Voting rights with dual citizenship: what is the law?

A person holding multiple citizenship is, generally, entitled to the rights of citizenship in each country whose citizenship they are holding (such as the right to a passport, the right to enter the country, the right to work, the right to own property, the right to vote, etc).

If you are a dual citizen, you are not exempt from these citizen obligations such as voting, paying tax, being drafted for military service, and serving jury duty.

Someone who is a citizen of a country , and who has not had their right to vote stripped away from them, is allowed to vote in elections.

You must be aged 18 or over to vote. Voting is right that citizens have. If you are a dual citizen, you have voting rights in both countries you hold citizenship in.

Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums.

Legal status refers to a person’s relationship with a state which is defined through a set of legal rights or duties.

Citizenship is commonly considered synonymous with nationality, but citizenship has a different meaning than nationality.

Generally, the term citizenship means legal duties and privileges derived from nationality in statutory terms and relating to a nationality.

It is not mandatory by law for citizens to vote, but voting is integral to the democracy of the country, and how its people are treated.

By voting, citizens are participating in the democratic process. Citizens vote for leaders to represent them and their ideas, and the leaders support the citizens’ interests, and be the figurehead representative of the people in any given country or local elections.

Individuals with a criminal record or those with an unsound mind are stripped of their right to vote in elections.

Resident citizens are able to vote both generally and locally. General is national based, whereas local means an election within your local two or district community.

There are no different rules for those with dual nationality. Dual citizens do not surrender their political rights.

For example, a British citizen cannot vote in the European union any loner due to the vote the UK made to leave the European union. They have surrendered their status of EU citizens.

Citizenships are the core features of the international system. Through laws concerning citizenship and elections, a state determines who has a right to belong to people under whose name it governs.

For instance, In the U.S the 14th Amendment to the Constitution grants full citizenship rights, including voting rights, to all (people) born or naturalized in the United States.

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution eliminates racial barriers to voting; however, many states continue practicing voter discrimination.

The attribution of citizenship is different from nation to nation, based on the law of naturalization. Currently most countries accept dual citizenship for both migrant and immigrant populations.

Countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, North Korea, UAE, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Brunei, to name a few, either do not allow its citizens to vote, or create sham elections where their vote does not affect the state of their democratic leadership.

In some countries voting rights are extended to resident non-citizens. Such rights are often restricted or limited in some ways, with the details of the restrictions or limitations varying from one country to another.

For example, however, in South Africa non-residents are not granted the right to vote.

Voting rights to non-citizens are not the same as a right to run for an elected or other public office.

Other countries have granted voting rights to non-citizens who hold citizenship of a country which is a fellow member of, for example, the EU.

In a few cases, countries or other governmental entities grant voting rights to citizens and non-citizens alike.

However, in some countries like Sweden, voters must be a Swedish citizen, at least 18 years of age on election day, and have at some point been a registered resident of Sweden (thus excluding foreign-born Swedes who have never lived in Sweden).

The right of expatriates to vote in elections in their country of origin varies depending on the legislation of an expatriate’s country of origin.

Some countries (such as, France) grant their expatriate citizens unlimited voting rights, identical to those of citizens living in their home country.

Countries (for example, Germany) allow expatriate citizens to vote only for a certain number of years after leaving the country, after which they are no longer eligible to vote (e.g. 25 years for Germany).

Countries (for example, Ireland) reserve the right vote solely to citizens living in that country, thereby stripping expatriate citizens of their voting rights once they leave their home country (such as Ireland, with extremely limited exceptions).

We are an experienced legal service provider who can advise on completing the citizenship application.

We’ll ensure that you have eligibility for dual nationality before we start our applications. We have an experienced legal team who have successfully handled applications for dual citizenship to British citizens.

You will receive legal assistance for all aspects of British dual citizenship application. This will help with the collection of information that is relevant to the Home Office processing methods.

The Department will also manage all the application processes and act as your liaison officer with the Home Department.

Here at the Immigration Advice Service, our expert lawyers have helped thousands of people to successfully apply for British Citizenship. Because of the high standard of training that all of our lawyers have received, they are able to offer several services that can help you with your application for British Citizenship.

To find out more about the ways they can help you, or to begin your British Citizenship application today, simply get in touch on 0333 414 9576