Immigration and UK citizenship are always in discussion all around the world. Becoming a British citizen is a lengthy and difficult process. It requires a person to meet certain criteria, submit an application, clear some basic English tests, attend to the interviews and then finally complete an application.
You may think that the UK is one of the hardest countries to immigrate to, but other countries have just as many strict rules regarding immigration as the UK. Some countries have an open immigration policy and some have controlled open immigration while some strictly restrict the entry procedure and their citizenship laws. In many countries, you can get the right to citizenship from birth while some may disapprove this practice and give residence owing to the one’s parent’s nationality.
This practice is very common in Europe. While in some countries, having a relative in that country can help in determining the eligibility of citizenship for some people. There are also states which grant nationality only based on a specific religion. Today we will discuss the hardest country to immigrate to.
Why Is It Nearly Impossible To Immigrate To Vatican City?
Vatican City is known to be the tiniest of all the states around the world. It is a sovereign country with a population of only 800 and about 450 permanent residents. The law for immigration to this country is confined to people of a certain class and rank. You are eligible to become a citizen of Vatican if you are a cardinal who has lived in Rome or the Vatican itself or if you are a diplomat of the Holy See. Those who are living in the Vatican as official workers of the church can also become citizens of the Vatican.
Only some of the jobs may make you eligible for citizenship of the Vatican for example, being a Swiss guard, a cardinal, diplomat, or the pope himself. Similarly, just because you are a citizen, it does not automatically follow by default that you will have a residence as well. To have a Vatican passport, you have to be a cardinal or a diplomat.
The citizenship in the Vatican is acquired by a law called Ex iure which grants citizenship to be allowed to three classes of persons:
1) Cardinal Residents.
2) Holy See diplomats.
3) Persons residing in Vatican City including members of the Swiss guard.
There is a reason for such laws. There are very few people who go and live in Vatican City. Most of the people who do live there are servants of the Church, particularly, male clergy and male Swiss guards. Birth in Vatican City is also very rare and even if somebody is born in the Vatican, it doesn’t entail citizenship for the person. Citizenship by birth is very rare in Europe and impossible in the Vatican. Most of Europe does not conform to the principles of Jus Soli which means that you don’t acquire your citizenship by being born at a place but rather inherit your parent’s citizenship. If you have immigration concerns, check out immigration lawyers Levenshulme.
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