Estonian citizenship - based primarily on the principle of jus sanguinis

Jus sanguinis

Ius sanguinis is a social policy by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having a parent who are citizens of the nation...

 - is governed by the 19th January 1995 law promulgated by the Riigikogu

Riigikogu

The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. All important state-related questions pass through the Riigikogu...

 which took effect on the 1st April 1995. The Citizenship and Migration Board (Estonia)

Citizenship and Migration Board (Estonia)

The Citizenship and Migration Board is a government agency in Estonia under the Ministry of Internal Affairs that is in charge of enforcing regulations concerning immigration and nationality.-Issuance of travel documents:...

 is responsible for processing applications and enquiries concerning Estonian citizenship.

Resolution Concerning the Citizenship of the Democratic Republic of Estonia, the first Estonian citizenship law was adopted by the Estonian National Council

Estonian National Council

The Estonian National Council in Sweden was established in 1947 and was one of the oldest and largest Estonian central organisations in Sweden. The Estonian National Council was a broad coalition of Estonian political parties in exile, which maintained close contacts with Swedish democratic...

 on November 26, 1918. According to the law all people who

1) were permanent residents

Permanent residency

Permanent residency refers to a person's visa status: the person is allowed to reside indefinitely within a country of which he or she is not a citizen. A person with such status is known as a permanent resident....

 on the day the law came into force on the territory of the Republic of Estonia;

2) prior to the Estonian Declaration of Independence

Estonian Declaration of Independence

The Estonian Declaration of Independence, also known as the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia , is the founding act of the Republic of Estonia from 1918. It is celebrated on 24 February, the National Day or Estonian Independence Day....

 on 24 February 1918 had been subjects of the Russian State;

3) were entered in the parish registers or originated from the territory of Estonia,

regardless of their ethnicity and faith were proclaimed Estonian citizens.

The Citizenship Law adopted in 1922 defined the principles of succession by applying the jus sanguinis principle.

By descent

Children born to parents, at least one of whom was Estonian citizen at the time of birth (regardless of the place of birth) are automatically considered Estonian citizens by descent.

By place of birth

Children born in Estonia to stateless or unknown parents at the time of birth are eligible for Estonian citizenship.

By marriage

A woman who married an Estonian citizen before the 26th February 1992 is eligible for Estonian citizenship.

By naturalisation

Those seeking to become Estonian citizens via naturalisation require to fulfill the following criteria:

• applicant is aged 15 or over
• resided in Estonia legally for at least Eight years and from that last five years permanent stay in Estonia
• be familiar in the Estonian language. People who have graduated from an Estonian-speaking high school or an institute of higher education are assumed to fulfill this criterion without the need to take a full examination.
• take an examination demonstrating familiarity with the Estonian Constitution
• showing a demonstrated means of support
• taking an oath of loyalty

Those who have committed serious crimes or are foreign military personnel on active duty are ineligible to seek naturalisation as an Estonian citizen.

Duties and rights of Estonian citizenship

• Male Estonian citizens are required to take up national service
  National service
  National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
  
  

Undefined citizenship

'Undefined citizenship' is a term used in Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

 to denote a post-Soviet form of statelessness

Statelessness

Statelessness is a legal concept describing the lack of any nationality. It is the absence of a recognized link between an individual and any state....

. It is applied to those migrant

Migrant

Migrant may refer to:*Immigration and emigration, the migration of humans*Bird migration*Migrant worker*Migrant literature...

s from former Soviet republics and their children, who were unable or unwilling to pursue any country's citizenship after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia being a successor state to the Soviet Union, all former USSR citizens qualified for citizenship of Russian Federation, available upon mere request, as provided by the law “On the RSFSR Citizenship” in force up to end of 2000. Estonia's policy of requiring naturalisation of post-war immigrants was in part influenced by Russia's citizenship law and the desire to prevent dual citizenship.

Stateless persons who reside legally in Estonia can apply for an alien's passport. Estonian alien's passport allows visa-free travel within Schengen treaty

Schengen Agreement

The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...

 countries for a maximum of 90 days in a 6 month period.

Dual nationality

Although not legally permitted, some naturalised Estonian citizens also possess another, e.g., Russian citizenship. According to law, acquiring a foreign citizenship voluntarily and entering into a military or civilian service for another state constitute forfeiture of Estonian citizenship. In effect, this forfeiture requirement applies to naturalised Estonian citizens only, because, according to the constitution, Estonian citizenship obtained by descent is inalienable and can not be taken away by anyone else other than the citizenship holder.

Criticisms

Zvi Gitelman, political scientist at University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 and consultant to the instiution's Yivo Institute for Jewish Studies, points out that

"In the decade after the fall of the USSR, the successor states divided themselves into those seeking to construct themselves as 'civic' stateswhere the nexus that ties citizens to each other and to the state is political and not based on race, ethnicity, religion, or cultureand those that prefer to be "ethnic" states, based on one nation and serving it primarily."

Characterizing the situation in Estonia as "close to the 'ethnic' model," Gitelman points towards the Baltic states' decision of not automatically granting citizenship to "non-Latvians and non-Estonians who immigrated in the Soviet period as well as their descendants born in the two Baltic republics". The Jerusalem-based Hebrew University historian Robert S. Wistrich

Robert S. Wistrich

‎Robert Solomon Wistrich is the Neuburger Professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the head of the University's Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. Wistrich is "a leading scholar of the history of antisemitism."-Early...

 writes that the "primary objective" of the post-Soviet-era governments of the Baltic states is "to further the interests and well-being of the majority ethnic groups in these republics."

Peter Van Elsuwege, a scholar in European law at Ghent University

Ghent University

Ghent University is a Dutch-speaking public university located in Ghent, Belgium. It is one of the larger Flemish universities, consisting of 32,000 students and 7,100 staff members. The current rector is Paul Van Cauwenberge.It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands...

, states that the Estonian law is grounded upon the established legal principle that persons who settle under the rule of an occupying power gain no automatic right to nationality. A number of historic precedents support this, according to Van Elsuwege, most notably the case of Alsace-Lorraine

Alsace-Lorraine

The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...

 when the French on recovering the territory in 1918 did not grant citizenship to German settlers despite Germany having annexed the territory 47 years earlier in 1871.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body specialised in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance. It consists of 47 experts, one from every CoE member state. ECRI publishes...

, Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was signed on February 1995 by 22 member States of the Council of Europe ....

 and UN Special Rapporteur on racism Doudou Diene

Doudou Diène

Doudou Diène of Senegal was United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in 2002—2008....

recommend to Estonia simplifying naturalization generally or for the elderly and economically marginalized, as well as encouraging registration of children born in Estonia after 1991 as its citizens.

External links

• Alien's passport of Estonia