Dual citizenship is an opportunity for people to access a foreign nationality, and with it, to gain all the rights and responsibilities that fall on citizens or residents of that foreign country.
Mexicans can apply for dual citizenship, according to the conditions and requirements of the second nationality. Keep reading to learn more about government regulations for people with dual or multiple nationalities.
What is dual citizenship all about?
La dual citizenship, as its name suggests, is a possibility that people have of obtaining dual nationality. In other words, it means that a citizen is born with his own nationality and can manage the citizenship of another country.
Due to the great waves of immigration, dual citizenship is an increasingly present possibility in this globalized society, since it allows you to reside in a country or a certain region legally, and also to work legally.
The fact of having dual nationality depends on the immigration laws of each country. Many times, a person can apply for citizenship of the home country from their parents or grandparents, or from their spouses or fiancés.
In other countries, laws allow people to process their nationality after a certain number of years of legally residing in that territory.
Dual Mexican citizenship
In the case of Mexicans, will have dual citizenship those who are Children of Mexicans but born abroad, or people born in Mexico, whose parent (s) are foreigners.
In Mexico, the Nationality Act since 1998, it has allowed Mexicans to have other citizenship besides Mexican citizenship, which provides people with the opportunity to access new rights and new responsibilities, as citizens of both countries, under both laws.
How to apply for dual citizenship?
The first thing you have to do is go to the embassy or consulate of the country where you want to apply for citizenship, or visit the website of that embassy to learn about the requirements to apply for your citizenship.
If you are temporarily living in that country legally, you can check the requirements to be able to obtain permanent residence. Often, with a study or work visa, people can live legally in the country, for the duration of that activity.
With this, after having lived in that country for a certain number of years, you can apply to the embassy for nationality.
How to obtain dual Mexican American citizenship?
If you are Mexican and you want to get the U.S. Citizenship, you have four legal ways to request it:
- Through an American relative
- Through a job
- Through the visa lottery
- Through refugee status
To be able to request it through a family member, it is necessary to take into account who applies as a family member and who are those who have priority. The eligibility categories are:
- Immediate or immediate family member: spouse, unmarried child of a U.S. citizen under 21, or parent of a U.S. citizen over 21.
- Another family member of a U.S. citizen or legal resident: the unmarried child of the citizen or resident over 21, the married child, sibling of a U.S. citizen over 21, and the resident's spouse.
- Fiancé of a U.S. citizen or son of a fiancé.
- Widowed by a U.S. citizen, married to the citizen at the time of his death.
If I have dual citizenship, what passport do I use?
According to the article 12 of the Mexican Nationality Act, At the time of traveling, a Mexican person who has dual nationality must to leave and enter the national territory declaring and displaying without exception your Mexican nationality.
Following articles 12 and 33 of the law, Mexicans who leave or enter Mexico with a foreign passport can be punished with a fine which ranges from 300 to 500 minimum wages.
