Nationality

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Legal status of Persons
Concepts
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Legal designations
Citizen Native-born citizen Naturalized citizen Dual-citizen Alien Migrant worker Refugee Illegal immigrant Political prisoner Stateless person Administrative detain
Social politics
Immigration law Nationality law Nationalism Nativism (politics) Immigration debate This box: view • talk • edit

Nationality is a relationship between a person and their state of origin, culture, association, affiliation and/or loyalty. Nationality affords the state jurisdiction over the person, and affords the person the protection of the state.

Traditionally under international law and conflict of laws principles, it is the right of each state to determine who its nationals are. Today the law of nationality is increasingly coming under more international regulation by various conventions on statelessness, as well as some multilateral treaties such as the European Convention on Nationality.

Generally, nationality is established at birth by a child's place of birth (jus soli) and/or bloodline (jus sanguinis). Nationality may also be acquired later in life through naturalization. Corporations, ships, and other legal persons also have a nationality, generally in the state under whose laws the legal person was formed.

The legal sense of nationality, particularly in the English speaking world, may often mean citizenship, although they do not mean the same thing everywhere in the world; for instance, in the UK, citizenship is a branch of nationality which in turn ramifies to include other subcategories (see British nationality law). Citizens have rights to participate in the political life of the state of which they are a citizen, such as by voting or standing for election. Nationals need not immediately have these rights; they may often acquire them in due time.

Nationality can also mean membership in a cultural/historical group related to political or national identity, even if it currently lacks a formal state. This meaning is said by some authorities to cover many groups, including Kurds, Basques, Catalans, English, Welsh, Scots, Palestinians, Tamils, and many others.

1 Overview
2 Alternative usage
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Overview

Where a country has only one legal system, the law will match the common perception, but where the country is divided into separate states, different rules apply. In the common law, upon birth, every person acquires a domicile. This is the relationship between a person and a specific legal system. Hence, one might have an Australian nationality and a domicile in New South Wales, or an American nationality and a domicile in Arizona. The residents of a country generally possess the right of abode in the territory of the country whose legal documents they hold. This, however, is dependent upon the constitution of the named land, and there are exceptions, particularly among more economically stable nations (e.g., British Nationality Law).

The person remains subject to the state's jurisdiction (the lex domicilii in Conflict of Laws) for the purposes of defining status and capacity wherever he or she might travel outside the state's territory; in exchange, the individual is entitled to the state's protection, and to other rights as well. This is an aspect of the public policy of parens patriae and derives from the social contract. In the civil law systems of continental Europe, either the law of nationality (known as the lex patriae) or the law of the place of habitual residence is preferred to domicile as the test of a person's status and capacity.

Some countries do not permit dual nationality while others only allow a very limited form of dual citizenship (e.g. Indian nationality law, South African nationality law, Republic of China nationality law). A person who is not a national of any state is declared a stateless person.

In the United States, the term "national" usually means someone who has U.S. nationality, but not United States citizenship, by virtue of living in a U.S. territory. Though it applied to other U.S. territories in the past, today only residents of American Samoa and Swains Island are considered U.S. "nationals"; Congress has granted full citizenship to residents of the remaining territories. U.S. "nationals" have the same rights to enter, live, and work in the United States as citizens; voting rights are the only major difference. Legally, however (and in the broader sense), U.S. citizens are also U.S. nationals; United States passports do not distinguish between citizens and non-citizen nationals.

[edit] Alternative usage

Conflict of laws

Preliminary matters
Characterisation · Incidental question
Renvoi · Choice of law
Conflict of laws in the U.S.
Public policy · Hague Conference
Definitional elements
State · Jurisdiction · Procedure
Forum non conveniens · Lex causae
Lex fori · Forum shopping
Lis alibi pendens
Connecting factors
Domicile · Lex domicilii
Habitual residence
Nationality · Lex patriae
Lex loci arbitri · Lex situs
Lex loci contractus
Lex loci delicti commissi · Lex loci actus
Lex loci solutionis · Proper law
Lex loci celebrationis
Choice of law clause · Dépeçage
Forum selection clause
Substantive legal areas
Status · Capacity · Contract · Tort
Marriage · Nullity · Divorce
Get divorce · Talaq divorce
Property · Succession
Trusts
Enforcement
Enforcement of foreign judgments
Mareva injunctions · Anti-suit injunctions

In several non-English speaking areas of the world, the cognate word for nationality in local language may be understood as a synonym of ethnicity, as nation can be defined as a grouping based on cultural self-determination rather than on relations with a state. For example, many people would say they are Kurds, i.e., of Kurdish nationality, even though no such Kurdistan state exists (the postulated homeland is divided among five countries). In the context of former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia, nationality is often used as translation of the Russian and Serbo-Croatian terms (национальность/ natsionalnost, народност/narodnost) used for ethnic groups and local affiliations within those (former) states. Similarly, the term "nationalities of China" refers to cultural groups in China. Spain is one Nation, made out by nationalities, which are not nations, or can be considered smaller nations within the Spanish Nation.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

