Editing Right of return (section)

== Countries with laws conferring a right of return ==
===Abkhazia (self-declared)===

The law on the repatriation of self-declared [[Republic of Abkhazia]]<ref>{{Abkhazia-note}}</ref> gives the right of return to the ethnic [[Abkhazians|Abkhaz]] and [[Abazins]] who are the descendants of the refugees who left Abkhazia due to the [[Circassian genocide|19th-century conflicts]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Конституционный закон республики Абхазия о репатриантах |url=http://presidentofabkhazia.org/upload/iblock/e85/%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD_%D0%BE_%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%85_2015_03_31_13_16_13_782.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221194014/http://presidentofabkhazia.org/upload/iblock/e85/%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD_%D0%BE_%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%85_2015_03_31_13_16_13_782.pdf |archive-date=2022-02-21 |url-status=live |website=The website of the President of Abkhazia |access-date=10 November 2022|language=ru}}</ref> The State Repatriation Committee provides support to the repatriates.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Isaacs |first1=Rico |last2=Polese |first2=Abel |title=Nation-Building and Identity in the Post-Soviet Space |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317090199 |page=217}}</ref>

=== Armenia ===
{{further|Repatriation of Armenians}}
Article 14 of the [[Constitution of Armenia]] (1995) provides that "[i]ndividuals of Armenian origin shall acquire citizenship of the Republic of Armenia through a simplified procedure."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/am00000_.html|title=ICL - Armenia - Constitution|access-date=7 February 2015}}</ref> 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".{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

=== Austria ===
Under Section 58c of the Austrian Citizenship Act ({{langx|de|Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz}}), Austrians and their descendants who were persecuted or feared persecution by [[Nazi Germany]] can become Austrian citizens. While Austria does not allow [[Multiple citizenship|dual citizenship]] in most circumstances, people who receive citizenship under § 58c may keep their previous citizenship. However, if they later receive another country's citizenship, they must renounce their Austrian citizenship and may not re-apply.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs |author-link=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Austria) |title=Citizenship for Persecuted Persons and their Direct Descendants |url=https://www.bmeia.gv.at/en/austrian-embassy-london/service-for-citizens/citizenship-for-persecuted-persons-and-their-direct-descendants/ |access-date=2023-01-13 |website=Austrian Embassy London |language=en}}</ref> Alternatively, they can apply for a permit for the retention of Austrian citizenship if they wish to receive another citizenship after claiming Austrian citizenship.

=== Finland ===
People of Finnish origin may receive citizenship by declaration, which is faster and cheaper than naturalization and has fewer requirements. People of Finnish origin can be: 1) children, born abroad, of a Finnish father; 2) 12–17-year-old adopted children; 3) former Finnish citizens; 4) citizens of another [[Nordic countries|Nordic country]]; 5) 18-22-year-olds with a long residency in Finland.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://migri.fi/suomen-kansalaisuus | title=Suomen kansalaisuus}}</ref> Formerly, Finland also accepted returnees with a [[Soviet Union passport|Soviet passport]] (or post-Soviet passport) where the ethnicity was marked as Finnish. This allowed the immigration of [[Ingrian Finns]] and other Finns who had remained in the Soviet Union. People who served in the [[Finnish Defence Forces]] or Finnish people evacuated by German or Finnish authorities from occupied areas to Finland during World War II also qualified as returnees. However, these options are no longer available, and applicants must qualify for ordinary naturalization instead.

