Dual citizenship:

Every independent state or country decides who is its citizen and who is not. You possess dual or multiple citizenship when each of two or more countries officially recognizes you as its citizen.

Consequently, you may have the rights and the obligations of a citizen of each of those countries.

Whenever you are in a country that recognizes you as a citizen, that country’s laws take priority in relation to you over the laws of any other country of which you are a citizen. (International treaties may, however, allow exceptions to this rule).

A person can be a multiple citizen, a citizen of three or more countries, but dual citizenship is more common.

How does dual citizenship occur?

If you, your parents and grandparents-and if you are a married woman, your husband – were all born in Canada, and if you have not become the citizen of other country, then you most likely possess only one citizenship – Canadian.

It is quite possible, however, that one or more of those persons were born outside Canada. This might result in you having dual citizenship, depending on the laws of both counties concerned.

For example, if you were born in Canada and one of your parents or spouse was born outside Canada, you might be considered a citizen by your parent’s or spouse’s former homeland, even if you never asked to be one.

Dual citizenship can be obtained in more than one way.

Citizenship is a complex matter because of the great variety in citizenship in citizenship laws of different countries. Some allow dual citizenship. Some take away the citizenship of a citizen who acquires another citizenship. Some do not recognize that person’s new citizenship. Some give a woman the citizenship of her husband while continuing to recognize her own; some (like Canada before 1947) give her the husband’s

Citizenship and do not recognize her own anymore. Some countries give a child the citizenship of the father, or of the mother, or of either, or of both. And so on.

The laws that apply to your case are generally the ones in force at the time of the events’ involved (your birth, or marriage, your parents’ births or marriage, and so on). This is why determining your present citizenship status can be a difficult and lengthy process.

Before the Citizenship Act of February 15, 1977, Canadian law limited dual citizenship. It also provided more ways to gain or loose citizenship than does our present law. Canadians who became citizens of another country before that date should check to see if they are still Canadians. However, present Canadian law, like the laws of several other countries, now permits dual citizenship.

Dual citizenship is an important issue

You might regard dual or multiple citizenship as a real benefit. But it could also involve you in unexpected difficulties – legal proceedings, taxation and financial responsibilities, military service, denial of emigration, even improsonment for failure to comply with obligations, in one of your countries of citizenship. Accordingly, you should ask yourself these vital questions:

Am I now a dual citizen? Might I become a dual citizen?

Is dual citizenship an advantage or a disadvantage to me?

If dual citizenship is a disadvantage, what can I do about it?

Your citizenship – single or dual?

To find out whether you are or might become a dual citizen, you must ask the officials of each country that could be involved in your case. You will have to provide some information on yourself, such as place and date of birth, citizenship of your parents, and immigration details; you may have to do the same with regard to your parents, even your spouse and grandparents.

If your are in Canada and want to find out if you are a citizen of any other country, you should communicate with the embassy or consulate of that country. (If it has no representatives in Canada, the Protocol Service, Department of External Affairs, Ottawa K1A 0G2 will direct you to its nearest representatives

Dual citizenship – advantage or disadvantage?

Suppose you learn that you are a dual citizen, or that you or a relative would become one if you acquired another citizenship. Would dual citizenship be good for you or your spouse or children?

For some people, dual citizenship presents practical advantages. It may also enhance their feeling of belonging, because they have strong personal ties to more than one country.

However, it is important to realize that there can be hazards and disadvantages as well. The following paragraphs suggest some of the possible consequences.

In general, the laws that apply to you at any time are the laws of the country in which you are physically present at that time.

If a Canadian citizen experiences legal or other difficulties in a foreign country, Canadian diplomatic and consular representatives in that country can try to help. However, if the Canadian in difficulty in a foreign country is also a citizen of that country, Canadian officials may be entirely unable to help.

That country will be dealing with on of its own citizens, and probably will not welcome "foreign interference". Indeed, foreign authorities will definitely consider you as one of their citizens if you choose to travel under their own passport. Traveling on a Canadian and another country’s passport might also lead to certain difficulties in a third country.

There may be laws in a country to which another foreign traveler is not subject, but which apply to you as a citizen of that country – for example, restrictions on exit, compulsory military service, special taxes, financial compensation for past services received.

You might be affected if one or more countries of which you are a citizen are involved in political upheaval or military conflict.

Even while in Canada, you might be approached with demands that you fulfill alleged obligations to another country of which you are a citizen.

Avoid the hazards of dual citizenship

Suppose you are or might become a dual citizen, and you feel that this could present real problems for you, your spouse or children, or others. You can do a number of things about it.

If you plan to apply for Canadian citizenship, you are advised to find out if you would retain your present citizenship, and if this might cause problems for you or others.

Next, find out if you can renounce the citizenship that you do not wish to retain, and whether renouncing that citizenship removes the possible hazards. Citizenship cannot be renounced merely by making a personal declaration to this effect. It requires an application to the appropriate authorities of the country concerned and formal approval by them of the application.

If you are or will become a citizen of another country and are living outside Canada, you may renounce Canadian citizenship by applying through any Canadian diplomatic or consular post. Once you are no longer a Canadian citizen, however, you cannot travel on a Canadian passport nor seek Canadian assistance outside Canada. Moreover, you cannot return to Canada to reside permanently without going through immigration procedures.

Above all, do not travel to a country where you do nor feel safe because of your citizenship status.