# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**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 17, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/21 "2010-08-17T13:09:38Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > > 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. Yes, I was just a British subject until 26th January, 1949, when (without knowing it, because I was aged 3 and living in England at the time) I became an Australian citizen. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/22 "2010-08-17T13:22:53Z")
I had a classmate who claimed to be eligible for six passports. IIRC the details were: Born in Canada One parent from …hmmm… it was either Peru or Venezuela. Plus one there, and a potential Spanish citizenship too (I have no idea if this is an accurate interpretation of whatever rules may have applied, or if they still do) Other parent from Northern Ireland.Potential passports - 1 British, 1 Republic of Ireland, one EU. Take all that with a grain of salt, this is a 20-year-old memory here… ---
**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 17, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/23 "2010-08-17T13:26:51Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I had a classmate who claimed to be eligible for six passports. IIRC the details were: > > Born in Canada > One parent from …hmmm… it was either Peru or Venezuela. Plus one there, and a potential Spanish citizenship too (I have no idea if this is an accurate interpretation of whatever rules may have applied, or if they still do) > Other parent from Northern Ireland.Potential passports - 1 British, 1 Republic of Ireland, one EU. > > Take all that with a grain of salt, this is a 20-year-old memory here… The EU doesn’t have citizenship or passports. An “EU citizen” is a citizen of one of the member countries, e.g., Irish, Spanish or UK citizen. So that only makes 5 (if you’re right about Spain). ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/24 "2010-08-17T13:38:26Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > > [@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. I don’t know what they are technically, but indeed, a dozen years ago, France was willing to give me a second passport specifically for Israel (although Israelis officers are willing not to stamp your passport, the Egyptian stamp on the other side of the border was a gave-away). However, since then, probably following the terrorism scare, this isn’t possible anymore, if I’m not mistaken. ---
**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 17, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/25 "2010-08-17T13:45:43Z")
> [@](#): > > The EU doesn’t have citizenship or passports. An “EU citizen” is a citizen of one of the member countries, e.g., Irish, Spanish or UK citizen. So, then, if the Queen is a citizen of the EU, that implies that she must be a citizen of some nation, presumably (at least) one of her realms. ---
**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 17, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/26 "2010-08-17T13:51:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > The EU doesn’t have citizenship or passports. An “EU citizen” is a citizen of one of the member countries, e.g., Irish, Spanish or UK citizen. > > So, then, if the Queen is a citizen of the EU, that implies that she must be a citizen of some nation, presumably (at least) one of her realms. There’s probably some special rule about monarchs of EU countries. She still wouldn’t get an EU passport, basically because there’s no such thing. I believe that she can vote in elections for the European Parliament, though she probably does not exercise that right. ---
**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 17, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/27 "2010-08-17T15:18:20Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Bonus question - How many people currently living have two passports from the same country? Hint - there are several thousand in the US alone. And there have got to be several tens of millions (or perhaps hundreds of millions) in Russia and those former Soviet bloc countries which issue separate “internal” and “external” passports. ---
**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 17, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/28 "2010-08-17T16:24:06Z")
And someone working at the Vatican could have a Vatican passport too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/29 "2010-08-17T16:41:37Z")
Superman for the win. The United Nations once granted him citizenship of every country on Earth. Even if anyone else got that, Superman would still beat them because he also has his native Kryptonian citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/30 "2010-08-17T17:07:50Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > [@Quartz](#): > > > > 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. This is also why the Queen keeps dogs (Welsh corgies) rather than cats. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/31 "2010-08-17T17:12:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Superman for the win. The United Nations once granted him citizenship of every country on Earth. Even if anyone else got that, Superman would still beat them because he also has his native Kryptonian citizenship. But isn’t that state defunct, on account of going boom? ---
**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 17, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/32 "2010-08-17T17:51:36Z")
Nah, all Kal-El has to do is open an embassy to house the Kryptonian Government in Exile. Maybe he could rent out an office in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta’s building. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/33 "2010-08-17T18:24:50Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Bonus question - How many people currently living have two passports from the same country? Hint - there are several thousand in the US alone. My brother, at least. He’s a sergeant in the US Air Force and has both his military passport and his civilian one, both from the United States. When he’s travelling to foreign countries with the military (he’s been on deployment as part of UN forces sometimes, in addition to AF rotations), he uses the passport he got from the Air Force. When he’s travelling on his own for vacation, he uses his personal one. I’m guessing it’d be similar for other branches of the Armed Forces, too. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/34 "2010-08-18T01:18:34Z")
tens if not hundreds of thousands of people hold two US passports. All federal employees who travel overseas (at least civilians) are issued official US passports. They are also encouraged to obtain private US passports. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/35 "2010-08-18T01:22:43Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > So, then, if the Queen is a citizen of the EU, that implies that she must be a citizen of some nation, presumably (at least) one of her realms. > > There’s probably some special rule about monarchs of EU countries. She still wouldn’t get an EU passport, basically because there’s no such thing. I believe that she can vote in elections for the European Parliament, though she probably does not exercise that right. There is no special rule for monarchs; the only way to be an EU citizen is to be a citizen of an EU member state. From the perspective of international law, the Queen is certainly a citizen of the UK. The UK government would undoubtedly extend its diplomatic protection to her were she to need it while outside the UK, and every other country would recognise its right to do so. Hence, she is a citizen of the UK, regardless of whether UK domestic law confers the title “citizen” on her or prefers a word like “national”. Citizenship is not a label; it’s a status comprising a number of rights and duties. In international law, nothing turns on whether domestic law prefers the term “citizen”, “national”, “subject” or something else as the name for this status. Hence, she is also an EU citizen. ---
**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 18, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/36 "2010-08-18T01:39:45Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > > [@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? It was just for historical reason. Originally, everyone born or naturalised there was a British Dependent Territory Citizen, or BDTC. (Actually, that was not true before 1983, but that’s not important right now and is worthy of a pit thread on its own.) As the name implies, that would all be over on 1 July 1997. As a result, a new status called British National (Overseas), or BNO, was created so that those who wish to retain their British nationality beyond 1997 may do so and voluntarily register to become one. Registering as a BNO did not invalidate one’s status as a BDTC, so for many years, many people held both passports at the same time. I now hold only the British passport. I’m eligible for the HKSAR passport, but I refuse to apply for it just out of principle. At this point, I’m also eligible to apply for naturalization in the US if I wish, although I really don’t feel like dealing with the INS all over again. ---
**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 18, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452/37 "2010-08-18T01:41:05Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > tens if not hundreds of thousands of people hold two US passports. All federal employees who travel overseas (at least civilians) are issued official US passports. They are also encouraged to obtain private US passports. Bingo! Me bad for not being clear the first time. I have two US passports, plus a third from somewhere else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-to-have-held-the-most-citizenships/550452.md?page=1)