ORIGINATION OF HUNGARIAN CITIZENSHIP

Obtaining a citizenship establishes a partnership regulated by law that contains rights and obligations.

The origin of citizenship

Hungarian citizenship can be derived from two principles:

(1) the principle of origin (ius sanguini – principle of blood) or

(2) regional principle (ius soli).

Principle of origin

The child of every Hungarian citizen becomes a Hungarian citizen by birth, no matter if one of the parents is not a Hungarian citizen. The newborn child automatically becomes a Hungarian citizen, even if he or she was born abroad. Hungarian citizenship is obtained with retrospective effect from the date of birth.

Regional principle

Hungarian citizenship may be obtained under the regional principle by persons whose parents are unknown at birth (found child) or the parents are stateless.

Dual citizenship

Dual (or multiple) citizenship applies if two or more states regard the same person as their own citizen at the same time. Dual (or multiple) citizenship can be obtained in two ways.

One of the manners of obtaining dual (or multiple) citizenship is by birth. If citizenship is obtained by birth, the individual states apply either the principle of origin or the regional principle. In case of the blood principle – typical to European countries – the citizenship of a child is determined by the citizenship of the parents. Under the application of the regional principle the newborn becomes the citizen of the country where he or she was born regardless of the citizenship of the parents. This applies in Canada or the United States.

The conflict of the two principles can result in dual (or multiple) citizenship. For example, a child becomes a dual (or multiple) citizen if he or she was born in a state, where the regional principle is applied, but his or her parents are subject to the blood principle. This regards the case of every child, who was born in the United States to a Hungarian parent or parents.

A person has dual (or multiple) citizenship if he or she became the citizen of a state without losing his or her original citizenship(s). This concerns the case of every Hungarian citizen, who was naturalized in the United States.

The institution of dual (or multiple) citizenship is recognized by most states. The Hungarian or the U.S. federal law does not principally prohibit dual (or multiple) citizenship, but it does not consider additional citizenships either. Hungarian citizens who are also citizens of other states – unless provided otherwise by law – are regarded as Hungarian citizens. From American perspective the same applies to all those carrying U.S. citizenship.

Source: www.Magyarorszag.hu