What defines your Nationality?

Question

What defines your nationality, i.e if I was born in Japan, but had scottish parents, would I be Japanese or scottish?

Answer 1

Your place of birth of course !

Answer 2

Your nationality is defined by the country of your citizenship. You haven't really given sufficient information, but generally, If you were born in Japan, you're nationality is Japanese, unless you were born on a Scottish military base, in which case, you would be Scottish.

Answer 3

Legally speaking, your nationality is defined only by the passport that you hold. Where you were born is immaterial.

For a number of reasons, you may change your nationality. For example, by marriage, women (and sometimes men) can obtain a new passport and nationality from most countries. Or you may opt for a different nationality by working in a new country and applying for the status of a national. Refugees and asylum seekers may obtain new nationality and a passport. Where you were born is immaterial.

Anthropologically, your racial type is defined by your physical characteristics inherited from parents and grandparents. If they were Scottish, then you are racially European. Where you were born is immaterial.

If your parents and grandparents were a mixture of racial types, then you are best described as "mixed race". Simple as that. None of this affects your nationality. Where you were born is immaterial.

Answer 4

Nationality is a political category only..when doing genealogy, it can get in the way, since political boundaries are subject to change.
If your Scottish parents happened to be on vacation in Japan, even being born there would not "make" you Japanese.
The best way to not get sidetracked into such issues would be "pure" genealogy... ie John Smith was born in Scotland, raised in Nigeria and died in California. John does not need to be categorized in any way. You are simply dealing with specific areas, for the purpose of knowing where to look for documents.

Answer 5

Welsh peoples nationality is British,English peoples nationality is British too.There is no English nor Welsh nationality in reality.If a place cant issue passports with its name on the front cover then that place is not a true nation.So in your case your nationality is British,your parents nationality is British. If a person was born in the UK to two Pakistani parents and held both a British and a Pakistani passport then that persons nationality is British and Pakistani,and that person would be a British Pakistani in terms of ethnicity,they could also be a English Welsh Scottish or Northern Irish British Pakistani is they consider that to be their ethnicity.So you could say your a ethnicity is Welsh and English but its kind of splitting hairs when both places are in the same country.

Answer 6

If your parents were citizens of Japan then you would be Japanese with scottish heritage.

If the parents were just living there or visiting then you could claim citizenship in both countries.

But if they were Scottish military stationed in Japan, then you would be Scottish.

Answer 7

Nationality means the country that you are a citizen of. If you were born in Japan and retain your citizenship, your nationality is Japanese. You are a Scot by ancestry or decent.

Answer 8

According to "What are the laws for Japanese citizenship at birth," "If both parents are non-Japanese, then the child is not a Japanese citizen."

If you mum is a Scot, and your dad is a Scot, you are a Scot.

You can be a Japanese Scot, but apparently you cannot be a Scottish Japanese.

Answer 9

Personally I think it is where you are born.
I was born i Scotland to a Scottish father and English mother and consider myself to be Scottish.

Answer 10

Genetics define your DNA.
Nationality is a enviromental source, where you were literally born.

So you would be a Japanese national, with scottish parents and of scottish "heritage".

Answer 11

Your race will be a mix Scottish-Japanese... But when you say nationality it will be Japanese. as long as you were living for more than a year in your place and continue your lifestyle.

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 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 anywhere 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.

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). 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.