Replies

I do not understand your post. Please clarify. Are you contending that an American Christian must surrender their US citizenship in order to become an Israeli citizen? Not so. Both Israel and US permit dual citizenship.

Are you referring to the Law of Return?

That exists in many countries whose populations were not subject to ethnic cleansing, countries whose founding purpose was not to give shelter to a religious group who had been persecuted over centuries culminating in the death at the hands of a 'civilized' Europe of one half its members. In fact Germany, perhaps the country where racism was made a brand name, did not reform its citizenship laws until 2000. The primary basis of citizenship still is "Jus Sanguinis" which sounds remarkably racist. Until the 2000 reform, a requirement of EU participation, non-ethnic Germans were sometimes third generation and were still not given citizenship. Ethnic Germans are still given preferential treatment.

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"Repatriation laws are generally not controversial. The exception to this is the Law of Return in Israel."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repatriation_laws

Armenia
Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (1995) provides that "[i]Individuals of Armenian origin shall acquire citizenship of the Republic of Armenia through a simplified procedure."[1] This provision is consistent with the Declaration on Independence of Armenia, issued by the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Armenia in 1989, which declared at article 4 that "Armenians living abroad are entitled to the citizenship of the Republic of Armenia".

[edit] Belarus
Citizenship act of the Republic of Belarus (2002) states that permanent residence terms may be waived for ethnic Belarusians and descendants of ethnic Belarusians who were born abroad before applying for Belarusian citizenship.

[edit] Bulgaria
According to the Constitution of Bulgaria, Article 25(2): "A person of Bulgarian origin shall acquire Bulgarian citizenship through a facilitated procedure."[2]

Chapter Two of the Bulgarian Citizenship Act is entitled "Acquisition of Bulgarian Citizenship". The first section of that chapter is entitled "Acquisition of Bulgarian Citizenship by Origin", and provides at article 9 that "[a]ny person ... whose descent from a Bulgarian citizen has been established by way of a court ruling shall be a Bulgarian citizen by origin." Separately, article 15 of the Act provides that "[a]ny person who is not a Bulgarian citizen may acquire Bulgarian citizenship ... if he/she ... is of a Bulgarian origin".

Ethnic Turks who were born to refugees or immigrants from Bulgarian lands (and thus have Bulgarian origin) also have a right of return.

[edit] China
Chinese immigration law gives priority to returning Overseas Chinese — ethnic Chinese who were living abroad. As a result, practically all immigrants to China are ethnic Chinese, including many whose families lived outside of China for generations.

The Chinese government encourages the return of Overseas Chinese with various incentives not available to others, such as "tax breaks, high salaries and exemptions from the one-child policy if they had two children while living abroad".[3]

The "rights and interests of returned overseas Chinese" are afforded special protection according to Articles 50 and 89 of the Chinese Constitution.[4]

The term Overseas Chinese may be defined narrowly to refer only to people of Han ethnicity, or more broadly to refer to members of other Chinese ethnic groups. As a result of this ambiguity, people who are not Han but were born in China and subsequently left, including refugees, are not necessarily eligible for the same preferential treatment.

[edit] Croatia
The Croatian law on citizenship (Zakon od hrvatskom državljanstvu), article 11, defines emigrants (iseljenik) and gives them privileges by excluding them from certain conditions imposed on others.

The Croatian diaspora makes use of this to obtain dual citizenship or to return to Croatia.

[edit] Czech Republic
In 1995 the Czech Republic amended its Citizenship Law to provide the Interior Ministry with the discretion to waive the usual five-year residency requirement for foreigners that had been resettled in the Czech Republic by 31 December 1994. This amendment was aimed particularly at several hundred ethnic Czechs which had been brought by the Czech government from the Ukrainian region of Volhynia, and was of a limited duration.[5]

The amendment was consistent with what the Czech Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has identified as "the Czech government's policy principles regarding the resettlement of foreigners of Czech origin living abroad."[6] A private fund, the People in Need Czech TV Foundation, worked with government authorities between 1995 and 2001 to effect this resettlement in the specific instance of Russian and Kazakh citizens of Czech origin, and had resettled approximately 750 such persons as of 2000.[7] The strength or prominence of this policy within the Czech government may be uneven, however, and the state appears to have rebuffed dual citizenship overtures from ethnic Czechs living in the comparatively large diaspora of former Czechs in Western countries.

[edit] Finland
The Finnish Aliens Act provides for persons who are of Finnish origin to receive permanent residence. This generally means Karelians and Ingrian Finns from the former Soviet Union, but United States, Canadian or Swedish nationals with Finnish ancestry can also apply.

