Difference between of nationality and citizenship

                                        Difference between of nationality and citizenship

Nationality and citizenship are two terms that are sometimes used interchangeably. Some people even use the two words “citizenship and nationality” as synonyms. But this is not true and they differ in many aspects.

                    

NATIONALITY                       CITIZENSHIP Nationality can be applied to the country where an individual was born. Hence an individual is a national of a particular country by birth. Citizenship is a legal status which means that an individual has been registered with the govt. in some country. Nationality is got through inheritance from his parent which is called a natural phenomenon. An individual becomes a citizen of a country only when he is accepted into that country’s political framework through legal terms. No one will be able to change his nationality. One can have different citizenship. No country can confer honorary nationality on any as his birthplace. It cannot be changed. Some nation also confers honorary citizenship to individuals. Nationality can be described as a term that refers to belonging to a group having some culture, traditions, history,language and other general similarities. Citizenship may not refer to people of the same group. For example, an Indian may be having a US citizenship but he will not be belonging to the same group as that of the American nationals.

Example:- 1. Elaborating the two words, an individual born in India Will be having Indian nationality. But he may have an American citizenship once he has registered with that country.

2. An Indian can have an American or Canadian citizenship but he can’t change his nationality. Another example is that people of the European union may have European union citizenship but that person’s nationality does not change.

Source:= study mate of ICWAI.