# Person to have held the most citizenships. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452 "2010-08-16T20:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c2a13f/32.png) [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/US_Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/1 "2010-08-16T20:59:56Z")
Dual citizens are pretty much a dime a dozen. Triple citizens are also “common,” and it wasn’t even hard to find persons claiming to have quadruple citizenship on a Google search for the term. **Who was the person with the most national citizenships, and why did they have all of them?** I’m betting six, on account of two triple-citizen parents. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/2 "2010-08-16T21:17:15Z")
> [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](#): > > I’m betting six, on account of two triple-citizen parents. You don’t necessarily get the citzenship of your parents: my mother was a UK-born citizen of the UK, but I’m not one. Whether you inherit depends on various factors, including whether they have resided in the country of citizenship, and the gender of the parent (which was the factor in my case). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/3 "2010-08-16T21:34:34Z")
Is Elizabeth II considered a citizen of all the many places she’s Queen of? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/4 "2010-08-16T21:40:04Z")
Theoretically, someone born in Lvov in 1917 would have been born with Austrian citizenship, then in November of 1918, he’d be a citizen of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, then in 1920, he would be a Polish citizen, and then briefly a citizen of the Galician Soviet Socialist Republic, then a Polish citizen again, then a citizen of the Soviet Union, then for a few days, a citizen of the free Ukranian state, then of the German occupied General Government, then after WWII, a Soviet citizen again, then, after 1991, a citizen of the Ukraine. All without ever moving. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/5 "2010-08-16T21:50:13Z")
[I asked the same question here seven years ago.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=175366). I didn’t get an answer… ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/6 "2010-08-16T22:10:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is Elizabeth II considered a citizen of all the many places she’s Queen of? No, she’s not a citizen of anywhere. She effectively lost her UK citizenship in 1952. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/7 "2010-08-16T22:21:17Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > Is Elizabeth II considered a citizen of all the many places she’s Queen of? > > No, she’s not a citizen of anywhere. She effectively lost her UK citizenship in 1952. Really? She stopped being a British **subject** in 1952, but citizenship’s a very different matter, surely? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/8 "2010-08-16T22:51:30Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > > [@Giles](#): > > > > No, she’s not a citizen of anywhere. She effectively lost her UK citizenship in 1952. > > Really? She stopped being a British **subject** in 1952, but citizenship’s a very different matter, surely? Under Australian law, the Queen is neither a “citizen of Australia” or a “non-citizen of Australia”. It’s all very quantum. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/9 "2010-08-16T22:59:37Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > > [@Giles](#): > > > > No, she’s not a citizen of anywhere. She effectively lost her UK citizenship in 1952. > > Really? She stopped being a British **subject** in 1952, but citizenship’s a very different matter, surely? According to the official website of the royal family, the Queen is “a national of the United Kingdom” and “a citizen of the European Union”. She’s also the ‘Fount of Justice’, which I’d think would hurt. [http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Queenandthelaw/HowUKandEUlawaffectTheQueen.aspx](http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Queenandthelaw/HowUKandEUlawaffectTheQueen.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c2a13f/32.png) [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/US_Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/10 "2010-08-16T23:02:07Z")
Queen Elizabeth II has got to be an easy win if she is a citizen of all her realms. Damn royals. Is there a published example of an average Joe going over four? **Captain Amazing** : _Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice_. **Giles** : Right, and some countries don’t do _jus sanguinus_ at all, but for those that do it has to be an easier path than just starting out as something lamebrains like being born to Canadians in Canada and then getting naturalized five more places from scratch. e: Or not, WRT QEII. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/11 "2010-08-17T02:23:03Z")
Bonus question - How many people currently living have two passports from the same country? Hint - there are several thousand in the US alone. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/12 "2010-08-17T03:27:38Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Bonus question - How many people currently living have two passports from the same country? Hint - there are several thousand in the US alone. Many people who hold diplomatic passports also hold regular passports. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/13 "2010-08-17T03:48:22Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Bonus question - How many people currently living have two passports from the same country? Hint - there are several thousand in the US alone. several thousand? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/14 "2010-08-17T04:26:27Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > > [@Duckster](#): > > > > Bonus question - How many people currently living have two passports from the same country? Hint - there are several thousand in the US alone. > > several thousand? Diplomats’ spouses and dependants need to be counted as well. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/15 "2010-08-17T04:36:16Z")
Indians on res, if they choose to accept the US passport? ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/16 "2010-08-17T05:06:03Z")
I think some countries are also willing to issue multiple passports if you have legitimate reasons to frequently travel to both Israel and countries that won’t accept a passport with Israeli stamps in it. Some countries also have multiple types of nationalities. Before the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, I used to have two valid British passports at the same time, endorsed with different nationalities. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/17 "2010-08-17T05:31:29Z")
> [@Waffle\_Decider](#): > > I think some countries are also willing to issue multiple passports if you have legitimate reasons to frequently travel to both Israel and countries that won’t accept a passport with Israeli stamps in it. I think there are _technically_ two copies of the same passport. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/18 "2010-08-17T12:00:53Z")
> [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](#): > > Queen Elizabeth II has got to be an easy win if she is a citizen of all her realms. The Empire/ Commonwealth was larger in her father’s day. When was it largest? Victoria, possibly? ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/19 "2010-08-17T13:02:10Z")
> [@Waffle\_Decider](#): > > Before the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, I used to have two valid British passports at the same time, endorsed with different nationalities. Out of curiosity, what was the purpose of that? Would one not have been enough for both travel and identification? Also out of curiosity: Do you now have both a British passport and Chinese HKSAR passport? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/20 "2010-08-17T13:06:02Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](#): > > > > Queen Elizabeth II has got to be an easy win if she is a citizen of all her realms. > > The Empire/ Commonwealth was larger in her father’s day. > > When was it largest? Victoria, possibly? Yes, but it didn’t consist of different citizenships until (from memory) 1948. Prior to that everyone was just a British Subject. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452.md?page=2)