also how it works traveling back to one of their home countries as well.
As Americans and Germans cannot stay in each-other‘s countries for longer than 90 days without
a visa, it is best for a citizen of both countries to show their US passport to US border control,
and likewise their German passports to Schengen Area border control.
While there are some countries who don’t allow their citizens to be citizens of another
country, there are plenty of circumstances that will allow you to still become a dual
citizen, mostly in the spirit of not breaking up families.
This includes things like marrying someone from another country, being born to parents
from different countries, or even having just a verifiable ancestor from another country
(some countries being more lenient than others).
You could also just immigrate to another country if you don’t happen to be so lucky, though
do be careful about some countries not allowing you to have both citizenships.
For example, if I were to immigrate to Germany and get German citizenship, I would most likely
have to renounce my American citizenship, even though it is possible to have dual German-American
citizenship in differing scenarios.
This is because some countries aren’t exactly… aufgeregt at the idea of their nationals also
pledging allegiance to another country, so the government in question, though they can’t
do anything about the other country, can still keep you from getting citizenship in their
country.
Some countries, notably Japan, will actually even strip you of your citizenship if you
are a citizen of another country, and keep the other citizenship after a certain age.
This means that a dual citizen of Japan and another country would have to choose between
one or the other after the age of 22, either dropping their other citizenship to remain
a Japanese citizen or allowing the Japanese government to renounce their citizenship of
Japan for the other country.
This however means that, although there are UN conventions aiming to prevent this, some
countries can leave some of their citizens stateless if not careful.
Being stateless means you are a citizen of no country at all, which means you don‘t
have the same rights to government services, and you can‘t get any form of government
ID, including a passport to travel.
Statelessness-- to say the least-- sucks, and it can be caused by many different causes,
including state succession, being part of a discriminated ethnic minority, or even slow
paperwork or just being unlucky.
Ever seen the movie The Terminal?
Well, in the movie, the protagonist Viktor Navorski was considered stateless throughout
his stay at the airport, as a new government came into power while he was in the air, invalidating
his old passport.
This was a fictional circumstance, but this is essentially what happens when you try to
travel as a stateless person, like with the inspiration for the movie, Mehran Karimi Nasseri,
who ended up having to live in Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport for 18 years after being
expelled from Iran.
Ultimately, the difference between being a citizen of a country and being a resident
alien, as they are sometimes called, is generally more of a logistical one than anything.
In a sense, non-citizens just need to make sure they have permission to reside in the
country (usually called a residence permit) as well as to work, study, or whatever else
they’re doing in the country long term.
You can still live and work in another country without gaining citizenship there, it’s
just that being a citizen might make things a bit easier for those who actually do want
to stay in the country permanently.
Also, it makes travel easier if you come from a country with a weak passport.
Thanks as always for watching, and be sure to like and consider supporting the channel
on Patreon.
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Yeah, now you’re curious, aren’t you?
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