=== France ===

Another early example of [[national law]] recognizing the Right of Return was the French constitution of 1791, enacted on 15 December 1790:<ref name="ingles"/> 
{{blockquote|the freedom of everyone to go, to stay, or to leave, without being halted or arrested unless in accordance with procedures established by the Constitution.}}

The constitution put an end to the centuries-long persecution and discrimination of [[Huguenot]]s (French [[Protestant]]s).{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}. Concurrently with making all [[Protestant]]s resident in France into full-fledged citizens, the law enacted on December 15, 1790  stated that: 
{{blockquote|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 ({{lang|fr|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.<ref name="André Encrevé 1999, p.66"/>}}

The [[revocation of the Edict of Nantes]] and expulsion of the Huguenots had taken place more than a century earlier, and there were extensive Huguenot diasporas in many countries, where they often intermarried with the population of the host country.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}} Therefore, the law potentially conferred French citizenship on numerous Britons, Germans, South Africans and others – though only a fraction actually took advantage of it.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}} This option for Huguenot descendants to gain French citizenship remained open until 1945, when it was abolished - since after the [[Occupation of France]], the French were unwilling to let Germans of Huguenot origin to take advantage of it. In October 1985, [[President of France|French President]] [[François Mitterrand]] issued a public apology to the descendants of [[Huguenots]] around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discours.vie-publique.fr/notices/857015500.html |title=Allocution de M. François Mitterrand, Président de la République, aux cérémonies du tricentenaire de la Révocation de l'Edit de Nantes, sur la tolérance en matière politique et religieuse et l'histoire du protestantisme en France, Paris, Palais de l'UNESCO, vendredi 11 octobre 1985 |publisher=Discours.vie-publique.fr |date=1985-10-11 |access-date=2016-04-04}}</ref>

=== Germany ===
{{see also|German Citizenship Project}}
[[German law]] allows (1) people descending from [[Reichsdeutsche|German nationals]] of any ethnicity or (2) people of ethnic German descent and living in countries of the former [[Warsaw Pact]] (as well as Yugoslavia) the right to "return" to Germany and ("re")claim German citizenship ({{lang|de|Aussiedler/Spätaussiedler}}, "late emigrants"). After legislative changes in late 1992 this right is ''[[de facto]]'' restricted to ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union. 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 or their descent from German nationals has been controversial. The law is codified in paragraph 1 of 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".<ref name="Germany Basic Law">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/blob/284870/ce0d03414872b427e57fccb703634dcd/basic_law-data.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075359/https://www.bundestag.de/blob/284870/ce0d03414872b427e57fccb703634dcd/basic_law-data.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Basic Law|archivedate=March 4, 2016}}</ref> Those territories had [[Poles in Germany|a Polish minority]], which also had German citizenship and [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|after World War II lived in Poland]]. These Polish people are also {{lang|de|Aussiedler}} or {{lang|de|Spätaussiedler}} and came [[History of Poland (1945–1989)#Final decade of the Polish People's Republic (1980–1989)|especially in the 1980s]] to Germany, see [[Emigration from Poland to Germany after World War II]]. For example [[Lukas Podolski]] and [[Eugen Polanski]] became German citizens by this law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.expolis.de/schlesien/texte/simonides.html|title=Gibt es ein oberschlesisches Ethnikum?|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-date=15 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715235805/http://www.expolis.de/schlesien/texte/simonides.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Paragraph 2 of Article 116 also provides that "Former German citizens who between 30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945 were deprived of their citizenship on political, racial or religious grounds, and their descendants, shall on application have their citizenship restored".<ref name="Germany Basic Law"/> The historic context for Article 116 was the eviction, following [[World War II]], of an estimated 9 million foreign ethnic Germans from other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Another 9 million German nationals in the [[historical eastern Germany|former eastern German territories]], over which [[Joseph Stalin]] and eastern neighbour states extended military hegemony in 1945, were [[expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] as well. These expellees and refugees, known as {{lang|de|[[Heimatvertriebene]]}}, were given refugee status and documents, and&mdash;as to foreign ethnic Germans&mdash;also West German citizenship (in 1949), and resettled in West Germany. The [[Federation of Expellees|discussion of possible compensation]] continues; this, however, has been countered by possible claims for war compensation from Germany's eastern neighbours, pertaining to both Germany's unconditional surrender and the series of population transfers carried out under the instruments of [[Potsdam Conference|Potsdam]]. Between 1950 and 2016 it is estimated that up to 1,445,210 {{lang|de|Aussiedler/Spätaussiedler}} and their family members, including many [[Polish people|ethnic Poles]] according to Deutsche Welle<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/pl/emigracja-z-polski-do-niemiec-liczna-i-prawie-niewidoczna/a-16181647|title=Emigracja z Polski do Niemiec liczna i prawie niewidoczna|publisher=Deutsche Welle|access-date=28 June 2019}}</ref> (for example [[Lukas Podolski]] and [[Eugen Polanski]]), emigrated from Poland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bpb.de/61643|title=Zuzug von (Spät-)Aussiedlern und ihren Familienangehörigen|date=1 April 2018|publisher=[[Federal Agency for Civic Education]]|language=de}}</ref>

