Diaspora status and citizenship rights

Diasporas who have not obtained the nationality of their State of residence retain a certain level of uncertainty. On the other hand, naturalisation may lead to the loss of the nationality of their” countries of origin”. Do they forego naturalisation, thereby “accepting” the risks associated with incomplete integration? Or do they naturalise and thereby lose (or renounce) their former nationality? Second-generation migrants may also face this situation, where they lose or do not obtain the nationality of their parents’ countries “of origin”. If they lose the nationality of their “State of origin”, they will be considered as foreign nationals in their “own” country.

Many “sending” States that recognise the importance of their Diaspora have turned towards alternative means of retaining a bond with their Diaspora, even if they cannot yet fully accept dual nationality. On particular tool employed by a growing number of sending countries is to create a privileged legal status for their Diaspora. This intermediate status grants them more rights than a non-citizen resident may have, while still not going as offering them the option of (dual) nationality. It is these “Privileged” statuses for the Diaspora that forms the focus of this publication.

The research in this publication examines three existing forms of external quasi-citizenship schemes, namely the Chinese “Green Card” scheme, the Indian “Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder” scheme, and the Surinamese “Person of Surinamese Origin” scheme. The research questions, namely which of the quasi-citizenship schemes of China, India and Suriname best approximate full or dual nationality as concerns the rights and duties of individuals, is approached from a comparative legal method. By employing an analytical framework, based on the selection and examination of a number of citizenship rights and duties, this publication examines the extent to which these forms of external quasi-citizenship schemes approximate the rights and duties of the Diaspora in comparison to full nationality.