Does your nationality depend on where you were born or your heritage?

Question

If you didn't understand the question just by itself, I'll give an example. Say you were born in France but your parents were both Italian, what nationality would you be: French or Italian?

P.S Before anyone asks, I'm not in this situation. I know that I'm English. I just wanted to know how it would work if I wasn't sure.

Answer 1

Again the "nature vs. nurture" argument comes into play. But in the case you've just described, a person born with citizenship in a country has the nationality of that particular country. Heritage would come with the genetic and social background of one's family.

Answer 2

Nationality is what passport you have - for most people where they were born, but there are other ways to become a national of a given state - for instance in your example, the person would be a french national (by being born in France), but also eligible for Italian nationality (since that's the nationality of his parents).

Heritage, on the other hand, is where your ancestors come from - as global movement of people increases, people can have a heritiage very different from their nationality - and in many countries, could have ten or more heritiages (i do), but only one or two nationality (dual citizens are fairly rare, tri-citizens exceedingly so - although I did know a girl with American, Canadian, and German citizenship - she was born in the U.S. to a Canadian and German national).

Answer 3

Your nationality is what ever it says on your passport and what ever embassy you would run to if you were visiting another country and got into trouble.

Your background is whatever makes up the individuals that make up your family that came before you did and where they were born.

So, child of Italians born in France would be French, unless they move back to Italy, then s/he would be Italian.

Answer 4

Your nationality is determined by WHERE you were born. By your example if you were born in France and bothe parents are Italian you are considered to be French, HOWEVER, your heritage would still be Italian.

Answer 5

The answer can vary by time and place. My mother was born in Canada of American parents. Until she applied for a passport she had dual citizenship, but at that time she was required to choose (about 1949) so she chose American. So although born Canadian (of American heritage) she was no longer Canadian -- but I don't know Canada's stance at that time, or now.

Today some countries accept dual citizenship while others do not.

Answer 6

Most of these answers are flat out wrong. Your nationality is not determined by where you were born. If your parents were both American and you were born in Pakistan, you're still an American. America is one of the few countries that allows people to be citizens just because they were born here. But most countries aren't like that. Your nationality is determined by the laws of the country or countries where your parents are citizens AND the laws of the place where you are born.

All countries extend citizenship automatically to children of their citizens born abroad but NOT FOREVER. If your parents never come back to the US and you never set foot in the US you aren't considered an American citizen after so many years. You lose the privilege because you didn't exercise it. That's why all those Cubans born in America had kids who should have been able to come here legally, but they couldn't because they couldn't get out in time.

As for your French and Italian question, if you are born in France but your parents aren't citizens, then you are NOT a French citizen unless your parents apply for citizenship for you. You are eligible for it but it's not automatic and it's because that's how the French constitution is crafted.

Answer 7

Nationality is the country you are native to. As in born in France and live there. You may be a Franco-Italiano. Ethnicity is the ethnic group or roots you belong too. As in being of Italian descent. There are situations that are different as in Native American Indian. Your Nationality will be the Indian nation you are associated with. This would be your ethnicity too. It can get complicated. in some cases you can have dual citzenship. I would think citizenship would determine your nationality. Think of nationality as Nation or country you belong to. Heritage is your ethnic group.

Answer 8

This is my opinion, going with your example; if you were born in France but your parents are both Italian, I would say you would be French of Italian descent. My daughter is an American but of Mexican descent, her biological parents are Mexican but she was born here in the US.

Answer 9

This question is back again? OK let's sort through the confusion in terms and definitions.

Your nationality is based on the country to which you LEGALLY owe allegiance. If your parents were English and you were born in Hong Kong in 1980, you are very much English. The place you were born was not an independent country at the time and it was ruled by the British. British laws entended citizenship to you, even though you weren't born there, and your nationality is ENGLISH everywhere you're asked to declare it.

After Hong Kong broke away, you as an Englishman could have left and remained English because that was the law governing you. Not everyone born in Hong Kong had the same rights, but you did because you were the child of English parents born in a land under English rule so you were more special than all those living in Hong Kong who were ethnic Chinese.

To anyone looking at your parents' ethnic heritage as a primary determinant of your nationality, though, give it up. If your parents left Cuba in 1945 and you were born in the US in 1963 don't imagine that you can walk back into a Cuban embassy and expect to get a passport. Your nationality is American, period.

If your parents were born in a country called the USSR and escaped into Australia where you were born, you are not a Soviet national. Your parents were born in a country that no longer exists and there are no laws from the former USSR that will protect you if you're ever in trouble anywhere in the world.

If you can't think of your nationality any other way then ask yourself, "If I want a passport, which country will issue it for me?" That country is the one to which you owe allegiance and you are a national of that country when you leave its borders. If you open that passport and read the front page you will see this wording,

"Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary."

This is why your nationality is declared when you enter into another country. This is the embassy you turn to when you're in trouble. But because of the request of Her Brittanic Majesty, you are also entitled to seek the assistance of any other embassy in time of trouble until the British government can come to your assistance.

If ever there was a time that exemplified the importance of this remember back to the seige of the American embassy in Iran in the late 1970s. The embassy was taken over by "students" and hundreds of people were left hostages in a foreign land or without an embassy to help them leave. Nearly a dozen were able to make their way to the Canadian embassy and were hidden by the Canadian ambassador and his wife in their home until they could safely leave the country...and they did it with Canadian passports issued to them by a very special, secret exception at the request of the American State Department. For 4 very long hours those people were indeed Canadian nationals. Their citizenship did not change, but the laws governing them were altered to help them out of a hostile land. They were extended the privileges of Canadian nationalism even though 7 of them admitted never entering Canada and never having a speck of Canadian blood in their veins. But the minute they got to safety and were again handed American passports that special status changed and once again they were Americans. One of the cooler moments in history!

Answer 10

You've had some good answers here, but I just wanted to add that while people often use the term as synonymous with citizenship, it's not stricly accurate. You can become a citizen of another country at a very young age, perhaps your parents emigrate with you as a babe in arms, but it's not, strictly speaking, your nationality. It all hinges on etymology, words like natal, native etc, to do with birth.