Because of the unique composition of our family, I was intrigued to find out what citizenship possibilities there are for my son.
U.S. Citizenship — this is a given since my son will automatically get a U.S. Citizenship when he’s born within the borders of the United States. United States does not allow dual citizenships with very few exceptions.
Taiwanese Citizenship — this is not a particularly useful citizenship in terms of travel, but it probably beats having a passport from China since Mainland Chinese have an extremely high “disappearance” rate when they travel aboard. But for the sake of comparison, I found out that Taiwanese citizenship is extremely easy to get if either one of the parents is a citizen of Taiwan, which I am. Another downside of having a citizenship from Taiwan, particularly for a male, is Taiwan’s compulsory military service for one year and six months (or extended civilian service option) for all males before the age of 40. Taiwan allows dual citizenships.
Malaysian Citizenship — Malaysia is really a funny country. On paper the government claims it does not discriminate anyone. But in practice, it’s probably one of the most discriminatory countries in Southeast Asia (it’s hard to beat Indonesia in its mistreatment toward Chinese though). In this case, unless a child is born in Malaysia to a Malaysian parent, the father must be Malaysian if the child is born outside of Malaysia. But… what about the right of the mother? Why can’t the mother enjoy the same right for her son if she’s married a non-Malaysian and the child is born outside of Malaysia? That’s one f*cked messed up rule. Messed F*cked up, yes, but consistent with most Muslim-faith based countries I guess. More information can be found here and here. So does Malaysia allow dual citizenships? My knee tells me “no”.
We haven’t had too much pleasant experience with Malaysia and its policies as of lately. Hopefully this will change as Jai, a friend of ours, swears by the government’s efficiency. But for now, Malaysia isn’t giving too many reasons for some people whose children may consider Malaysia as their home. If Malaysia wants to be able to compete more aggressively in this global climate, it has to do more to allow qualified people to be part of its society more indiscriminately.
Just my two cents.