by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Christophe Bertossi
French nationals applying for a new passport or identity card will now be able to provide former French passports and identity cards as a sufficient proof of French nationality instead of a French nationality certificate. The new rules came into force on March 1, 2010, following a joint decree of the French Ministry of Interior and of Foreign Affairs.
On 11 March the Greek Parliament approved a bill proposed by the Greek government that comprehensively reforms Greek citizenship law. The law will come into force upon publication in the Official Gazette. The main points of this important reform are:
1.Double ius soli. Automatic acquisition of Greek citizenship if one of the parents is born and permanently resides in the country (Article 1, par. 2, al.a).
By EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Anuscheh Farahat
A member of the German Left Party (Die Linke) has recently been denied naturalisation due to her membership in this left-wing party. Jannine Menger-Hamilton is Member of the regional parliament (Landtag) of Schleswig-Holstein functioning as spokesperson of the parliamentary group of her party. Mrs. Menger-Hamilton has been born in Germany; her mother is an Italian national, her father a British national.
The European Court of Justice issued its judgment in the case Janko Rottmann v Freistaat of Bayern Case C-135/08 on 2 March 2010. The judgement confirms that a Member State of the European Union may withdraw its nationality, granted by Read More …
By EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Eugene Buttigieg
Among those who acquire citizenship by naturalisation, only a minority do so without any ties of marriage or parentage, according to statistics by the Maltese Parliament.
According to an article by the local newspaper Malta Today on Sunday, “few people get citizenship in Malta unless they marry a Maltese or have a Maltese parent’. Over 2,000 of the 2,817 new Maltese citizens in the last four years became Maltese citizens either by marriage or from birth to a Maltese parent.
Statistics show that since 2004, over 1,000 men and women married foreigners, who after five years of marriage became Maltese citizens. Foreign wives who gained citizenship mainly hailed from Britain (157), Australia (83), and Russia (55). Husbands mainly were of British (107), Australian (78), but also Italian (56) and Libyan origin (49). ‘The statistics presented in Parliament show that there is a significant gender imbalance in the acquisition of a Maltese citizenship. For example, just one of 16 Nigerians granted Maltese citizenship was a woman.
By EUDO CITIZENSHIP/CITSEE expert Ljubica Spaskovska On 10 February 2010 the Ministers of Justice of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina signed an agreement to prevent the abuse of dual citizenship in extradition processes of convicted criminals. The decision, amending an agreement signed Read More …
by EUDO CITIZENSHIP Expert Dilek Çinar
In October 2009, the Austrian Parliament approved a bill amending the Asylum Law, the Aliens’ Police Law, the Settlement Law as well as the Nationality Law. The new regulations have entered into force on January 1, 2010. The most significant changes are as follows:
• Requirement of sufficient income: Acquisition of Austrian nationality depends on proof of regular and sufficient income. In addition, applicants must not have received social welfare assistance for the last three years preceding the application for naturalisation. Since 2010, regular expenditures for rent, loan repayment, garnishment or alimony payment have to be taken into account when calculating an applicant’s income level. Thus, the amendment raises the level of disposable personal income necessary for naturalisation.
On December 16, 2009, Germany signed the Council of Europe Convention on the avoidance of statelessness in relation to State succession (CETS No.: 200). Germany is the 7th State to sign the Convention. Being ratified by only three member States, Read More …
2,000 applications for Bulgarian citizenship of foreign citizens belonging to the Bulgarian diaspora were approved in January 2010 only. This figure has recently been reported by the Bulgarian Minister for Bulgarians abroad Bozhidar Dimitrov. Dimitrov, who holds a ministry without portfolio, had pushed for procedural simplifications in order to facilitate the acquisition of Bulgarian citizenship by the historical diaspora.
According to Dimitrov, this policy aims at bringing all Bulgarians together. It is inspired by the willingness to pay back “historical debts”, and to solve the “biggest problem in this country: its demographic crisis”.
By EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Christophe Bertossi The French minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Solidarity Development, Eric Besson, has made public his decision of refusing by decree the naturalisation of a man married to a woman who is Read More …