=== Ghana ===
{{further|Year of Return, Ghana 2019}}
Ghana allows people with [[African diaspora|African ancestry]] to apply for and be granted the right to stay in Ghana indefinitely, known as the Right of Abode.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theafricareport.com/West-Africa/ghana-a-place-for-african-americans-to-resettle.html |title=Ghana, a place for African-Americans to resettle |last=Dovi |first=Efam |date=11 May 2015 |website=[[The Africa Report]] |access-date=16 July 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Right of Abode - Ghana |url=https://www.mint.gov.gh/services/right-of-abode/}}</ref>

=== Greece ===
Various phenomena throughout Greek history (the extensive colonization by classical Greek city states, the vast expansion of Greek culture in Hellenistic times, the large dominions at times held by the Greek-speaking [[Byzantine Empire]], and the energetic trading activity by Greeks under the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]]) all tended to create Greek communities far beyond the boundaries of modern Greece.

Recognizing this situation, Greece grants citizenship to broad categories of people of ethnic Greek ancestry who are members of the Greek diaspora, including individuals and families whose ancestors have been resident in diaspora communities outside the modern state of Greece for centuries or millennia.<ref>[http://athens.usembassy.gov/uploads/7z/Z4/7zZ4A6EyE4dMjph5dNxFew/citizenship_code.pdf US Embassy in Athens] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705222308/http://athens.usembassy.gov/uploads/7z/Z4/7zZ4A6EyE4dMjph5dNxFew/citizenship_code.pdf |date=2008-07-05 }}</ref>

"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  ''Acquisition 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".

[[Albania]] has demanded since the 1940s that Greece grant a right of return to the Muslim [[Cham Albanians]], who were [[Expulsion of Cham Albanians|expelled]] from the Greek region of [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]] between 1944 and 1945, at the end of [[World War II]] – a demand firmly rejected by the Greeks (see [[Cham issue]]).

=== Hungary ===
In 2010, Hungary passed a law granting citizenship and the right of return to descendants of Hungarians living mostly on the former territory of the Kingdom of Hungary and now residing in Hungary's neighbouring countries. [[Slovakia]], which has 500,000 ethnic Magyar citizens (10% of its population), objected vociferously.<ref name="Pandora's Passport 2010, p. 60">Pandora's Passport, Hungary extends citizenship beyond its borders, Slovakia retaliates", ''The Economist'', 5 June 2010, p. 60.</ref>

=== Ireland ===
Present [[Irish nationality law]] states that any person with a grandparent born on the island of Ireland can claim Irish nationality by enrollment in the [[Foreign Births Register]]. Additionally, the law permits the Minister of Justice to waive the residency requirements for naturalization for a person of "Irish descent or Irish associations".

