schleima

Does Japan not recognize dual citizenship?

In Taiwan (as it is in the US) there is no problem with dual citizenship for Taiwanese citizens. For me, however-- it's quite different. They require foreign nationals to give up their passports in exchange for a Taiwanese one. Considering the shaky political ground Taiwan stands on, I'm not sure why exactly they would enforce this rule when they really need to short up their international support. (I suspect it's meant to curb immigration from poor immigrants from Southeast Asia, not wealthy Americans, but the rule stands for all regardless of citizenship.)

Although I know the premise of your topic is Citizenship by marriage I looked into the requirements of Swiss Naturalization. From the Wikipedia article on the subject of Swiss naturalization:

Considering how many cultural enclaves there are in the US, I'd wager that for many, these requirements are more stringent than saying the oath of citizenship.

As to my own personal opinion, I never understood the "very proud of being" X Nationality. I can understand being very proud of ones individualism and/or accomplishments. But very proud of being associated with a Nationality or country, that I can't really grasp.

So to that end, if someone applies for citizenship of a given country, I don't think the following principles are too farfetched:

That being said, my wife and I have talked about it and we have agreed that it would be best for her to keep her Japanese citizenship since we plan to stay in Japan in the future for longer than 90 days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_nationality_law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_Allegiance_%28United_States%29

I wanted to edit the paragraph to clarify my thoughts, but the edit function disappeared... so here it is

Anyway it got me thinking. Switzerland is a wealthy, free country. Certainly a life in Switzerland would be a great improvement for someone from a country with an oppressive government like China. And yet immigration is simple, with no drama.

My wife and I recently met a couple visiting from Switzerland. (For reference, my wife is from Taiwan and is applying for citizenship). He was Swiss, she was from Harbin in northern China. Both were Swiss citizens, living in Switzerland.

We talked about what her immigration journey was like, and the topic of our Oath of Allegiance came up. I showed them the words of the oath on my smartphone. They almost seemed offended, as if it was unreasonable for any country to require one to promise to give up all allegiance to their homeland. (Perhaps this has to do with the long tradition of Swiss neutrality). I asked whether she had to be sworn in as a citizen in Switzerland, and she said it was very easy. They just presented their marriage certificate to an official and signed a paper and that was it. No ceremonies, no grandiose declarations, no pomp and circumstance, no waving of tiny Swiss flags as soldiers marched up and down the middle of a rented convention hall with someone who may or may not have the singing voice to do our national anthem justice.

Anyway it got me thinking. Do you think that our Oath of Allegiance and the swearing in ceremony is over the top?

And as a follow up, what does the oath ceremony mean to you? I have given this a lot of thought recently.

Certainly in countries where daily life is difficult and impoverished, where thoughts deeds and actions are restricted and monitored, US Citizenship is a beacon of hope, and is a way for people to exponentially improve the lives of their families. But what about people like my wife, who is still very proud of being Taiwanese, and who loves her country and her homeland, and is not impoverished or suppressed in any way? She is becoming a citizen because she married me, not because she is fleeing from a bad situation at home. The part of the oath declaring that she revokes all loyalty to Taiwan just doesn't sit totally well. She'll do it, but we're not anticipating that her oath ceremony will be a great and glorious event as it would be for someone escaping an impoverished situation. For us, it's just the next step required in order for our lives to move forward together in a relatively normal way.

What do you think?

I look forward to reading your thoughts.