Is it possible to NOT have citizenship in ANY country?

Question

Is it possible, and what are the legal repurcussions?

Answer 1

Someone without any citizenship is called stateless.

The UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights actually released a "Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons".

Think of a civil war in a country and people run and flee into the neighboring country. There they live for decades as war rages, their children are not accepted as citizens of the host country (any country has the right to regulate to whom it wished to extend citizenship to). Think Palestinians in the West Bank 20 years ago.

Statelessness is scarily common.

Answer 2

It is absolutely possible to not have citizenship in any country. That status is called being stateless. The most often way this happens is when a country expels people, usually of a particular ethnic group into other countries. These people are stripped of the citizenship from their original country, and legally have no rights to live in the next country. Thes are the people who end up being refugees. The United Nations frequently takes care of these people and relocates them to other countries around the world that have agreed to receive refugees.



Also, different countries have different requirements regarding citizenship. In some countries, it is as simple as having a grandparent or even great-grandparent that was a citizen. In other countries, your parents need to be citizens. Simply being born within the borders of some countries does not guarantee you citizenship.

Answer 3

Yes, there are several possible ways one could have no citizenship. For instance, you could renounce your citizenship, but to do that you must either 1) be in another country at the time, which presumes that you have a visa to be there 2) already have a visa for the country you are renouncing your citizenship from when you do it. Also, your country could possibly cease to exist, and if that happened violently, many documents could be destroyed, erasing any history of your citizenship. Further, through beurocratic mishaps, your birth could not be registered properly, causing you to not have citizenship. The sites below provide instances of such things happening, plus a UN office created to deal with such problems.

Answer 4

sure it is possible. in international right there is a category of people who are not a citizens of any state. they are called apatrides.people without citizenship.



A stateless person is someone with no state or nationality, usually because the state that gave their previous nationality has ceased to exist and there is no successor state.



While more common before the 20th century, when states were somewhat more fragile entities, on September 20, 1954 the United Nations adopted the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons: an active policy to prevent people becoming or remaining stateless. States which have ratified the Convention are bound to give stateless persons rights similar to those granted aliens of comparable status. Nevertheless, around nine million people still live in countries where they are not considered to be nationals, and many of them are denied access to legal protection or their rights to health care and education.



A slightly comic/tragic rendition of this condition was portrayed in the motion picture The Terminal, where a man was trapped living inside an airport because he couldn't return home due to his unrecognized citizenship status (His homeland collapsed while he was in transit). This story was based in part on the real-life story of Merhan Karimi Nasseri, who spent several years in the Charles de Gaulle Airport (Paris) due to conflicts with the French law and the fact that he was not welcome in his country of origin.



Resources: Wikipedia, UNHCR

Answer 5

Technically and practically it is possible and well documented practice of states which give the title of citizenship. There are millions of people who lost their citizenship and have to live under the special permission of host countries other than his/her own country. According to current global state regime, citizenship rigths are defined according to each state's own regulations and law. And each state is free to accept or expel a person to/from citizenship. Some European states agreed upon some new regulations to decrees this arbitrary state capability to a minimum level, however most of the states of other parts of the world still keep their right to define the citizenship.

Answer 6

I think it would be because of very special circumstances. I think I read something dealing the the PATRIOT act that the if the US classifies a person as an enemy combatant they can possibly renounce a person's citizenship. I don't think that part passed, but if it did that could result if something like you're asking.

Answer 7

I saw a news item on TV a few years ago about a man who is stuck in the airport in France because he has no documents and he has lived in the airport for years. I guess he is a man without a country or citizenship.

Answer 8

You, it's not. If you were born in, say, England and then moved to the States you have to, when you're eighteen, declare U.S. citizenship or British citizenship. Otherwise, there would be no where to deport you if you decided to misbehave in a foreign country.

Answer 9

no. when u r born in a country u become a citizen of that country or inherent your parent's citizen ship(whichever is applicable. and u have to be born in some country or a providence

Answer 10

if you are in a cave or something with no one else to witness you birth you won't be a citizen, however, you will have no birth records or anything, so it would be like you never were born so you can get a credit card or buy a house and stuff...cool! =P

Answer 11

ooohh, an interesting question. Because your citizenship can be revoked by a country...

Answer 12

I suppose if you were born in space....then what country would you claim citizen ship too?

Answer 13

umm I have never heard of that before, where were you born, you're a citizen there.

Answer 14

If you are born in antartica, I'd assume it is.