Job Discussion Forums

[RyanS]

Okay scrap that plan.

[Chasgul]

RyanS - don't give up so easily: documents should be available from the immigration department on your grandparents' status/nationality and birth records/certificates aren't too hard to find either.

The choice is yours.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

In order to have citizenship in more than one country, each country must allow multiple citizenship. I have British citizenship from birth and Canadian citizenship from passing a test.

The OPs example of Japan/US citizenship won't work. As far as I know, Japan will not allow multiple citizenships. If you get Japanese citizenship, you must renounce the others. I think that is the reason given for why JET participants who have dual Japanese and Canadian (for example) must renounce their Japanese citizenship before entering the country (of course it could also just be so that they cannot just stay in Japan after their JET term is over).

If you have multiple passports and travel internationally, then you are considered a citizen of the passport you travel under only. If I traveled to Japan under my British passport and needed to contact the embassy for help for some reason, then the Canadian one wouldn't be able to do much. Of course, the British government has a non-resident status, so I don't know that they would do a lot for me either. Bottom line, unless I am travelling to the EU, especially to work, it is better for me to travel under my Canadian passport.

[Perpetual Traveller]

[merlin]

Watch out for any oaths you may have to take or any obligations like compulsory military service. I believe at the bottom of the passport form for a US passport you have to swear that you have not taken any oaths to foreign governments. Also if you apply for most US government jobs you'll have to swear that you never took an oath to a foreign country or something like that.

Just check everything out and make sure you don't place yourself in double jeopardy.

In most places permanent residency is just about the same as citizenship. For example, I have permanent residency in CZ so in practice I have basically the same rights as Czech Citizens and in theory I have the equal rights as any other EU citizen. Of course, some equality is hard to define in the EU ... but I share my less equal EU lot with Czech citizens. I'm not sure how it would work if I tried to work in the UK or Ireland, though.

[Chris_Crossley]

Hello again, fellow Dave's posters! Have returned to the forum after a little break, and this is therefore my first posting for more than a month.

I have British citizenship, but my mother was born in Poland. However, under a 1962 Citizenship Act, Polish law does not recognize dual citizenship of its citizens. While Polish law does not forbid Polish citizen from becoming the citizen of a foreign state by birth or naturalization, Polish authorities shall recognize that national as a Polish citizen only. From http://www.polskiinternet.com/english/info/polishcitizen.html This basically means that my mother, having been given British citizenship way back in 1950 when she was only 17, would be recognized as a Polish citizen only in Poland rather than a British since, technically speaking, she never actually renounced her Polish citizenship.

Having married a Chinese citizen myself three years ago, I have a daughter on whose behalf I applied for UK citizenship (duly granted) and she has a UK passport. However, the fact of the matter is that China does not recognise dual nationality, and so my daughter cannot leave China for the first time on a UK passport; she has to have a Chinese passport instead. This is what the UK Embassy in Beijing has to say on the matter:

British children on Chinese passports in China: This information concerns children who hold a British passport and a Chinese passport. This situation is possible if a child has one British parent and one Chinese parent who are married to each other, or if a child has a British mother and a Chinese father.

If the child is born in China, the child is considered to be Chinese by the authorities and can therefore apply to be put on the family book and is eligible for a Chinese passport. If the child then wishes to travel to the UK, the child cannot leave on a clean British passport. This is because the Chinese authorities do not recognise dual nationality, therefore they will not take into consideration that the child has a British passport to get into the UK and therefore does not need a visa.

If the child wishes to travel to the UK, there are 2 options:

1. Apply for a UK visa in the child's Chinese passport. The child can then return to China on their British passport containing a Chinese visa issued by the Chinese Embassy in London.

2. If time allows, take the child out of China to Hong Kong on their Chinese passport, but come back into China on their British passport, with a Chinese visa in it. That way, they can depart China for the UK using their British passport.

From http://www.uk.cn/bj/index.asp?menu_id=2&artid=44.

My daughter won't be leaving China for some time to come, but, when it does come, unless the rules change, we will have to apply for a Chinese passport and a UK visa for her. This is what a consular official told me herself some time ago, anyway, so the only inconvenience should be just having to pay two lots of fees for both passport and visa. Such is bureaucracy....

As for me, I am not upset that I cannot have Polish citizenship under an archaic (43-year-old) law, especially since Poland has been part of the European Union since May 1, 2004, anyway. Hence, not being Polish in Poland will be no disadvantage, especially as I can't speak Polish, anyway.

Still, there is the possibility of my getting a Chinese Permanent Residence Permit for Foreigners by 2007, providing that my marriage is still subsisting by then.....

[naturegirl321]

[guangho]

I also have dual citizenship, as do my parents.

[nomadder]

Which countries?

Seems some are more global than others.

[guangho]

Hungary and the United States. My uncle, if memory serves me, has Hungarian, Israeli and U.S. citizenship.

[Antaraaaa]

I too am a Dual Passport holder: Canadian and Irish. I am excited about having the ability to work and live in any Euro country legally.....it is a great gift. I am looking into Spain at the moment. I want to do some more schooling here, but in order to qualify for the generous education grants etc, I had to have been living for 3 of the last 5 years in a Euro nation.....and I was in Asia


There MAY be a chance I can do it another route a lil earlier.....but if not, I am gonna travel and gain as much practical experience as I can before I hit the books.

Life is Good