Children of EU citizens made stateless as adults
Aug 28, 2015, 5:24 am
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Children of EU citizens made stateless as adults
A UK-born child of a British father and a Danish mother used to have a Danish passport but has been made stateless as an adult as result of a combination of factors that are anything but unique to this adult child:
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk..._all_her_life/
Due to Danish laws that require foreign-born children of Danish parents to show additional ties with Denmark prior to reaching a certain age as an adult in order to retain Danish citizenship, she no longer qualified for holding Danish citizenship despite her well-established Danish maternal heritage going back hundreds of years. Due to British laws that require even the UK-born children of British fathers to be able to demonstrate that the father was the father and was British at the time of birth, she didn't qualify to hold UK citizenship; this was a consequence of her Danish mother not listing the British father on the birth certificate. [Not really a surprise given the mother was married to someone else at the time she had this child from an extra-marital relationship with this adult child's British father (since deceased, and perhaps even cremated). And this kind of leaving the father's name out of the birth certificate isn't all that unheard of when it comes to children of unmarried mother's who have been raped.]
In various countries in the EU/Schengen area, there are laws that result in the foreign/EU/EEA-born children of EU/EEA parent/parents becoming stateless at some point after becoming an adult. These situations are very unfortunate and are evidence of systematic rights violations that deserve an international spotlight until they are remedied.
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk..._all_her_life/
Due to Danish laws that require foreign-born children of Danish parents to show additional ties with Denmark prior to reaching a certain age as an adult in order to retain Danish citizenship, she no longer qualified for holding Danish citizenship despite her well-established Danish maternal heritage going back hundreds of years. Due to British laws that require even the UK-born children of British fathers to be able to demonstrate that the father was the father and was British at the time of birth, she didn't qualify to hold UK citizenship; this was a consequence of her Danish mother not listing the British father on the birth certificate. [Not really a surprise given the mother was married to someone else at the time she had this child from an extra-marital relationship with this adult child's British father (since deceased, and perhaps even cremated). And this kind of leaving the father's name out of the birth certificate isn't all that unheard of when it comes to children of unmarried mother's who have been raped.]
In various countries in the EU/Schengen area, there are laws that result in the foreign/EU/EEA-born children of EU/EEA parent/parents becoming stateless at some point after becoming an adult. These situations are very unfortunate and are evidence of systematic rights violations that deserve an international spotlight until they are remedied.
Last edited by GUWonder; Aug 28, 2015 at 5:34 am
Aug 28, 2015, 2:47 pm
#2
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A UK-born child of a British father and a Danish mother used to have a Danish passport but has been made stateless as an adult as result of a combination of factors that are anything but unique to this adult child:
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk..._all_her_life/
Due to Danish laws that require foreign-born children of Danish parents to show additional ties with Denmark prior to reaching a certain age as an adult in order to retain Danish citizenship, she no longer qualified for holding Danish citizenship despite her well-established Danish maternal heritage going back hundreds of years. Due to British laws that require even the UK-born children of British fathers to be able to demonstrate that the father was the father and was British at the time of birth, she didn't qualify to hold UK citizenship; this was a consequence of her Danish mother not listing the British father on the birth certificate. [Not really a surprise given the mother was married to someone else at the time she had this child from an extra-marital relationship with this adult child's British father (since deceased, and perhaps even cremated). And this kind of leaving the father's name out of the birth certificate isn't all that unheard of when it comes to children of unmarried mother's who have been raped.]
In various countries in the EU/Schengen area, there are laws that result in the foreign/EU/EEA-born children of EU/EEA parent/parents becoming stateless at some point after becoming an adult. These situations are very unfortunate and are evidence of systematic rights violations that deserve an international spotlight until they are remedied.
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk..._all_her_life/
Due to Danish laws that require foreign-born children of Danish parents to show additional ties with Denmark prior to reaching a certain age as an adult in order to retain Danish citizenship, she no longer qualified for holding Danish citizenship despite her well-established Danish maternal heritage going back hundreds of years. Due to British laws that require even the UK-born children of British fathers to be able to demonstrate that the father was the father and was British at the time of birth, she didn't qualify to hold UK citizenship; this was a consequence of her Danish mother not listing the British father on the birth certificate. [Not really a surprise given the mother was married to someone else at the time she had this child from an extra-marital relationship with this adult child's British father (since deceased, and perhaps even cremated). And this kind of leaving the father's name out of the birth certificate isn't all that unheard of when it comes to children of unmarried mother's who have been raped.]
In various countries in the EU/Schengen area, there are laws that result in the foreign/EU/EEA-born children of EU/EEA parent/parents becoming stateless at some point after becoming an adult. These situations are very unfortunate and are evidence of systematic rights violations that deserve an international spotlight until they are remedied.