=== Israel ===
{{Main|Law of Return}}
{{related|[[Palestinian right of return]]}}
The [[Law of Return]] is legislation enacted by [[Israel]] in 1950, that gives all [[Jews]], people of Jewish ancestry up to at least one Jewish grandparent, and their spouses the right to [[Aliyah|immigrate]] to and settle in Israel and obtain citizenship, and obliges the Israeli government to facilitate their immigration. Originally, the law applied to Jews only, until a 1970 amendment stated that the rights "are also vested in a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew". This resulted in several hundreds of thousands of people fitting the above criteria immigrating to Israel (mainly from the [[former Soviet Union]]) but not being recognized as Jews by the Israeli religious authorities, which on the basis of [[halakha]] recognize only the child of a Jewish mother as being Jewish, or a [[proselyte]] to Judaism. Moreover, some of these immigrants, though having a Jewish grandparent, are known to be practicing Christians. People who would be otherwise eligible for this law can be excluded if they can reasonably be considered to constitute a danger to the welfare of the state, have a criminal past, or are wanted fugitives in their countries with the exception of persecution victims. Jews who converted to another religion can also be denied the right of return. Since its inception in 1948, over three million Jews have immigrated to Israel.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3539874,00.html |title=400 olim arrive in Israel ahead of Independence Day – Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews |newspaper=Ynetnews |date=6 May 2008 |publisher=Ynetnews.com |access-date=2008-05-06|last1=Branovsky |first1=Yael }}</ref>

=== Latvia ===
According to the law passed in 2013, any person who themself or whose parent or grandparent had [[Latvians|Latvian]] or [[Livonians|Livonian]] ethnicity, did not voluntarily chose a different ethnicity and lived on Latvian territory between 1881 and 17 June 1940, may register Latvian citizenship upon providing proofing documents and passing a language exam.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pmlp.gov.lv/en/latvians-and-livs | title=Latvians and Livs &#124; Pilsonības un migrācijas lietu pārvalde }}</ref>

=== Poland ===
{{See also|Polish nationality law#Loss of Polish citizenship}}
From the Constitution of [[Poland]], Article 52(5): "Anyone whose Polish origin has been confirmed in accordance with statute may settle permanently in Poland."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/pl00000_.html|title=ICL – Poland – Constitution|access-date=15 July 2016}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

=== Portugal ===
On April 12, 2013, the Portuguese parliament unanimously approved a measure that allows the descendants of [[Jews expelled from Portugal]] in the 16th century to become [[Portuguese citizens]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/descendants-of-jews-who-fled-persecution-may-claim-portuguese-citizenship|title=Descendants of Jews who fled persecution may claim Portuguese citizenship|website=[[The Times of Israel]] |access-date=15 July 2016}}</ref>

=== Romania ===
Romanian citizenship can be regained or granted to individuals who were Romanian citizens and who lost it for reasons beyond their control or whose citizenship was revoked involuntarily. This legal provision also applies in the case of descendants of former Romanian citizens up to the third degree. <ref>{{cite web | url=http://cetatenie.just.ro/articolul-11-2/#:~:text=Cet%C4%83%C5%A3enia%20rom%C3%A2n%C4%83%20poate%20fi%20redob%C3%A2ndit%C4%83,e)%20din%20Legea%20cet%C4%83%C8%9Beniei%20rom%C3%A2ne | title=Articolul 11 – AUTORITATEA NATIONALA PENTRU CETATENIE | date=10 January 2020 }}</ref>

=== Russia ===
The Russian Federation offers citizenship to individuals descended from Russian ancestors who can demonstrate an affinity for Russian culture and, preferably, speak Russian. Concern about Russia's shrinking population prompted the program.<ref name=population>Levy, Clifford J. 21 March 2009. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/world/europe/22believers.html?_r=1&hp A Sturdier Russia Beckons Its Children Home]." ''New York Times''.</ref>  This has had a positive effect because this has not only reversed Russia's population decline but has also increased the birth rate.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} Officials estimate that 25 million members of the [[Russian diaspora]] are eligible for nationality. The Foreign Ministry has sent emissaries to countries around the world to urge the descendants of Russian emigrants to return home.<ref name=population></ref>  The majority of these emigrants have returned from Ukraine,<ref>{{cite news |last=Foltynova |first=Kristyna |date=2020-06-19 |title=Migrants Welcome: Is Russia Trying To Solve Its Demographic Crisis By Attracting Foreigners? |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/migrants-welcome-is-russia-trying-to-solve-its-demographic-crisis-by-attracting-foreigners-/30677952.html |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |access-date=2024-04-23}}</ref>  many of them young men looking for better education and job opportunities.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

