DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP

Nationality and citizenship are two terms that are sometimes used interchangeably. Some
people even use the two words – citizenship and nationality — as synonyms. But this is not
true and they differ in many aspects.

Nationality means: In simple words, nationality can be applied to the country where an
individual was born.

Citizenship means: It is a legal status, which means that an individual has been registered
with the government in some country.

An individual is a national of a particular country by birth. Nationality is got through

inheritance from his parents or it be called a natural phenomenon. On the other hand an
individual becomes a citizen of a country only when he is accepted into that country’s
political framework through legal terms.

Elaborating the two words, an individual born in Pakistan, will be having Pakistani
Nationality. But he may have an American citizenship once he has registered with that
country.

Well, No one will be able to change his nationality but one can have different citizenship. An
Pakistani can have an American or Canadian citizenship but he cannot change his nationality.
Another example is that people of the European Union may have European Union
Citizenship but that person’s nationality does not change.

Nationality can be described as a term that refers to belonging to a group having same
culture, traditions history, language and other general similarities. On the other hand,
citizenship may not refer to people of the same group. For example, an Indian may be having
a US citizenship but he will not be belonging to the same group as that of the American
nationals.