The Finnish Directorate of Immigration website states on its Returnees page that;

Certain aliens, who have Finnish ancestry or otherwise a close connection with Finland, may be granted a residence permit on this basis. No other reason, such as work or study, is required in order to receive the permit.
Receiving a residence permit depends on the directness and closeness of Finnish ancestry. If the ancestry dates back several generations, a residence permit cannot be granted on this basis.
People who may be granted a residence permit based on Finnish ancestry or close connections with Finland can be divided into the following three groups:
former Finnish citizens: [8]
persons of other Finnish origin: [9]
persons from areas of the former Soviet Union: [10].

[edit] France
What might be historically the first law recognising a Right of Return was enacted in France in 1790, as part of the French Revolution putting a decisive end to the centuries-long persecution and discrimination of Huguenots (French Protestants).

Concurently with making all Protestants resident in France into full-fledged citizens, the law enacted on December 15, 1790 stated that : 'All persons born in a foreign country and descending in any degree of a French man or woman expatriated for religious reason are declared French nationals (naturels français) and will benefit to rights attached to that quality if they come back to France, establish their domicile there and take the civic oath.'

Article 4 of the June 26, 1889 Nationality Law stated that: 'Descendants of families proscribed by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes will continue to benefit from the benefit of the December 15, 1790 Law, but on the condition that a nominal decree should be issued for every petitioner. That decree will only produce its effects for the future.'

Foreign descendants of Huguenots lost the automatic right to French citizenship in 1945 (by force of the ordonnance du 19 octobre 1945, revoking the 1889 Nationality Law).

See Huguenot#End of persecution and restoration of French Citizenship.

[edit] Germany
German law allows persons of German descent living in Eastern Europe (so-called Aussiedler, see Volga Germans) to move to Germany and be granted German citizenship. As with many legal implementations of the Right of return, the "return" to Germany of individuals who may never have lived in Germany based on their ethnic origin has been the object of controversy. The law is codified in Article 116 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, which provides access to German citizenship for anyone "who has been admitted to the territory of the German Reich within the boundaries of December 31, 1937 as a refugee or expellee of German ethnic origin or as the spouse or descendant of such person".[11]

The historic context for Article 116 was the eviction, following World War II, of an estimated 9 million ethnic Germans from other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Another 9 million Germans from former eastern German provinces, over which Stalin and eastern neighbour states extended military hegemony in 1945, were expelled as well. These expellees and refugees (known as Heimatvertriebene) were given refugee status and documents and resettled by Germany; discussion of possible compensation is ongoing. Some German expellees desire to resettle in their territories of birth, youth and early life, but legal procedures often make remigration difficult, even after Poland and the Czech Republic joined the European Union.

In contrast to Aussiedler, persons of German descent living in North America, South America etc. do not have an automatic Right of return and must actually prove their eligibility for German citizenship according to the clauses pertaining to the German nationality law.

[edit] Greece
"Foreign persons of Greek origin", who neither live in Greece nor hold Greek citizenship nor were necessarily born there, may become Greek citizens by enlisting in Greece's military forces, under article 4 of the Code of Greek Citizenship, as amended by the Acqusition of Greek Nationality by Aliens of Greek Origin Law (Law 2130/1993). Anyone wishing to do so must present a number of documents, including "[a]vailable written records ... proving the Greek origin of the interested person and his ancestors."

[edit] India
A Person of Indian Origin (PIO) is a person living outside of India and without Indian citizenship, but of Indian origin up to four generations removed. It is available to persons of Indian origin anywhere in the world as long as they have never been citizens of Pakistan or of Bangladesh. This unusual type of citizenship by descent is an intermediate form of citizenship in that it does not grant the full portfolio of rights enjoyed by Indian citizens.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003 and Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance 2005 make provision for an even newer form of Indian nationality, the holders of which are to be known as Overseas Citizens of India (OCI). Overseas citizenship is not substantially different than PIO rights.

Holding either PIO or OCI status does, however, facilitate access to full Indian citizenship. An OCI who has been registered for five years, for instance, need be resident for only one year in India before becoming a full citizen.

[edit] Ireland
Irish nationality law provides for Irish citizenship to be acquired on the basis of at least one Irish grandparent. If a person outside of Ireland who is entitled to claim Irish citizenship elects not to, that person may nonetheless pass that right on to her or his own children, even if the basis for the entitlement being passed on is a single Irish grandparent. To do so, that person must register her or his birth in Ireland's Foreign Births Register.