A list of nationalities List of nationalities in various formats (CSV, TXT, HTML) for use in databases and applications
Grossman, Andrew. Gender and National Inclusion
Trott, Philip D A. Dual Nationality

v • d • e Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

General Principles	Article 1: Freedom, Egalitarianism, Dignity, and Brotherhood · Article 2: Universality of rights

Civil and Political Rights. Treaty: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights	Article 3: Right to life, liberty and security of person · Article 4: Freedom from slavery · Article 5: Freedom from torture and cruel, unusual punishment · Article 6: Right to personhood · Article 7: Equality before the law · Article 8: Right to effective remedy from the law · Article 9: Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile · Article 10: Right to fair trial · Article 11.1: Presumption of innocence · Article 11.2: Prohibition of retrospective law · Article 12: Right to Privacy · Article 13 Freedom of movement · Article 14: Right of asylum · Article 15: Right to a nationality · Article 16: Right to marriage and family life · Article 17: Right to property · Article 18: Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion · Article 19: Freedom of opinion and expression · Article 20.1: Freedom of assembly · Article 20.2: Freedom of association · Article 21.1: Right to participation in government · Article 21.2: Right of equal access to public office · Article 21.3: Right to universal suffrage

Social, Cultural and Economic Rights. Treaty: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	Article 22: Right to social security · Article 23.1: Right to work · Article 23.2: Right to equal pay for equal work · Article 23.3: Right to just remuneration · Article 23.4: Right to join a trade union · Article 24: Right to rest & leisure · Article 25.1: Right to an adequate standard of living · Article 25.2: Right to special care and assistance for mothers and children · Article 26.1: Right to education · Article 26.2: Human rights education · Article 26.3: Right to choice of education · Article 27.1: Right to participate in culture · Article 27.2: Right to intellectual property

Context, limitations and duties	Article 28: Social order · Article 29.1: Social responsibility · Article 29.2: Limitations of human rights · Article 29.3: The supremacy of the purposes and principles of the United Nations · Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Human Rights Category · Human Rights Portal

v • d • e Human rights

Concepts & Philosophies

Inalienable rights · Fiduciary law · Freedoms · Natural rights · Negative rights · State sovereignty · Universality · Universal jurisdiction

Organisations

International human rights bodies	Committee on the Rights of the Child · International Committee of the Red Cross · International Criminal Court · Human Rights Commission · Human Rights Committee · Human Rights Council · UN Security Council

Regional human rights bodies	African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights · African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights · African Court of Justice · European Court of Human Rights · European Committee for the Prevention of Torture · Inter-American Commission on Human Rights · Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Multi-lateral bodies involved in human rights	European Union · Council of Europe · Organisation of American States · UNHCR · UNOCHA · International Labour Organization · WHO · UNESCO · UNAIDS · UNDESA · CSW · UNFPA · UNICEF · UNIFEM · UNDP · FAO · UN-HABITAT

Major NGOs	Amnesty International · Human Rights Watch

Legal instruments

Declarations	Cairo Declaration of Human Rights · Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples · Universal Declaration of Human Rights · American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man · Paris Principles

International human rights law	Convention Against Torture · Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women · Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination · Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities · Convention on the Rights of the Child · International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families · International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid · International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance · International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights · International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Regional human rights law	African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights · American Convention on Human Rights · European Convention on Human Rights · European Convention on Torture · European Social Charter · Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons · Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture · Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women · Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities

International humanitarian law	Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide · Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees · Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees · Geneva Conventions · Hague Conventions · Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Concepts that may be considered as human rights

Civil & Political rights	Right to life · Right to die · Right to bear arms · Right to liberty · Right to security of person · Freedom of movement · Freedom from slavery · Freedom from torture · Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment · Right to personhood · Right to equality before the law · Right to effective remedy before the law · Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention · Freedom from exile · Right to a fair trial · Right to presumption of innocence · Right to Privacy · Right of asylum · Right to a nationality · Freedom of thought and conscience · Freedom of religion · Freedom of expression · Freedom of assembly · Freedom of association · Right to suffrage · Right to marriage and family life · Right to protest

Economic & Social rights	Labor rights · Right to just remuneration · Right to equal pay for equal work · Right to join a trade union · Right to social security · Right to rest & leisure · Right to work · Right to property · Right to intellectual property · Right to participate in culture · Right to education · Freedom of education · Right to an adequate standard of living · Right to healthcare · Right to water · Right to food

Reproductive rights	Family planning · Reproductive health · Right to legal abortion · Right to genital integrity · Freedom from involuntary female genital cutting

Rights of war	Rights of civilians · Rights of prisoners of war