Revoking Citizenships

From the DW:

"Revoking citizenship: How it works across the EU"

More IS fighters are now trying to return to their countries of origin. Germany is one of the countries seeking ways to cancel passports. DW looks at how EU countries can strip nationality

The German government has just agreed to pave the way to strip former "Islamic State" fighters of their German citizenship, while in the US and the UK, the so-called "ISIS brides" Hoda Muthana and Shamima Begum have become household names for their public pleas to be allowed to return to their homelands. Here's a look at how the involuntary loss of citizenship works across the EU.

Spain: No one born a Spanish citizen can be stripped of their citizenship against their will, per the Spanish Constitution. There are some statutes that stipulate if a person becomes a dual citizen before the age of 18, they will lose their Spanish nationality within three years if they do not formally declare an intention to keep it.

France: In early 2016, still reeling from the terror attacks in Paris the previous November, the French government dropped a highly controversial plan to strip people with terrorist links of their passports and deport them. As it stands, in France only someone who becomes a citizen as an adult can have their nationality revoked. Unlike Spain, "disloyalty" or treason are grounds to take away citizenship.

Poland: Like in Spain, Poles who are citizens at birth can never have their nationality taken away. To renounce Polish citizenship individuals have to make a personal application. Even then, each application must be personally approved by the Polish president. Poland is one of only three EU countries, along with Sweden and Croatia, that does not cancel citizenships found to be obtained fraudulently.

Italy: For Italian dual nationals, it is relatively easy to give up Italian citizenship. To be involuntarily stripped of it, however, one must have "served" an enemy state, or fought for an army in active conflict with Italy. In this way, Italian law already provides for the annulment of nationality for foreign fighters.

Netherlands: The Netherlands and France are the only two EU countries that explicitly list terrorist activities as a reason to cancel a person's citizenship. Prolonged residence abroad can lead to involuntary loss of one's nationality, as can the acquisition of citizenship from another country.

Nine other countries take away citizenship after a long period of foreign residence.  In Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and Sweden, however, this only applies to nationals who were born abroad.

According to the European Parliament statistics, in 15 EU countries, disloyalty can be given as a reason to strip citizenship. This can mean committing serious crimes against the state (the Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Denmark), acting against the constitutional order and national institutions (Denmark, Estonia, France, Latvia, and Lithuania), "showing disloyalty by act or speech" (Cyprus, Malta, and Ireland), or generally acting against national interests (France, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, and the UK).

^ I do not think a native-born citizen should ever have their citizenship taken away from them no matter what they have done. If they are a terrorist or a criminal then they should keep their native-born citizenship and be put in jail or get the death penalty - depending on what they have done. I also do not like those countries that take away a native-born person's citizenship simply because they have lived outside the country for a certain number of years. That is just dumb. As for dual-citizens I think if the citizenship was granted through naturalization then it can be taken away, but if both citizenships were granted as native-born then neither should be given away. I am considered a native-born American and a native-born Canadian. Canada used revoke the citizenships of anyone who lived outside of Canada for 10 years or more or who received another country's citizenship. They changed that in 1977 and fixed their past mistakes in 2009.  ^

https://www.dw.com/en/revoking-citizenship-how-it-works-across-the-eu/a-47773802