Editing Nationality (section)

== Determining factors ==
{{Further|Nationality law}}

A person can be recognized or granted nationality on a number of bases. Usually, nationality based on circumstances of birth is automatic, but an application may be required.

* Nationality by family (''[[jus sanguinis]]''). If one or both of a person's parents are citizens of a given state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well.{{efn|Examples: [[Philippine nationality law#Citizenship by birth|Philippines]],<ref>[http://www.chanrobles.com/article4.htm Article IV of the Philippine Constitution].</ref> [[Title 8 of the United States Code|United States]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/chapter-12/subchapter-III/part-I|title=8 U.S. Code Part I - Nationality at Birth and Collective Naturalization|website=LII / Legal Information Institute}}</ref>}} Formerly this might only have applied through the paternal line, but [[sex equality]] became common since the late twentieth century. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or [[ethnicity]] and is related to the concept of a [[nation state]] common in [[Europe]]. Where ''jus sanguinis'' holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. Some states ([[United Kingdom]], [[Canada]]) limit the right to citizenship by descent to a certain number of generations born outside the state; others ([[Germany]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Switzerland]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Federal Act on Swiss Citizenship (art 7.1) |url=https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2016/404/en |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227171040/https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2016/404/en |archive-date=2021-12-27 |access-date=2021-02-15 |website=admin.ch}}</ref>) grant citizenship only if each new generation is registered with the relevant foreign mission within a specified deadline; while others ([[Italy]], for example<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=12 January 2023 |title=CITTADINANZA ITALIANA: COME SI OTTIENE? |url=https://www.cittadinanzattiva.it/approfondimenti/giustizia/11085-cittadinanza-italiana-come-si-ottiene.html |access-date=7 November 2023 |website= |publisher=Cittadinanzattiva APS |quote=}}</ref>) have no limitation on the number of generations born abroad who can claim citizenship of their ancestors' country. This form of citizenship is common in [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] countries.
* Nationality by birth (''[[jus soli]]''). Some people are automatically nationals of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in [[England]], where those who were born within the realm were [[British subject#Prior to 1949|subjects of the monarch]] (a concept pre-dating that of citizenship in England) and is common in [[common law]] countries. Most countries in [[Americas|the Americas]] grant unconditional ''jus soli'' citizenship, while it has been limited or abolished in almost all other countries.
** In many cases, both ''jus soli'' and ''jus sanguinis'' hold citizenship either by place or parentage (or both).
* Nationality by marriage (''[[jus matrimonii]]''). Many countries fast-track naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen. Countries that are destinations for such immigration often have regulations to try to detect [[sham marriage]]s, where a citizen marries a non-citizen typically for payment, without them having the intention of living together.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bishops act to tackle sham marriages |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bishops-act-to-tackle-sham-marriages |website=GOV.UK}}</ref> Many countries ([[United Kingdom]], [[Germany]], [[United States]], [[Canada]]) allow citizenship by marriage only if the foreign spouse is a permanent resident of the country in which citizenship is sought; others ([[Switzerland]], [[Luxembourg]]) allow foreign spouses of expatriate citizens to obtain citizenship after a certain period of marriage, and sometimes also subject to language skills and proof of cultural integration (e.g. regular visits to the spouse's country of citizenship).
* [[Naturalization]]. States normally grant nationality to people who have entered the country legally and been granted a permit to stay, or been granted [[political asylum]], and also lived there for a specified period. In some countries, naturalization is subject to conditions which may include passing a test demonstrating reasonable knowledge of the language or way of life of the host country, good conduct (no serious criminal record), and moral character (such as drunkenness, or gambling, or an understanding of the nature of drunkenness, or gambling) vowing allegiance to their new state or its ruler and renouncing their prior citizenship. Some states allow [[dual citizenship]] and do not require naturalized citizens to formally renounce any other citizenship.
* Nationality by investment or [[economic citizenship]]. Wealthy people invest money in property or businesses, buy government bonds or simply donate cash directly, in exchange for citizenship and a passport. Whilst legitimate and usually limited in quota, the schemes are controversial. Costs for citizenship by investment range from as little as $100,000 (£74,900) to as much as €2.5m (£2.19m)<ref>{{cite web |date=2 June 2018 |title=Citizenship for sale: how tycoons can go shopping for a new passport |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/02/citizenship-by-investment-passport-super-rich-nationality |access-date=24 August 2018 |website=The Guardian}}</ref>