Descent principle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • 
    		•  States with ius sanguinis or unknown citizenship law.
  • 
    		•  States in which ius soli has been abolished.
  • 
    		•  States with ius sanguinis , in which a ius soli applies under certain conditions .
  • 
    		•  States with unrestricted ius soli .

    The principle of descent describes the principle according to which a state grants its citizenship to children whose parents (or at least one parent) are themselves citizens of that state. It is also called ius sanguinis (also jus sanguinis and occasionally ius sanguis ; Latin ius sanguinis 'right of blood' , also referred to as blood right ; see consanguinity ).

    In most countries it applies alone or in conjunction with the place of birth principle and can be subordinate to exclusive principles such as avoiding multiple citizenships (e.g. in China ) or previously widespread and still encountered conditions relating to gender, religion or ethnicity .

    The Ius soli (" law of the land "), which is particularly prevalent in the Anglo-Saxon legal system , is another principle of citizenship acquisition and is linked to the place of birth. In some countries (e.g. France ) it is practiced alongside or in addition to the Ius sanguinis . Most states have a mixture of both acquisition principles.

    history

    For a long time, the passing on of citizenship was restricted to the father alone. These patrilineal restriction has been in the course of gender equality abandoned, as well as the long-held distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children in the acquisition of nationality. Above all, states from which numerous emigrants came tended to use the principle of descent in order to preserve the connection with their people , even if they were no longer citizens.

    States that apply the principle of descent

    Germany

    In the German Empire the law on the acquisition and loss of federal and citizenship of June 1, 1870, which was passed for the North German Confederation in 1870, in which the "federal citizenship" was derived from the citizenship of the member states . After the founding of the empire, it came into force in other member states, for example in the Kingdom of Bavaria through Section 9 of the law concerning the introduction of North German federal laws in Bavaria on April 22, 1871 . Also in the realm of Alsace-Lorraine , which was not a federal state , but imperial direct, the North German regulation in the version applicable to Bavaria was replaced by the law concerning the introduction of the Reich law on freedom of movement of November 1, 1867 and the Reich law on acquisitions and the Loss of federal and national citizenship from June 1, 1870 from January 8, 1873 into force, so that its inhabitants also became members of the German Empire . The law on the acquisition and loss of federal and national citizenship was based on the law on the acquisition and loss of the status of a Prussian subject and entering into foreign services of 1842. With this law, Prussia was off the Ius soli that had been in effect until then passed over to ius sanguinis . The historian Wolfgang Wippermann sees this change in connection with the national concept of the nation , which prevailed in Germany in the 19th century. This term excluded all "foreign nationals" even if they felt they were German. This mainly affected Sinti , who were now declared and expelled as foreigners on the basis of the Nationality Act of 1870 , although their ancestors had mostly lived in Germany since the late Middle Ages .

    Social democrats and left-wing liberals from the Progressive People's Party repeatedly called for foreigners born and raised in Germany to be granted the right to naturalization. They wanted to improve the situation of children from marriages of German women and stateless men who lived fully integrated in Germany. However, this was rejected by most of the other parties, who feared mass immigration of “foreigners”, namely from Poles and Jews, and thereby endangering the homogeneity of the nation. The German Conservative MP Eduard Giese, for example, declared in 1912 that he saw the “main thing of blood, of descent, as the decisive factor for acquiring citizenship. This provision is an excellent way of preserving and preserving the ethnic character and the German individuality ”. Germany retained the ius sanguinis .

    In 1914, the Reich and Citizenship Act came into force, which has since been authoritative in the German Reich and later in the Federal Republic of Germany . This regulation introduced a uniform Reich citizenship on the basis of the nationalities of the German states , legally anchored the principle of descent and abolished the partially still valid principle of birthplace. During the time of National Socialism in 1934 the nationalities were abolished and the (immediate) nationality was defined as German citizenship . In 1935 the Reich Citizenship Act was passed, one of the Nuremberg laws that abolished the principle of descent for Jews and Poles with German citizenship. Only those who were “German or related blood” could be “Reich citizens”. This referred to the subset of all citizens who were endowed with all rights and obligations. All others were only assigned single citizenship.

    On July 15, 1999, the German Bundestag passed the reformed Citizenship Act (StAG), which came into force on January 1, 2000. According to this, a child of foreign parents acquires German citizenship by being born in Germany under certain conditions. If the parents' nationality law provides for the principle of descent, the child acquires both nationalities, but must decide which to keep after reaching the age of majority .

    Austria

    In Austrian law, a pure origin principle applies. Children of an Austrian mother or an Austrian father who is married to the mother are Austrian citizens from birth . In the case of unmarried parents, the Austrian father must acknowledge paternity within eight weeks of the birth so that the child is recognized as an Austrian citizen. If this takes place later, the child can obtain citizenship under easier conditions by granting it.

    Austrian citizenship law is very restrictive compared to dual citizenships . Accepting a foreign citizenship automatically leads to the loss of Austrian citizenship without prior approval from the Austrian state. An exception are children with parents of different nationalities, where the ius sanguinis principle also applies in the country of the non-Austrian parent. In this case, the child has dual citizenship from birth and, according to Austrian law, does not have to choose one of the two citizenships, even if it is of legal age.

