This real world case study shows how dual citizenship can be established and how changes in law can significantly affect not just a person’s ability to obtain dual citizenship, but also to retain it.
I obtained my current proof of citizenship in each country by completely different processes and under completely different circumstances. The table below provides a summary for quick comparison.
Country A
I was a teenager when we first went to the embassy to officially document my citizenship. Since I had not been registered as “born abroad” at birth, my parent spent a year obtaining a variety of documents for the embassy in order to prove three critical facts.
1. My parent was a citizen of the home country
2. My parent had lived in the home country for a legally mandated minimum period of residence
3. I was the biological child of my parent
Once these were proven to the satisfaction of the embassy, they registered me as a citizen and issued me a citizenship document. Shortly thereafter, I was issued my passport.
Everything was handled through the embassy as we were not in my parent’s home country. I was still minor so my parent had to do the registration.
Later, as an adult, I obtained a certificate of citizenship which confirms my status as a citizen by birth and not by naturalization.
Country B
This was much more complicated because the citizenship laws changed in my lifetime. I was registered at birth with the government, as a citizen by birth. As an adult, my citizenship was automatically revoked under a citizenship law due to the fact that I held dual citizenship after a certain age. Decades later, the law was changed to not only permit dual citizenship, but also to allow former dual citizens, such as myself, to regain their former citizenship. I found out about the law change on Google.
I immediately contacted the embassy and was instructed to submit an application to regain my citizenship by birth to a citizen. Filling out the application was challenging as it requested information and copies of official government issued documentation from my parents. It required the cooperation of, and coordination with, family on two continents to complete the application.
The application was processed in the home country, which made it harder to find out the status of my application. My application was approved, I regained my citizenship and obtained official documentation to that effect. I was issued my national identification card and registered as a dual national per current law.
This process was conducted in the home country while I lived abroad. As I was an adult, I could submit the application myself, with help.
| Country A | Country B |
|---|---|
| Eligible for citizenship by birth | Eligible for citizenship by birth |
| Not registered at birth | Registered at birth |
| Parent had to prove I was their child by birth | Lost my citizenship as an adult under an old law regarding dual citizens |
| Parent had to prove they were a citizen at time of my birth | Saw an article on Google on changes to the citizenship law for dual citizens |
| Parent had to prove residency in their country of citizenship | Contacted the embassy where I lived |
| Parent had to register me as a “birth abroad” at embassy | Applied to regain my citizenship under a new law regarding dual citizenship |
| I was granted my citizenship | I was granted my citizenship |
| I was given a citizenship document | I was given a Certificate of Regained Citizenship |
| I was issued a passport | I was issued a national identification card |
| As an adult, I obtained a Certificate of Citizenship which confirms by status as a citizen by birth and not by naturalization (it sometimes matters) | I registered as a dual national per law |