Dual Citizenship (Mexico, naturalization, residents, nationality)

[mikey713]

I have heard plenty of people are dual citizens. Like that lady from Colombia that got kidnapped. She was french and colombian. I am a US citizen with parents born from Mexico. Parents are US Residents at the moment. Is there any way I can become a dual Mexican and American citizen?

I have heard this rumor that only Americans are without the option of having dual citizenship.

[Jaggy001]

Originally Posted by mikey713

I have heard plenty of people are dual citizens. Like that lady from Colombia that got kidnapped. She was french and colombian. I am a US citizen with parents born from Mexico. Parents are US Residents at the moment. Is there any way I can become a dual Mexican and American citizen?

I have heard this rumor that only Americans are without the option of having dual citizenship.

"The U.S. Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does not encourage it as a matter of policy"

US State Department Services Dual Nationality

But ....

Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1481), as amended, states that U.S. citizens are subject to loss of citizenship if they perform certain specified acts voluntarily and with the intention to relinquish U.S. citizenship. Briefly stated, these acts include:

obtaining naturalization in a foreign state (Sec. 349 (a) (1) INA);

Advice about Possible Loss of U.S. Citizenship and Dual Nationality

[PacificFlights]

I know many US born citizens who have dual citizenship. Most got it because they were born in another country and that country gives them citiizenship as well as the US recognizing that they are US citizens. Some were military, others were working abroad. Most got that second citizenship because the other country granted in, few if any I know went to get the other country citizenship.

Lets say you were born in another country at a local hospital but your parents are US citizens working for the US embassy. Your still a US citizen, but that country may grant you citizenship because you were born on their soil. Thats diffrent from you being a US citizen born here and want to get another country to grant you citizenship. In the second case, your going after another country citizenship (that could be considered as renouncing your Us citizenship) where the first case they gave it to you even if you don't ever use it.

[Sonnenwende]

Originally Posted by mikey713

I have heard this rumor that only Americans are without the option of having dual citizenship.

Very wrong. Though the US does not wish their citizens to have a second citizenship, they tolerate it. Citizens of some countries cannot naturalize in another without losing their country's citizenship automatically. India does not allow dual citizenship, for example.

[CHwboy]

Originally Posted by Sonnenwende

Very wrong. Though the US does not wish their citizens to have a second citizenship, they tolerate it. Citizens of some countries cannot naturalize in another without losing their country's citizenship automatically. India does not allow dual citizenship, for example.

Though this is only a recent development. Until the mid-90s (?) the Americans would not allow dual nationality, and would revoke your US citizenship if you became a citizen of another country.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by CHwboy

Though this is only a recent development. Until the mid-90s (?) the Americans would not allow dual nationality, and would revoke your US citizenship if you became a citizen of another country.

And it was only under Vicente Fox that Mexicans were not only allowed but encouraged to obtain dual citizenship with the USA. Before then, Mexico didn't accept the divided loyalty that of course the dual citizens have.

[mikey713]

So does Mexico grant citizenship based on parents being Mexican citizens even though I was not born in their soil? That is what the US does, am I correct? Because I have heard that if your parents are US citizens, a baby born anywhere in the world is an automatic US citizen as well.

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by mikey713

So does Mexico grant citizenship based on parents being Mexican citizens even though I was not born in their soil? That is what the US does, am I correct? Because I have heard that if your parents are US citizens, a baby born anywhere in the world is an automatic US citizen as well.

A baby born to US citizens outside the USA doesn't automatically get USA citizenship. One of the parents has to prove that they lived at least 10 years of their life in the USA and five years of those years above the age of 14.

[Gary Siete]

Originally Posted by mikey713

So does Mexico grant citizenship based on parents being Mexican citizens even though I was not born in their soil?

Yes, if one or both parents were born in Mexico - you just have to register the out-of-country birth with the Mexican consulate.

[cokatie]

Originally Posted by CHwboy

Though this is only a recent development. Until the mid-90s (?) the Americans would not allow dual nationality, and would revoke your US citizenship if you became a citizen of another country.

Incorrect on several points. I have had dual citizenship since the late 1980's. The laws forbidding dual citizenship were struck down by the US Supreme Court in two cases (a 1967 decision and a second ruling in 1980).

Above you reference "dual nationality". Dual Nationality is something completely different from Dual Citizenship. Your "nationality" is not changeable. It is the country where you were born. In my case, my nationality is American. That can never change since I was born here. I can put any other hyphen's in it to further expand my background (i.e. American-Irish, American-French). The same is applied if you were born in Germany. Your German nationality will never change - nor will you ever be able to identify yourself as an American national.

What CAN change is a person's citizenship. This is a legal status - meaning that you are registered with the government in a certain country as a citizen.

Where the US gets tricky with regard to Dual Citizenship (and where various laws are still in effect against it) is for for people who have become US Citizens via the naturalization process. Part of that procedure requires the new US citizenship to renounce their old citizenship.

But in the case of the OP who was born in the US, there would be no problem from the US side for him/her to obtain dual citizenship with Mexico. As I stated above, however, that would NOT be the case for his/her parents.

I hope this didn't cause more confusement!