=== Spain ===
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2021}}
[[Sephardi Jews]] were expelled from Spain in 1492. Despite the requirement by general rule for obtaining Spanish nationality after five years of residence in Spain, by royal decree on 20 December 1924, Sephardi Jews can obtain Spanish nationality with two years of residence in Spain. From 1924 until 2015 Sephardi Jews living abroad could also ask the Spanish Government for a conferment of Spanish nationality, but the Government enjoyed full discretion as to the decision whether to grant Spanish nationality. On 24 June 2015, the Spanish Parliament approved the 12/2015 Act, the Law Granting the Nationality to Sephardi Jews, that grants the Spanish nationality automatically to Sephardi Jews living abroad, provided they can prove that they are descendants of the Sephardi Jews expelled in 1492.

In 2007, the Spanish Parliament approved the 57/2007 Act, the Law of Historical Memory. The 57/2007 Act provides for the descendants of Spaniards living abroad that left Spain because of political persecution during the [[Spanish Civil War|Civil War]] and [[Francoist Spain|Franco's dictatorship]] – that is the period between 1936 and 1975 – to obtain Spanish nationality.

Finally, following the [[Capture of Gibraltar|Anglo-Dutch capture of Gibraltar]] in August 1704 during the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], the Spanish population left, citing their loyalty to the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbons]] and establishing themselves in the surrounding area (which has come to be known as the "[[Campo de Gibraltar]]"). The Spanish population established institutions similar to those they maintained in Gibraltar, including the census and the archives in the City of [[San Roque, Cádiz|San Roque]], which is the city "where Gibraltar lives on". Some of the population's descendants have cited the right of return in order to return to Gibraltar, although their requests have not been currently addressed by the [[Government of Spain|Spanish government]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===United States of America===

The [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] of the [[U.S. Constitution]] guarantees [[United States citizenship]] to those born in the [[United States|United States of America]], with very few exceptions.<ref>U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1</ref><ref>Michael Neal, Return of the New Mexican-American Diaspora, Berkeley La Raza Law Review, https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/1242205/files/3%20Neal%202022%20%2847-105%29.pdf</ref> However, children born outside the country to a U.S. citizen may also acquire citizenship under the principle of [[jus sanguinis]]. Congress determines who acquires citizenship when born outside the United States. Generally, acquisition of citizenship at birth abroad depends on whether, at the time of the child's birth, one or both of the parents was a U.S. citizen; the gender of the U.S. citizen-parent, and whether the parents were married at the time of the child's birth. Numerous courts have held that U.S. citizens, including acquired citizens, who are outside the United States have a fundamental right to return to the country.<ref>Worthy v. United States, 328 F.2d 386, 394 (5th Cir. 1964).</ref><ref>Ayala-Flores v. INS, 662 F.2d 444, 446 (6th Cir. 1981)</ref><ref>Acosta v. Gaffney, 558 F.2d 1153, 1157 (3d Cir. 1977).</ref><ref>United States v. Valentine, 288 F. Supp. 957, 980 (D.P.R. 1968)</ref><ref>Nguyen v. INS, 533 U.S. 53, 67 (2001).</ref>

Large-scale deportations of undocumented immigrants from the United States have resulted in a [[diaspora]] of U.S. citizens, especially of [[Mexican Americans]].<ref>Michael Neal, Return of the New Mexican-American Diaspora, Berkeley La Raza Law Review, https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/1242205/files/3%20Neal%202022%20%2847-105%29.pdf</ref> Children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants became U.S. citizens at birth and, subsequently, joined their parents in Mexico due in part to immigration enforcement. Over time, these U.S. citizens have had children of their own in Mexico, giving rise to a generation of Mexican-born children who acquired U.S. citizenship at birth. These acquired citizens struggle to prove their U.S. citizenship and have been falsely deported and imprisoned when exercising their right to return to the United States.