Legal Definitions - dual national

Dual National

A dual national is an individual who holds citizenship in two different countries at the same time. This means they are legally recognized as a citizen by both nations and possess the rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship in each.

Dual nationality can arise in several ways, such as:

• Being born in a country that grants citizenship based on birthright (jus soli) while having parents who are citizens of another country that grants citizenship based on parentage (jus sanguinis).
• A person naturalizing as a citizen of a second country without being required to renounce their original citizenship, provided both countries' laws permit it.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of a dual national:

• Example 1: Citizenship by Birth

  Consider a child born in the United States to parents who are both citizens of Italy. Under U.S. law, anyone born on U.S. soil automatically becomes a U.S. citizen. Simultaneously, Italian law allows children born to Italian citizens to also claim Italian citizenship by descent. In this scenario, the child is a dual national, holding both U.S. and Italian passports, and is subject to the laws and protections of both countries, such as the right to reside in either nation and potential military service obligations in one.

• Example 2: Citizenship by Naturalization

  Imagine a software engineer from Brazil who moves to Portugal for work and lives there for several years. After meeting the residency and other legal requirements, they apply for and are granted Portuguese citizenship. Since both Brazil and Portugal generally allow their citizens to hold dual nationality, the engineer can retain their Brazilian citizenship while also becoming a Portuguese citizen. This individual is now a dual national, enjoying the rights of citizenship in both Brazil and Portugal, such as the ability to vote in both countries' elections and travel freely between them with their respective passports, while also being subject to the tax laws of both nations.