If you were born on the borderline of two countries. What nationality could you

1. 71

   clivewilliamsposted 7 years ago

   If you were born on the borderline of two countries. What nationality could you take?

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2. 60

   TessSchlesingerposted 7 years ago

   There is no such thing as being born on the borderline of two countries. You take on the nationality of the geographical place you were born in, plus you can apply for the nationality of your parents if they were born in a different country. That's about it.
   
   So, for example, I have a German father and a South African mother. I was born in South Africa. So I am South African by birth. However, I can apply (and did) for German nationality. So I am a dual German/South African. If I hadn't applied for German nationality, regardless of whether my father was German or not, I would not have been a German national.
   
   In the course of my life, however, I have qualified for nationality for three other countries - United States and the United Kingdom because I lived in them. However, I chose not to take on their nationality, basically because Germany states that if one takes on another nationality, then one loses German nationality. As that would have affected my European citizenship (which gives me permission to live and work in dozes of other countries), I chose not to do that.
   
   I also qualify to move to Israel and become an Israeli citizen by virtue of the fact that my paternal grandfather was Jewish. However in doing that, I would lose both My South African and German nationality, and I was not keen to do that.

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   1. 71

      clivewilliamsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      okay

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3. 44

   Ericdierkerposted 7 years ago

   Check out the Four Corners Monument. It is really cool being in four states at once. There is rumor that a Lady of science and humanitarianism had her baby right there to make a point. What the heck would the birth certificate say?
   And I will not answer the obvious but rather pose the issue further. What happens if the mother had been likewise born?

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      TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      What has that to do with the question? A state is not a country...

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      Ericdierkerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Wow Tessa, you can't see the point? Sure if someone wanted to they could deliver a baby right on a borderline? The concept is absurd but it makes a point just in contemplating it. Here is a good one - a US Civil War boundary. Here today gone tomorrow

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      tamarawilhiteposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The birth certificate would list the place of birth as whatever the registrar wanted, which could be the office where the birth certificate is issued.

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      Ericdierkerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      That lends to a cool thought. What would happen if instead of the idea that someone does not belong here, gets changed to we want them as our own.  Two docs deliver the baby and each registers the birth in their own country.

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4. 85

   tamarawilhiteposted 7 years ago

   In most nations, your nationality is based on the nation you are born in or the nationality of your parents. You get the nationality of the mother in many Western nations, the father in many Muslim ones.
   You may be able to get dual nationality, citizenship from both nations. The US doesn't recognize this, but many other countries do. And you can choose to keep dual nationalities in many places, such as many Mexican-Americans and Canadian Americans.
   There are serious problems when the laws don't assign a child a nationality at all, like when an Iraqi woman with a Qatari husband has a child in Iraq - Iraq doesn't see the baby as Iraqi, Qatar says no, born abroad, no citizenship. The same can happen with illegal immigrants having children in nations without birthright citizenship, which is everywhere but Canada and the United States.
   Let's say you're born with dual citizenship, since you have family on both sides of the border. Most nations will let you keep both as an adult, but some say "pick one when you're an adult". At which point, you want to keep the citizenship that lets you either have better access to opportunity or lets you live where you're currently living.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The US does recognize dual citizenship.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St … itizenship

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5. 82

   Patsybellposted 7 years ago

   I'm thinking this is a whimsical question. Just for dreaming and for fun. There are lots of serious answers if this is a serious question. So I choose to answer for fun. I choose the most Democratic country with the most happy healthy people.

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   1. 71

      clivewilliamsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      cool

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