WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATIONALITY, CITIZENSHIP & PASSPORT?

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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATIONALITY, CITIZENSHIP & PASSPORT?

Larissa Bona • Feb 18, 2021

If you are reading this text, it is very likely you are doing so because you were searching for some information about obtaining another CITIZENSHIP or MIGRATING to another country.

So, before I can develop these subjects more, which at the end of the day it is what you really want to know, I have decided clarify some INTERNATIONAL LAW concepts that very often confuse people.

I say this because during the past 15 years I have got very used to receiving e-mails from my clients asking how do they do to obtain their “PORTUGUESE PASSPORT” or how long it will take for them to obtain their “PORTUGUESE CITIZENSHIP”, when what they actually what to know is how to get their “PORTUGUESE NATIONALITY”.

Although I always understand what my clients mean when they use those terms incorrectly and it does not prevent me to provide them the service they are seeking, it is indeed important to educate people about the right meaning of things.

The same way, clarifying them is also important to explain another favourite subjects of the people who write to me, which are VISAS, RESIDENT PERMITS, IMMIGRATION and etc.

Therefore, beforehand, I must say that all these concepts only exist because the STATE exists. I will not ramble about the historical context of the formation of the STATES and neither go deeper talking about their philosophical and political background, otherwise this text would become too long and boring for my readers.

I assume you came here because you want to read practical and easy information and not some Political Science treaty, but if you want me to develop more about this subject, including inviting an expert to talk about it, just let me know by writing to contact@larissabonaglobal.com or commenting on our social media or comment section.

Anyway, returning to our main discussion, for this text and for INTERNATIONAL LAW what it is important to know is that, according to the General State Theory, the STATE has 3 elements:

1. TERRITORY, which is the geographic space where the STATE exercises its political authority (sovereignty);

2. THE PEOPLE, which is its human element and comprises all individuals who are legally bound to a STATE through their NATIONALITY; and

WARNING: PEOPLE ≠ POPULATION!

POPULATION is actually all persons in a territory during a certain moment, including foreigners and stateless people.

For example, I am a Brazilian national because I am legally bound to Brazil as I was born in that country, but I am currently part of the Mexican population as I am in Mexico.

3. SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENT, which is the authority that exercises the political power in a STATE without the interference of foreign powers.

Why is it relevant to list the elements of the STATE? Because if you understand them, it is easier to understand the other concepts I am going to explain here.

The words NATIONALITY and CITIZENSHIP are often used as synonyms because in most cases a national from a country is also its citizen, but they actually mean different things.

Therefore, NATIONALITY is the legal bond that an individual has with a STATE (whether because they were born there or their parents are their nationals) and the CITIZENSHIP is the political status of the individual recognised by the STATE granting them rights and duties.

Was it very confusing for you? I give you an example. Until I was 16 years old, I was a Brazilian national because I was born in Brazil, but I was not a Brazilian citizen because I could not vote. I have only become a citizen after I reached the age I could finally exercise my political rights.

Another example of people that hold the NATIONALITY but do not hold the CITIZENSHIP is the case of the OVERSEAS CITIZENS OF INDIA[1] (OCI), which is a situation I deal with a lot on regular basis.

As dual CITIZENSHIP is not allowed in India, my Indian clients who obtain the PORTUGUESE CITIZENSHIP (people born in GOA during the Portuguese ruling and their descendants and spouses are entitled to the PORTUGUESE NATIONALITY and CITIZENSHIP) must surrender their Indian PASSPORTS and apply for their OCI documents as they immediately lose their Indian Citizenship and political rights once they obtain the new CITIZENSHIP, but they never cease to be Indian nationals.

Other case is one of the people born in American Samoa and Swains Islands[2]. They are USA nationals, but they are not USA citizens, which means that they can even hold USA PASSPORTS, but they do not have the same rights as USA citizens, like voting for example.

And talking about PASSPORTS, I must say that a lot of people also treats holding a PASSPORT of a country as a synonym of having the NATIONALITY or/and the CITIZENSHIP of said country.

This confusion is legitimate because most of times the PASSPORT, which is actually a TRAVEL DOCUMENT that certifies the identity of its holder and that is demanded by most countries to allow the entry of foreigners in their territories, is usually issued by the country from which the individual is a national.

But that is not necessarily a rule, since there are situations in which countries can issue PASSPORTS to individuals that are not their nationals.

For example, there is the REFUGEE TRAVEL DOCUMENT, which is a booklet similar to a PASSPORT that is issued by the STATE in which the refugee is normally residing, under the terms of the 1951 CONVENTION RELATING TO THE STATUS OF REFUGEES[3].

I hope this text was helpful to make clear to my readers that the terms NATIONALITY, CITIZENSHIP and PASSPORT are deeply related, but they do not mean the same thing.

Nonetheless, if you write to me to talk about applying for your NATIONALITY, please, do not be worried about using the correct term. I will understand whatever word you use!

REFERENCES

[1] https://www.mea.gov.in/overseas-citizenship-of-india-scheme.htm

[2] https://www.fileright.com/blog/whats-the-difference-between-a-u-s-national-and-a-u-s-citizen/

[3] https://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10

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