Aug 28, 2015, 6:33 pm
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Sweden has a similar citizenship retention requirement to Denmark, for Swedish children born outside of Sweden. At least in Sweden it's relatively easy for a former Swedish citizen to re-acquire Swedish citizenship if the person settles back in Sweden; but as a practical matter there are indeed some hurdles that sometimes get put up.
Aug 29, 2015, 2:00 am
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There are a lot of details missing from the article, of course.
Citizenship has nothing to do with your passport, expired or not. But ability to travel is ofcourse impeeded by the lack of a valid passport.
Furthermore, Danish law states that you cannot lose your citizenship this way if that would render you stateless. This law has not changed.
But the article has no details of what happened when she tried to renew her Danish passport (and could not instantly, presumably) - what did she do next?
She is still a Danish citizenship, but she needs to do some legwork to secure proof of that.
DanishFlyer
Citizenship has nothing to do with your passport, expired or not. But ability to travel is ofcourse impeeded by the lack of a valid passport.
Furthermore, Danish law states that you cannot lose your citizenship this way if that would render you stateless. This law has not changed.
But the article has no details of what happened when she tried to renew her Danish passport (and could not instantly, presumably) - what did she do next?
She is still a Danish citizenship, but she needs to do some legwork to secure proof of that.
DanishFlyer
Aug 29, 2015, 3:41 am
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There are a lot of details missing from the article, of course.
Citizenship has nothing to do with your passport, expired or not. But ability to travel is ofcourse impeeded by the lack of a valid passport.
Furthermore, Danish law states that you cannot lose your citizenship this way if that would render you stateless. This law has not changed.
But the article has no details of what happened when she tried to renew her Danish passport (and could not instantly, presumably) - what did she do next?
She is still a Danish citizenship, but she needs to do some legwork to secure proof of that.
DanishFlyer
Citizenship has nothing to do with your passport, expired or not. But ability to travel is ofcourse impeeded by the lack of a valid passport.
Furthermore, Danish law states that you cannot lose your citizenship this way if that would render you stateless. This law has not changed.
But the article has no details of what happened when she tried to renew her Danish passport (and could not instantly, presumably) - what did she do next?
She is still a Danish citizenship, but she needs to do some legwork to secure proof of that.
DanishFlyer
Danish authorities may ask if the person has a claim to citizenship of another country and use that against a person even if the claim to another country's citizenship has been frustrated/not recognized by the other country of claimed citizenship. And as a practical matter, the authorities often place the burden of proof of "proving a negative" upon the adult child who previously held a Danish passport as entitled to Danish citizens. De facto, this rendered persons as stateless in terms of citizenship and certain associated rights (but not necessarily so in terms of a right of residence/settlement, something that may also be permitted as right to some non-citizen nationals, a legal category that also exists in some countries and complicates the notion of being stateless) for at least some period of time.
As of the time of the article, the adult child still had a claim to British citizenship, even as UK officials had yet to acknowledge her British citizenship while still acknowledging her claim to British citizenship is applicable upon proof of evidence of her father being her father and of that father being British at the time of her birth in the UK.
Last edited by GUWonder; Aug 29, 2015 at 3:46 am
Aug 29, 2015, 9:17 am
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The problem is that it's not so easy for the adult child to prove that they would be rendered stateless by enforcement of the aspect of the law about needing to demonstrate certain things to retain citizenship as an adult, a condition that is necessary to qualify for a passport of a citizen.
Danish authorities may ask if the person has a claim to citizenship of another country and use that against a person even if the claim to another country's citizenship has been frustrated/not recognized by the other country of claimed citizenship. And as a practical matter, the authorities often place the burden of proof of "proving a negative" upon the adult child who previously held a Danish passport as entitled to Danish citizens. De facto, this rendered persons as stateless in terms of citizenship and certain associated rights (but not necessarily so in terms of a right of residence/settlement, something that may also be permitted as right to some non-citizen nationals, a legal category that also exists in some countries and complicates the notion of being stateless) for at least some period of time.
As of the time of the article, the adult child still had a claim to British citizenship, even as UK officials had yet to acknowledge her British citizenship while still acknowledging her claim to British citizenship is applicable upon proof of evidence of her father being her father and of that father being British at the time of her birth in the UK.
Danish authorities may ask if the person has a claim to citizenship of another country and use that against a person even if the claim to another country's citizenship has been frustrated/not recognized by the other country of claimed citizenship. And as a practical matter, the authorities often place the burden of proof of "proving a negative" upon the adult child who previously held a Danish passport as entitled to Danish citizens. De facto, this rendered persons as stateless in terms of citizenship and certain associated rights (but not necessarily so in terms of a right of residence/settlement, something that may also be permitted as right to some non-citizen nationals, a legal category that also exists in some countries and complicates the notion of being stateless) for at least some period of time.
