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CITIZEN.LAW
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1993-12-26
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CITIZENSHIP
A citizen is a member of a legally constituted state,
possessing certain rights and privileges and subject to
corresponding duties. With certain restrictions a citizen of
the United States has the right to hold and transfer all types
of property, to vote, to seek elective office, to hold
governmental positions, to receive welfare and social security
benefits, and to enjoy the protection of the Constitution and
the laws. Some of these rights are denied to ALIENS even though
they may have been in the United States most of their lives.
Both U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens have the
corresponding duty to pay taxes, obey the laws of the United
States, and defend it against enemies. Citizens are also
subject to jury duty.
In most monarchies, including the United Kingdom, citizens are
usually referred to as subjects, meaning that they owe their
allegiance to the sovereign in return for protection but not
necessarily rights of self-governance. The term national is
used, particularly in international agreements, to mean all
those who owe allegiance to a state. Nearly all nationals are
now citizens, the main exceptions being inhabitants of some
colonies who are nationals but not citizens.
Historical Development
In the ancient Greek city-states citizenship was restricted to
a small minority of the population. Athenian democracy did not
extend political rights to women, slaves, paupers, or
foreigners. In Rome, citizenship was at first a device for
distinguishing between the Romans themselves and the
inhabitants of the territories that made up the Roman Empire.
Later, citizenship was extended to cover large numbers of
people in distant parts of the empire as a way of ensuring
loyalty. This status gave non-Romans the right to exercise the
political and civil privileges available to the Romans, even if
the distant citizens were unlikely ever actually to go to Rome.
In medieval Europe the modern concept of reciprocal rights and
responsibilities of citizenship was less important than the
notions of allegiance and reciprocal protection.
In some city-states citizenship was used by prosperous
merchants as a means of protection against demands by feudal
lords. The awakening of a sense of membership in a nation came
with the American and French revolutions, when the word citizen
signified the equal participation of everyone in the SOCIAL
CONTRACT.
Requirements for Citizenship
Today, all persons born in the United States and SUBJECT TO ITS
JURISDICTION are citizens of the United States and of the state
in which they reside. (Children of foreign diplomats are not
subject to the country's jurisdiction and therefore are not
citizens even if born in the United States.) This rule is
called in international law jus soli (right of place of birth)
and is followed at least in part by most English-speaking
countries and most Latin American states. The rest of the
world, including most European countries, recognizes jus
sanguinis (right of blood or descent) and allows citizenship to
be transmitted from father, or sometimes mother, to child
regardless of where the child is born. These concepts
frequently result in citizenship being conferred upon a person
by two countries. If a child is born in the United States to an
alien from a country recognizing jus sanguinis, the child will
be a dual national, recognized as a citizen by both the United
States and the country of the father. Some countries require
that a child with dual nationality choose one nationality upon
reaching maturity.
Naturalization
Although the United States recognizes jus soli, persons born
abroad may be citizens of the United States at birth if they
meet certain conditions. Although the specifics of the law have
been changed many times, generally, in order for a child born
outside of the United States or its possessions to be a
citizen, either both parents must have been citizens or one
must have resided in the United States for at least five years
before the birth of the child. Citizenship may also be acquired
by NATURALIZATION, a process particularly important in the
United States, which has received many immigrants.
The 14TH AMENDMENT of the Constitution of the United States
(1868) provides that "all persons born or naturalized in the
United States... are citizens of the United States." This
amendment was designed in part to nullify the DRED SCOTT
decision of 1857, which declared that blacks--whether free or
slaves--were not intended to be included in the category of
"citizen" as the word was used in the U.S. Constitution. The
U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 8) empowers Congress to
pass uniform laws for naturalization, but the Supreme Court has
held that this does not authorize Congress to abridge or
enlarge the rights of naturalized citizens, who have all the
standing and rights of a native-born citizen except for
eligibility for the presidency. Under present rules the
Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of
Justice, applying rules set by the Attorney General of the
United States, examines petitioners for naturalization and
makes recommendations to federal district courts and specified
other courts granted jurisdiction to confer naturalized status.
Appeals are permitted through the federal judicial system.
For all except veterans of the U.S. armed services and certain
other special classes, naturalization in the United States
requires lawful entry for permanent residence and five years
residence or, for spouses of U.S. citizens, three years.
Evidence of good moral character and attachment to the
Constitution as well as an understanding of English are also
required. Finally, an applicant must demonstrate knowledge and
understanding of the fundamentals of U.S. history and
government and have six months residence in the district of the
naturalization court.
Customarily, countries limit naturalization to persons who have
entered legally. In 1986, however, the U.S. Congress declared
amnesty for illegal aliens resident since Jan. 1, 1982,
allowing them to apply for legal status without automatically
facing deportation. Major reforms to U.S. IMMIGRATION laws were
signed in 1990, increasing the number of immigrant visas to be
issued each year and placing greater emphasis on the entry of
skilled workers. The State Department also repudiated key
provisions of the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, under which
applicants could be excluded on the basis of political beliefs.
Under revised provisions no foreigner can be denied admission
because of any beliefs, associations, or statements that would
be protected by the U.S. Constitution if they were engaged in
by a U.S. citizen.
Expatriation
Citizenship may be lost through expatriation. In the United
States expatriation must be a voluntary act, carried out by
formal renunciation before a U.S. government official or by
becoming a citizen of another country or by taking a foreign
oath of allegiance. These are the only grounds for expatriation
allowed under the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme
Court. Other countries, however, may take away a person's
citizenship against his or her will. In some countries a person
may be deprived of citizenship for political or other reasons,
by executive or legislative decree or without advance notice or
right to a hearing. In other countries a person may lose
citizenship by serving in a foreign army, by evading military
service, or by residing abroad for a certain period of time.
Efforts to make some of these conditions grounds for
expatriation in the United States were held unconstitutional
under the prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment"
(8th Amendment).