These Countries Won't Let You Go*

Getting citizenship is hard, but getting rid of it is often not the least bit easier. And some countries simply won't let you go at all.

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#Citizenship #Renunciation #USA #Argentina #Iran

[Seltyk]

Japan has an interesting, if tangential, citizenship policy. Say you are born in Japan to at least one American parent. By those countries' citizenship laws, you are born a dual citizen of Japan and the US. But once you're 20 years old, the Japanese government says "alright time's up you gotta pick one. Either renounce your Japanese citizenship, or renounce all others". This is because Japan does not permit dual citizenship but understands that you can't reasonable prosecute a toddler for having foreign parents

[Psyk]

This reminded me of a court case in the UK.

There was a woman from Northern Ireland. Something unique about Northern Ireland is that it's part of the UK, but people from there are entitled to Irish citizenship as well as British. So she had an Irish passport.

She wanted to get residency for her non-EU husband. The UK is quite strict when it comes to spouse visas, but at the time the UK was still in the EU and she could use her EU free movement rights to allow her husband to live with her. So she applied for that as an Irish citizen.

The British government rejected her request. They told her that because she was born in the UK, she also has British citizenship, so the EU free movement laws did not apply. But she could renounce her British citizenship, and then re-apply. Doing that wouldn't affect any other rights because Irish citizens have equal rights in the UK.

But she refused to do that, because it would mean acknowledging she had British citizenship in the first place. She argued that according to the Good Friday Agreement, the UK had no right to force citizenship on her in the first place, and that she had the right to be treated only as an Irish citizen. So she took the government to court.

Not sure what the eventual outcome was. The British government gave her husband residency anyway, and now the UK is out of the EU the original issue doesn't apply. But she continued with the court case anyway as a matter of principle.

[jamez]

Pretty sure North Korea is the most restrictive. They won't even let you leave the country to visit another country on holiday for a couple of weeks.

[ShadaOfAllThings]

In America if you attempt to renounce your citizenship you'll have to go through a process that costs on average 2-5k USD. And then that process gets denied repeatedly because the point is to get you both paying to get rid of the citizenship and paying american federal income tax for as long as possible. Sweden has it on record to not recognize those debts, as many other countries do

[FranzFridl]

I was about to google how to renounce my nationality. And then I found out it's impossible. Not that matters much, I'm happy on my new country

[guydreamr]

So, Argentina and Iran are the equivalent of the Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave.

[noodlespoo]

I love that orange is the national color of a country that invented green 😂

[ziedelouaer]

Tunisia and Germany have a weird combination of dual citizenship. Germany does not accept dual citizens (from certain countries) so they take your Tunisian passport when you get a German one. However that passport is property of the Tunisian government (it's even written on the passport) so the Germans send your passport to the nearest Tunisian embassy/consulate. The the Tunisians just call you and ask you to come get your passport :D Even though everyone is aware of what's happening they keep doing it.

[xungnham]

I knew someone who was stateless from birth. His parents were Pakistani diplomats working in India. Because he was born in India, Pakistan wouldn't give him citizenship. And because he was Pakistani, India wouldn't give him citizenship either.

[PatricioHondagneuRoig]

As an Argentine I KNEW you were going to save us for last. One does not simply renounce Argentine citizenship.

[cmyk]

Japanese government: “Alright, you’re 20 now. Japan or Argentina?”
dual Japanese-Argentine citizen: “Uhhhh... Japan.”
Argentine government, breaking down the wall like the Kool-Aid Man: *“CHE ESO NO DÁ”*

[yuvalne]

Fun fact: the Israeli supreme court recently decided that terrorists may have their citizenship revoked even if they don't have another one, making Israel one of the very few places on earth where the state can force someone to become stateless.

[davidbelgrave]

Several Australian members of Parliament had to resign a few years back when it turned out they had dual citizenships they didn't even know about through their parents. Makes me wonder if someone born in Argentina could become an MP in Australia.

[MeanMachine]

Being an Iranian is like being in a relationship with an abusive country. First it makes your life a living hell, then it does its best not to let you leave with its useless passport and currency, and if you manage get past all the hurdles and leave, it makes it costly as hell, and even after you've left, you will be haunted by its bad reputation and nightmares everywhere you go for the rest of your life.

[floppyearfriend]

The fact that all Argentina does is give you a certificate that says "dude trust us" and that people may or may not accept is *the* most Argentine thing ever. A few weeks ago I got my name legally changed, and at the end they took my old ID card, cut the corner with a scissor to invalidate it, then gave me a piece of paper that said I was in the process of getting a new ID and told me to show it if anyone ever gave me trouble over the invalidated card. The very same day, I go to the mail to pick up a package and they didn't want to accept my invalidated card even after I showed them the document...

[vwzard]

As someone living in argentina currently, I now understand why my parents made such a big deal to have me born in the US

[csolisr]

Costa Rica is an interesting example. Citizenship is non renounciable, and until very recently it was not legal to hold another nationality either. However, our legislative powers had to craft an amendment to allow for dual citizenship due to a specific person: namely the first Central American born astronaut, Franklin Chang-Díaz, who had to become a US citizen to be enlisted in the NASA, which is technically a branch of the army.

[nordwind]

Some funny tidbits about being (or becoming) an Argentine citizen:

Acquiring argentine citizenship is as easy as just coming here, staying a few years, and then asking a judge "yeah I want to be argentine", encouraging immigration here is part of our constitution and as such, the requirements to become one of us are quite low.

No real barriers to immigrating here either, just come here, state that you want to stay forever...then stay forever (but why would you)

Also, since you cannot renounce your citizenship easily (but you actually CAN), many countries, including Austria and Japan have exceptions regarding Argentine citizens, meaning you can become a dual Austrian-Argentinian or Japanese-Argentinian (there are quite a few of those!) citizen without having to choose one or the other.

I mentioned that you can actually renounce your Argentine citizenship...well, yes you can, as long as you have dual citizenship (so that you don't end up stateless afterwards), the issue really is that Law 346 (the "Citizenship Act") simply doesn't provide any legal procedure for losing your citizenship, so losing it requires going to a Federal Court and asking very nicely to have it revoked.

No, really, it is that simple, since matters not regulated by law are left to the judicial system to resolve.

[diphyllum]

My dad renounced his American citizenship (he had immigrated to Canada) precisely because of the tax BS. It saved us a lot of headache when he died

[gigog]

Bulgaria has compulsory voting and still elections have around 37-40% participation, because there is no punishment for not voting