Nationality

The nationality of a person is that person's legal relationship with a state, for example a Swedish person's legal relationship with the kingdom of Sweden.Vonk, Olivier. Dual Nationality in the European Union: A Study on Changing Norms in Public and Private International Law and in the Municipal Laws of Four EU Member States. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers; 2012-03-19 [cited 17 August 2012]. . p. 19. Nationality is not identical to citizenship but in the majority of states most of the population are both citizens and nationals. Dual nationality means that the person has a legal relationship with two different states at the same time, for example with the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The rights and duties of individual people and the states they belong to vary from country to country.Weis, Paul. Nationality and Statelessness in International Law. Brill; 1979 [cited 19 August 2012]. . pp. 29–61. 

"Nationality" can take on different meanings depending on the country, language and culture in question. For example, someone of Turkish descent may be called "Turkish" even if the individual, a member of the Turkish diaspora, has no right to a Turkish passport and citizenship. In past centuries, the usual meaning of "nationality" was not political, but rather meant membership in an ethnic group. In modern cases such as in airports, when officials ask your "nationality," they are asking to see the passport you use for travel to foreign countries.

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Category:International law