Is double nationality legal?
International law and the Russian legislation consider that double nationality means that a person has nationalities of two or more states at the same time.
Availability of double nationality is usually due to national legislations of each of the states. Double netionality arises if a legislation does not contain the full set of restrictions preventing it. To avoid a possibility of double nationality a legislation must contain at least three such restrictions:
- rejection of a previous nationality as a condition of obtaining the nationality of the country;
- termination of the nationality of the country as a condition of obtaining another nationality;
- failure to provide the nationality by birth if the child gets another nationality by birth.
Meanwhile declarative provisions of the law, e. g. concerning “nonrecognition of double nationality” or a possibility of issuing “a permission to obtain another nationality” do not exclude the possibility of obtaining it if they are not supported by the restrictions above mentioned.
Countries that do recognize double nationality usually consider those having it as having only “their” nationality. Nevertheless, in some cases people having double nationality can be treated as foreigners and be therefore restricted in their rights (see Federal Law “On nationality of the Russian Federation ” of 31 May 2002 ).