As of the time of the article, the adult child still had a claim to British citizenship, even as UK officials had yet to acknowledge her British citizenship while still acknowledging her claim to British citizenship is applicable upon proof of evidence of her father being her father and of that father being British at the time of her birth in the UK.
I was missing some details as to what happened when her Danish passport expired - did she apply for a new one? Did she apply to retain Danish citizenship? Or did she only try to get a UK passport instead?
It is not a no-brainer by any count, sadly. And the new Danish law on dual citizenships (and the blanket permission to regain lost citizenship) does not apparently apply to those who have lost the citizenship by turning 22 and not fulfilling requirements to retain it, so the new law will not help her :-(
Except that if he gets her Danish citizenship sorted out and then later want to apply for UK citizenship, then she can become a dual citizen (new, starting on Tuesday Sep 1). Although, if she is actually already a UK citizen (I am unsure from the article if she would need to apply to be one, or just to get the proof that she is), she can't retain her Danish citizenship.
DanishFlyer
Aug 29, 2015, 9:23 am
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From what the article states she is technically a UK citizen but she has no easy way to prove that as her UK citizen father is dead and he is not listed on her birth certificate.
Aug 29, 2015, 10:12 am
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I've been following OECD countries nationality laws, including changes, for some years now, and the EU/EEA countries' approaches have been an interesting stove-pot to monitor.
She has a claim to UK citizenship but the British authorities had not been accepting of her claim in such a way as to acknowledge UK citizenship since she has not been able to readily prove her father is the now-dead man whom she claims is the father of at least her and her brother even as it's easy enough for British authorities to know that the named father claimed by these children was a British citizen at the time of birth. Nor would UK authorities claim that she isn't a British citizen by birth, even as they can make other claims about her (non-)citizenship status. The UK authorities -- ill-informed or otherwise -- have suggested that she follow the naturalization process applicable to non-citizens who have a legal right to remain in the UK. Such an application may prejudice her claim to paternal inheritance, including paternal line inheritance of UK citizenship.
Unless the father's remains are available -- and cremation of human remains is pursued by a lot of people of South Asian origin -- or the father's other relatives and/or relatives' remains can be documented/traced and cooperate -- not all that certain when dealing with people of some foreign origins and the children are born out of family-approved wedlock -- then people (more so the financially less well-off than the wealthy) end up in situations akin to the Rohingya of Myanmar where authorities have de facto rendered many of them into stateless status with the "they may be Bangladeshi citizens" even when Bangladesh won't claim them to be citizens of Bangladesh.
If this UK-born child of a dead British dad and Danish mom had a lot more money, her citizenship situation may be different sooner than later.
Unless the father's remains are available -- and cremation of human remains is pursued by a lot of people of South Asian origin -- or the father's other relatives and/or relatives' remains can be documented/traced and cooperate -- not all that certain when dealing with people of some foreign origins and the children are born out of family-approved wedlock -- then people (more so the financially less well-off than the wealthy) end up in situations akin to the Rohingya of Myanmar where authorities have de facto rendered many of them into stateless status with the "they may be Bangladeshi citizens" even when Bangladesh won't claim them to be citizens of Bangladesh.
If this UK-born child of a dead British dad and Danish mom had a lot more money, her citizenship situation may be different sooner than later.
Last edited by GUWonder; Aug 29, 2015 at 10:24 am
Aug 29, 2015, 1:25 pm
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In various countries in the EU/Schengen area, there are laws that result in the foreign/EU/EEA-born children of EU/EEA parent/parents becoming stateless at some point after becoming an adult. These situations are very unfortunate and are evidence of systematic rights violations that deserve an international spotlight until they are remedied.
US, and Canada, as well as Canada have similar limitation to jus sanguinis, but in thoses cases the its only for the 2nd generation born abroad. A few years ago, Canadian govt told a Canadian by descent to look for Irish ancestor to get his daughter a citizenship http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/s...-26703072.html
The govt removing someone's citizenship should definitly carry the burden of proof that it doesn't make him stateless...
And for all of us, make sure we understand fully the nationality laws of the countrie(s) we claim citizenship of.
Aug 30, 2015, 3:51 am
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Unfortunately, governments shift the burden and thereby in process violate -- in spirit if not by the letter of the law too -- their own legal commitments, domestic and/or international, on these matters of fundamental rights of and arising from citizenship acknowledgment.
Also, unfortunately, most people lack either the information base or the will to seek the information base (about citizenship matters) until they or some near and dear one hits difficulties themselves over such matters. And by that point, it's a mess already.
The changing national laws regarding citizenship acquisition/retention also catch some people off-guard.