I'm not Scottish

[slohairt]

Based on what I already wrote, you would be Scottish anyway, but there is one other rule I forgot - you can't be a citizen of two commonwealth countries, i.e. you aren't supposed to be both British and Canadian. Apologies also to McMurdo, I forgot that rule. This only works because both countries have such a rule, so the US rule against dual nationality only works with countries that also have such a rule, and the US is not in the commonwealth. Nor is Ireland, even though most former UK possessions are.

I'm not actually a lawyer, so I can forget these details without being sued for malpractice, LOL!

Actually, Canada has recognized multiple citizenship since 1977. As for the Commonwealth, we are also Commonwealth citizens and thus have certain rights within the United Kingdom if we choose to reside there.

[Cherub]

British by birth, Scottish by the grace of god and canadian by choice.

Canadian by birth
Jewish by Birth and choice
Kilted by Chance and because i hate draw string pants........

Also Hyphenated Canadians will probably never disappear since we are a "cultural mosaic" not a melting pot. And on our Census it illegal to just put Canadian.

[JakobT]

Oh those Europeans
nudg nudg wink wink- Know what I Mean?

MrBill

Can't really say that I do...

[O'Callaghan]

Actually, Canada has recognized multiple citizenship since 1977. As for the Commonwealth, we are also Commonwealth citizens and thus have certain rights within the United Kingdom if we choose to reside there.

I stand corrected. So those Canadians here with a claim to British citizenship via Scotland can say they are Scots after all, and not merely of Scots descent.

Dual citizenship is a complicated subject, because you are talking about the laws of two countries, which often interact in peculiar ways. For a good explanation of dual citizenship look at the FAQ by Rich Wales, who himself is a dual Canadian/American citizen:-

http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

[O'Callaghan]

Persons seeking US citizenship are required to make a formal renunciation of their former citizenship; the position regarding US citizens taking up foreign citizenship is slightly different. The position seems to be that, if traveling abroad on other than a US passport, the individual is deemed to have elected different citizenship, and is therefor of no concern to the US government. If a US citizen acquires foreign citizenship by residence abroad, in so far as he still is required to pays his taxes in the US, he is still regarded as a US citizen regardless of the status accorded him in the host country. Should a US citizen, a bona fide non-resident of the United States, take up foreign nationality he must formally resign his US citizenship or he will continue to be regarded as a US citizen. However, even having resigned his citizenship, he will still be subject to US tax laws for a period of five years after the date of the resignation of citizenship.

One other caveat is that even though the person claiming dual nationality may be wearing a kilt, that is no guarantee that the moderators won't flag this thread for getting waaay off topic.

I don't think it's that far off topic. The subject was can you say you are Scottish if you aren't from there. My take is that you can, but only if you can claim to be a Brit via somebody else who was born in Scotland. I'm simply ignoring subjective opinions and looking at what the law says, adjusting slightly for the fact that since 1707 there ain't no such thing as Scottish citizenship.

This leads into whether you are actually allowed to be both a Brit plus whatever else you may be. The US rule prohibits it, but the UK doesn't recognise any rule against dual citizenship per se, and the rule against being a citizen of two commonwealth countries, which I think the UK still recognises, is no longer recognised by Canada, apparently, so it seems you can be a Scottish Canadian or a Scottish American in actual fact, not just in a loose sense meaning only by descent, notwithstanding any renunciation you might make in the US that the UK won't recognise.

[McClef]

These citizenship discussions are all fascinating but I'm not sure how they fully relate to the original idea of the thread.

But Scottishness can't be based upon citizenship as such as Scotland is, until further notice, part of the United Kingdom, so other criteria need to be considered in its determination.

[CDNSushi]

IMHO, this thread's just begging to get locked.

Well, okay -- maybe not necessarily locked, but if this were on any of the other boards where I hang out from time to time, it would have been "split" from the original thread into its own, specific one.

Just sayin'.

[Woodsheal]

[Bugbear]

I apologize, hospitaller, I thought the subject of Citizenship had been brought up as part of the topic.

This is somewhat of a personal pet peeve...the use of 'i'm Scottish' by people who obviously are not Scottish.

Being Scottish is like being German or being Chilean or being a US Citizen. You either are born there or you become one.

Currently I am Chilean, but when my citizenship finally comes through, I will be a US Citizen (an 'American'), but I still am not Scottish.

...

I think I'm the one who started the discussion on multiple citizenships.

[O'Callaghan]

I apologize, hospitaller, I thought the subject of Citizenship had been brought up as part of the topic.



I think I'm the one who started the discussion on multiple citizenships.

You can blame me too.

OTOH, the topic was about people not born in Scotland implying that they are Scottish when they are really talking about ethnicity, so we are only either talking about people who are citizens of at least one country that isn't the UK, or else who are but were born in some other part of the UK. It stands to reason that at least some of them may be dual citizens.

Hospitaller said in his original post that being Scottish should be treated like citizenship, with which I agree, but he didn't take account of the fact that you can be a citizen by descent, not just birth or naturalisation.

Of course, there are some who will say that if you are only a citizen by descent then you aren't really (insert ethnic group here), but passport offices around the world don't agree.

I think we are flogging a dead horse now, as we are just arguing about whether we are on topic without really adding anything.