What is Nationality law? Rights and responsibilities of a citizen

Nationality is when you belong to a nation, and you can belong to one or many. But the real deal is, how can you belong? What are the codes and policies?

Read this article to get the ropes about what is nationality law, immigration law, rights and responsibilities of citizens, and much more.

What is Nationality Law?

Nationality or citizenship law is a different name for the same jurisprudence. The principle is the framework that decides if you possess the nationality of a country. You can lose or gain the nationality of a country running on this mode of the constitution.

You can either follow the law and attain citizenship or go against the code and pass it up. The law involves duties and rights for a citizen to do and have.

Nationality Law vs Immigration Law

You might think both the laws intersect and have close to no difference, but here’s where you lack the knowledge we’re about to provide.

Where immigration law lays the ground over who can enter the territory of a nation and what paperwork they need before they step-in the nationality law, is something else entirely.

So, what is nationality law? To be precise, it administers if you can become a citizen of the nation-state and upon what conditions.

Who has the authority to make these laws?

The constitution of the United States of America gives Congress the authority to make nationality laws. Section eight of US law states in article one that Congress can govern the criteria and footings over the habituation of citizens.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 is the legal framework that lists the necessities to become an American citizen and also the not-to-dos.

Rights of citizens

The citizens of the United States of America enjoy rights that need abidance as per the nationality law. Protection is key and essential for each American. Also, voting participation is mandatory for each citizen and the right to run for the elected office. However, some states of America also restrict criminals from voting.

Citizens of America also have the right to have assistance from the consulates and US embassies as they make up their minds to travel abroad.

Non-citizens rights

Non-citizens might have the same protection citizens have while in the territories of the United States of America, but apart from that, they lack many facilities citizens revel in.

For instance, let’s take the 1976 case of Matthews v. Diaz. In the Supreme Court, Congress decided the distinct rules for both parties. In Mathew’s case, lawgivers rejected giving the right for Medicare part B benefits if the person is a non-citizen or has been in the country for less than five years.  Non-citizens do have some due process rights and more under the law of the US but they might never be the same as the rights of the citizens.

Non-citizens or even citizens that are not born in America can also not run for the position of President or the Vice President of the United States. They can become the Governor of State though or work in high-level cabinet positions but being President is a notion unreachable for them.

Citizens responsibilities

Everything comes with a price, and so does your citizenship, and with rights come responsibilities. So, if you’re a citizen there are some responsibilities you need to adhere to. Here are some of the responsibilities you owe as an American citizen.

If you’re selected for the Jury, you must serve. As is the case with taxes, if you’re a citizen you must pay them. Also, you must travel with a passport.

Moreover, male citizens should list themselves in the Selective Service System just as they near the age of eighteen.

These rules of naturalization might change with time as some parties are putting forward their cases to the Department of Justice’s Executive Office and U.S. federal courts.

How to become a U.S. citizen?

As time progressed, the citizen rules of America have evolved.

The Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 brought along with it the grants of citizenship to people born in the United States of America. Only a few countries give the right to individuals to be called a citizen upon just their birthright.

Other methods to attain citizenship also is contingent on the person’s parents and their marital status, residency, and citizenship.

A child not born in America can be a citizen of the country even if he is born elsewhere. Here are the conditions to the example:

• Both parents must be citizens of America and married, one must have resided in the country before the child was born, and provide paperwork to achieve citizenship for the child.
• If one of the married parents is a US citizen and had lived in the country for a minimum of five years, two years should be before the child turns fourteen.
• If the parents are unmarried, one of them should at the least be tangibly there in America for one year at a minimum- that too, before the child’s birth.