    Switzerland

    The Swiss citizenship is transmitted solely by descent to children. Every Swiss person inherits (usually from his father) his place of origin or place of citizenship . As a citizen of a civil parish , he automatically has Swiss citizenship. The place of residence of the parents and one's own place of birth are irrelevant for this process.

    Naturalizations are tied to strict conditions and associated with long waiting times and sometimes high costs for those affected. Whoever wants to be naturalized applies for the citizenship of a Swiss municipality, which also gives them citizenship of the Confederation , the Swiss Confederation .

    Israel

    In Israel , the Law of Return states that anyone who has a Jewish parent or grandparent, who has converted to Judaism , or who is married to someone who meets one of the above conditions can immigrate to Israel and subsequently receive citizenship . Persons who were Jews by birth or by conversion and who have freely adopted another religion are exempt from this regulation.

    United States

    In the United States of America , in addition to the place of birth, the principle of descent also applies. This is applied to persons born abroad who are still minors at the time of the nationality check . A distinction must be made between the following cases:

    • A person born overseas to two U.S. citizens (at least one of whom is resident in the U.S.) acquires U.S. citizenship at birth under Section 301 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
    • A person born as the legitimate child of a U.S. citizen (who has lived in the U.S. for a specified minimum period of time) and a foreign resident abroad acquires U.S. citizenship at birth under Section 301 (g) of the INA.
    • A person born overseas illegitimate to a male US citizen may acquire US citizenship under Section 301 (g) of the INA if the father meets certain requirements listed in Section 309 (a).
    • A person born out of wedlock to a female US citizen abroad may acquire US citizenship under Section 309 (c) if the mother has previously lived in the US for a specified minimum period of time.
    • If the child was born outside of the United States but legally, e.g. For example, if you have a permanent resident card and live in the USA, you will acquire American citizenship by law, i.e. without a special application. This rule also applies to children from legally living migrant families in which at least one parent can be naturalized .
    • If the child was born outside of the United States and continues to live overseas, the child can only acquire US citizenship upon application.

    literature

    • Rogers Brubaker : State Citizen. Germany and France in historical comparison. Junius-Verlag, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-88506-234-8 .
    • Helgo Eberwein, Eva Pfleger: Aliens law for studies and practice . Lexis-Nexis-Verlag, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-7007-5010-9 .
    • Oliver Trevisiol: The naturalization practice in the German Empire 1871-1945 . V & R Unipress, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89971-303-6 (also dissertation, University of Konstanz 2004).
    • Wolfgang Wippermann : The "ius sanguinis" and the minorities in the German Empire. In: Hans Henning Hahn (Ed.): National minorities and state minority policy in Germany in the 19th century . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-05-003343-6 , pp. 133-143.

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Georg Dahm , Jost Delbrück , Rüdiger Wolfrum : Völkerrecht. Vol. I / 2: The state and other subjects of international law. Spaces under international management . 2nd, completely revised edition, de Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89949-023-1 , p. 37 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
    2. ↑ Legal text
    3. ↑ Legal text
    4. ↑ Legal text
    5. ↑ Wolfgang Wippermann : The "ius sanguinis" and the minorities in the German Empire. In: Hans Henning Hahn (Ed.): National minorities and state minority policy in Germany in the 19th century . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-05-003343-6 , pp. 133–143, here pp. 135–139 (accessed from De Gruyter Online).
    6. ↑ Vito F. Gironda: Left Liberalism and National Citizenship in the Empire: A German Path to a Citizenship? In: Jörg Echternkamp and Oliver Müller: (Ed.): The politics of the nation. German nationalism in war and crises 1760 to 1960 . Oldenbourg, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-486-56652-0 , pp. 107–130, here pp. 119–122 (accessed from De Gruyter Online).
    7. ^ Ordinance on German citizenship of February 5, 1934
    8. ↑ Dieter Gosewinkel : Naturalization and Exclusion. The nationalization of citizenship from the German Confederation to the Federal Republic of Germany . 2nd edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, p. 384; Sybille Küster: Citizenship in Germany: Historical aspects of the nationalization and ethnicization of "foreignness". In: Cornelia Klinger, Gudrun-Axeli Knapp, Birgit Sauer (Ed.): Axes of Inequality. On the relationship between class, gender and ethnicity . Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York, 2007, pp. 193–209, here p. 204.
    9. ↑ Georg Dahm, Jost Delbrück, Rüdiger Wolfrum: Völkerrecht. Vol. I / 2: The state and other subjects of international law. Spaces under international management . 2nd, completely revised edition, de Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89949-023-1 , p. 39 (accessed via De Gruyter Online); Citizenship Law , website of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Home Affairs , accessed on July 20, 2020; Federal Government: Option model ( Memento of December 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
    10. ↑ Citizenship: Acquisition by Descent , oesterreich.gv.at, accessed on September 9, 2019.
    11. ↑ Citizenship: dual citizenship , oesterreich.gv.at, accessed on September 9, 2019.
    12. ↑ Citizenship: dual citizenship for children , oesterreich.gv.at, accessed on September 9, 2019.
    13. ↑ Law of Return 5710-1950 of July 5, 1950 (wording of the Law of Return ), Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed October 23, 2018 (English).
    14. ↑ a b c d Acquisition of US Citizenship by a Child Born Abroad ( Memento from August 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
    15. ^ Citizenship Through Parents , USCIS