Lietuvos Respublikos pilietybės institutas (lyginamasis tyrimas) ; Citizenship of the republic of lithuania (comparative study)

Abstract

Citizenship is permanent, uninterrupted legal relation between a person and a state. If aliens leave a state, their legal relation with a state breaks off in contrast to the citizens whose legal relation with the state that granted their citizenship remains even if they go to any foreign country. While establishing the grounds for acquisition of the citizenship and regulating the procedure for acquisition and loss, a legislator has a discretion, however, by doing this a legislator may not deny the requirement of the Constitution that a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania may also be a citizen of the other state only in separate cases prescribed by the law. Laws on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania, both the law of 3 November 1989 and 5 of December 1991 are based on the principle of limitation of double citizenship which is not absolute. The exceptions of prohibition of double citizenship are prescribed. The prohibition of double citizenship has not been clearly established in the Law on Citizenship of Soviet Union Republic of Lithuania of 3 November 1989 at first. Such provision has been established on the 16 of April 1991 by the law "On the Amendment of Article 18 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania". Law on Citizenship of 5 December 1991 provided that the citizen of the Republic of Lithuania may not be the citizen of other state at the same time, except for the cases prescribed by this law. At first, such cases where two, i.e. when the citizenship is granted for exceptional merits to Lithuania; pursuant to the Version of the Law on Citizenship of 10 December 1991, the persons of Lithuanian origin residing in other states who have had the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania and left Lithuania from the 15th of June 1940 until the 11th of March 1990 as well as their children who have not acquired the citizenship of this state with the birth in other state were able to restore the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania without refusal of the current citizenship of the other state. The circle of the entities able to have the citizenships of several states was being extended. Finally, many persons were able to acquire double citizenship until the Constitutional Court reined in this process with its resolution of 13 November 2006. It indicated that such legal regulation, when double citizenship becomes widely spread phenomenon rather than particularly rare exception and when the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania is granted (as well as by way of exception) to such persons who already have the citizenship of other state and who are not related with the state of Lithuania by permanent actual relations, who have not integrated into society of Lithuania, establishes prerequisites to violate Article 12 paragraph 2 of the Constitution.