Separately from this right, the Irish minister charged with immigration may dispense with conditions of naturalisation to grant citizenship to an applicant who "is of Irish descent or Irish associations", under article 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1986.

Japan
A special visa category exists exclusively for foreign descendants of Japanese emigrates (Nikkeijin) up to the third generation, which provides for long-term residence, unrestricted by occupation, but most Nikkeijin cannot acquire Japanese citizenship.

[edit] Lithuania
From the Constitution of Lithuania, Article 32(4): "Every Lithuanian person may settle in Lithuania."[15]

[edit] Norway
The Kola Norwegians were Norwegians who settled along the coastline of the Russian Kola Peninsula from approximately 1850 to the closure of the border in the 1920's. It is estimated that around 1000 Norwegians lived on the Kola peninsula in 1917. The Kola Norwegians were deported to or put in camps in other parts of Russia during the course of World War II.

It was only after 1990 that many of the Kola Norwegians again dared to emphasise their background. Only a few had been able to maintain a rusty knowledge of Norwegian. Some of them have migrated back to Norway. There are special provisions in the Norwegian rules of immigration and citizenship which eases this proces for many Kola Norwegians. These provisions are in general stricter then in some other countries giving "Right of return". In order to obtain a permit to immigrate and work in Norway a Kola Norwegian will have to prove an adequate connection to Norway such as having at least two grand parents from Norway.[1] Citizenship will then be awarded according to regular rules.[2] As of 2004 approximately 200 Kola Norwegians had moved back to Norway.[3]

[edit] Poland
From the Constitution of Poland, Article 52(5): "Anyone whose Polish origin has been confirmed in accordance with statute may settle permanently in Poland."[16]

[edit] Serbia
Article 23 of the 2004 citizenship law provides that the descendants of emigrants from Serbia, or ethnic Serbs residing abroad, may take up citizenship upon written declaration.

[edit] Spain
Upon the rediscovery of Sephardi Jews during the campaigns of General Juan Prim in Northern Africa, the Spanish governments have taken friendly measures towards the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. The motivation for these measures were a desire to repair a perceived injustice, the need of a collaborative base of natives in Spanish Morocco and an attempt to attract the sympathy of wealthy European Sephardis like the Pereiras of France. The Edict of Expulsion was revoked. The Spanish diplomacy exercised protection over Sephardis of the Ottoman Empire and the independent Balkanic states succeeding it. The government of Miguel Primo de Rivera decreed in 1924 that every Sephardi could claim Spanish citizenship. This right was used by some refugees during the Second World War, including the Hungarian Jews saved by Ángel Sanz Briz and Giorgio Perlasca. This decree was again put to use to receive some Jews from Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.

Emigrants of Spanish origins (mainly exiles of the Spanish Civil War) and their children are eligible of recovering Spanish nationality without the requirement of residing in Spain, they also have the right of maintaining any current nationality they posses.

Children of original Spaniards that were born within the Spanish territory can apply for Spanish citizenship without age or time restrictions or residence requirements. They have to renounce any foreign nationality they posses except if these nationality is of an Ibero-American country, Portugal, Andorra, Philippines or Equatorial Guinea.

Children and Grandchildren of original Spaniards born outside of Spanish territory (the children of a person that had Spanish citizenship at the moment of their birth) can also access Spanish nationality on softer terms than other foreigners: They require just 1 year of legal residence, and they are exempted of work restrictions. Currently there is a reform process underway that when passed will allow the children of original Spaniards to be able to apply for Spanish citizenship on the same terms as those that had their parents born in Spain; grandchildren are not covered in the current draft.

Ibero-Americans and nationals of other countries closely related to Spain (Portugal, Andorra, Philippines, and Equatorial Guinea) also have a Right of Return: They can apply to Spanish nationality after 2 years of Legal residence and they have the right to keep their birth nationality[4]. .

[edit] Taiwan
Taiwan's immigration law gives priority to returning overseas Taiwanese, Taiwanese who were living abroad, and encourages their return.

[edit] Other
A non-exhaustive list of other countries believed to have similar laws is South Korea, Hungary and Slovakia. Similarly, the Liberian constitution (currently defunct and being rewritten) allows only people "of Negro descent" (regardless of ethno-national affiliation) to become citizens. As with other laws enacting rights of return, many of the laws in these countries appear to reflect a desire by governments to guarantee a safe haven to diaspora populations, particularly those assumed to be living under precarious conditions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_return