Barbitana

Dear friends,
I have several simple questions, hope you guide me concerning these issues:
1- What exactly is the differece of citizenship and nationality, sorry I may seems a dummy question but my first language is not English and I got confuesd.... if you get the Australian citizenship are your nationality is changed to Australian? or simply you are a holder of an Australian passport?

2- Can I keep my own country's passport and citizenship after receiving an Australian pass ?

TNX!

Centurion

Your nationality is generally where you reside and are a citizen of. You can also hold dual nationality though, for example holding a UK and Australian Passport.

Certain countries do not allow dual nationality, the UK does and Australia does, but if you dont hold a UK passport you may be better off seeking advice to make sure before requesting citizenship in Australia.

JAJ

Where you reside is irrelevant as far as nationality is concerned.

In most countries there is no difference between nationality and citizenship. However a few countries do have a distinction.

There are 6 categories of British nationality, for example. The most common is British citizenship, however the collective (unofficial) term for all six categories together is 'British national'.

The US has a two tier nationality system. Most Americans are US citizens, but there are some people (from outlying possessions such as American Samoa) who are US nationals but not US citizens.

And India has recently introduced a new form of nationality called "Indian overseas citizenship".





Jeremy

CPW

JAJ's answer about the difference between nationality and citizenship is very clear. But to clarify further for the original poster - when most people talk loosely about nationality or citizenship, they are not usually making any distinction. (For instance, if someone said to you in ordinary conversation, 'What is your nationality?' they are likely to mean the same thing as if they said 'What is your citizenship?' or 'What country are you a citizen of?') One of the things about the English language, as you no doubt will have noticed, is that it is very rich in near-synonyms (i.e. words that mean almost the same thing as each other), and people are often careless (or ignorant) of nuances of meaning.

However, in official documents and so on, there might be a difference between nationality and citizenship, as JAJ (Jeremy) describes, depending on the country involved. There is no difference, as far as I know, in the Australian context. The usual word used in Australian law is citizenship.

In answer to the second question - can you keep your original citizenship if you are naturalised as an Australian citizen? - that depends entirely on the rules of the country of your original citizenship. Australia, however, will not require you to give up any other citizenship(s) you may have if you become a naturalised Australian citizen. What is your present citizenship?

Note too that you are able to be issued with a passport because you are a citizen - not the other way around (you don't gain or keep a citizenship because you have a passport). So that the mere fact that you might keep your actual physical passport if you naturalise as Australian does not necessarily mean that your original country of citizenship will still regard you as a citizen - that depends, as I say, on its own citizenship and nationality laws.

Similarly, if you naturalise as an Australian you will be an Australian citizen. You are then, as a citizen, entitled to apply for an Australian passport, but you wouldn't be any less an Australian citizen if you didn't apply for one. (There is nothing in Australian law to say that a citizen has to have a passport. However, you would need an Australian passport if, as an Australian citizen, you intended to travel into or out of Australia.)