A little history

The very concept of citizenship first appeared thousands of years ago in the Greek city-states. Back then, citizenship was a tremendous privilege; It differentiated free men from slaves, women and barbarians. It was not the right that it is now and it could be revoked for a variety of reasons such as a change in economic status, a criminal conviction etc. Not only did it mark someone as a free men of good economic status but it also gave them the ability to participate in public life. Such participation was seen as so important that even Aristotle famously said: “To take no part in the running of the community’s affairs is to be either a beast or a god!”.

The Romans took the Greek concept of citizenship and transformed it into an empire-building tool. They granted citizenship to a vast portion of the empire’s population and by doing so, they legitimized their rule over those they had conquered. They gave citizens rights, expectations and obligations. They made them feel Roman and they made them feel proud of being Roman. Most importantly for us, they created the idea that all citizens should be equals under the law.

In the thousands of years that have followed since ancient Greece and Rome, the meaning of citizenship has changed and evolved but this idea that citizenship entails participation in public life, equality and fair treatment has endured.

Today, multiple forms of citizenship exist. The most common being the national form of citizenship. In fact, it is so common that nearly everyone has such a form of citizenship. It is usually granted at birth but in most cases can also be acquired via other routes such as naturalization.

Another form of citizenship is that of a supranational organization. For example, the European Union. For people like us, the main benefit of such a form of citizenship is that it can provide a shortcut or workaround to residency in another member of the organization. For example, if you want to live in Austria but do not want to go through the immigration system there, get the easiest EU citizenship for your circumstances and use it to live in Austria as an EU citizen. With increased free movement rights within CARICOM and Mercosur, in addition to the better established free movement rights within the EU, it is expected that the number of people in our community pursuing such form of citizenship will increase dramatically in the future.

There is also territorial citizenship. This is not a common form of citizenship and it only applies to a few countries. For example, Hong Kong and Macau. The citizens of these territories are full citizens of the People’s Republic of China but their right of abode is restricted to the territory in which the citizenship was issued (Hong Kong or Macau). They do not have the right to reside in the rest of the country even though they carry a Chinese passport (although they can apply for unlimited entry to the mainland via the home return permit scheme).

Lastly, there is cultural citizenship. While fairly common, this form of citizenship is rarely useful and certainly not worth pursuing in the context of location independence. A good example of cultural citizenship is the Commonwealth of Nations. Citizens of member states get “some” benefits in other member states, such as the right to vote in certain types of elections (for example, commonwealth citizens can vote in UK elections if they are also UK residents at the time of said elections).