Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:

giblet wrote:Good point. In most (all?) of the countries that we come from, an immigrant can gain citizenship after a certain number of years and participate in the political process. It's not the same here.

Germany still has a very similar (seemingly identical? I'm using my phone so don't like clicking links) "citizenship by blood" policy. They've changed it a bit, but you could live in Germany for years, speak fluent German and so forth, but wouldn't be able to become a citizen, nor would your German-born children. Getting citizenship was/is damn hard. Until very recently, it didn't go by time spent there like in other countries.

JBTrain wrote:

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:

giblet wrote:Good point. In most (all?) of the countries that we come from, an immigrant can gain citizenship after a certain number of years and participate in the political process. It's not the same here.

Germany still has a very similar (seemingly identical? I'm using my phone so don't like clicking links) "citizenship by blood" policy. They've changed it a bit, but you could live in Germany for years, speak fluent German and so forth, but wouldn't be able to become a citizen, nor would your German-born children. Getting citizenship was/is damn hard. Until very recently, it didn't go by time spent there like in other countries.

Cambodia is not unique in that regard. It is unusual in historically calling out particular nationalities (Vietnamese and Chinese) as being excluded from the path to naturalization.

Passed before the heated immigration debates of the 1990s, the Immigration Act of 1990 reflects congressional concerns with the racial composition of the immigrant stream. The law created a new immigrant visa program that effectively represents affirmative action for white immigrants, a group that benefitted from preferential treatment under the national origins quota system until 1965. Congress, in an ironic twist of political jargon, established the "diversity" visa program, which though facially neutral prefers immigrants from nations populated primarily by white people. As congressional proponents envisioned, many Irish immigrated under the program. Indeed, a transitional diversity program required that forty percent of the visas would be issued to Irish immigrants. In fiscal year 1995, the leading source of immigrants under the permanent diversity visa program was Poland.

King Keil wrote:I would really like to see those links about german citizenship "by blood". Lived there for quite a long time and never heard of it.

giblet wrote:Good point. In most (all?) of the countries that we come from, an immigrant can gain citizenship after a certain number of years and participate in the political process. It's not the same here.

ARTICLE 8:
Foreigners who may apply for naturalization shall fulfil the following conditions:

1. Shall have a paper certifying that he/she has good behaviour and moral conduct issued by the chief of
the commune (Khum) or district (Sangkat) of his/her own residence. Will probably require a bribe or may just end up being impossible to get.

2. Shall have a letter of certification of past criminal records which stated that he/she had never been
previously convicted of any criminal offense.

3. Shall have a document certifying that such person has his/her residence in the Kingdom of Cambodia
and been living continuously for seven (7) years from the date of reception of the residence card which
was issued under the framework of the Law on Immigration. Still haven't seen how one gets a residence card...

4. Shall have residence in the Kingdom of Cambodia when applying for naturalization.

5. Shall be able to speak Khmer, know Khmer scripts and has some knowledge of Khmer history and
prove evidence clearly that he/she can live in harmony in Khmer society as well as can accept good
Khmer customs and traditions. This is the step that a lot of people won't do, which isn't that unlike similar exams in the US citizenship program.

6. Shall have his/her mentality and physical aptitude that will neither cause danger nor burden to the
nation. Will probably require a bribe or may just end up being impossible to get.

ali baba wrote:Looks like LTO has abandoned the thread.
Disappointing.