I am aware some European states (and possibly other world states) have a program to offer citizenship to people whose descendants were citizens of that country within the past 50-100 years. How do I find a list of which countries do this, or is there a specific term for this?
Phil
Favorite Answer
Each country has its own rules, you pretty much have to research it for each one. However the easiest way is to google for example "Irish Nationality Law" or "Greek Nationality Law" and look for the wikipedia entry. Usually these do a good job of summarizing the laws. Then you have to research the details and process at the official governmental websites.
As far as I know, most nations won't go past your parent or grandparent to consider eligibility for citizenship. The most liberal policy I am aware of is Ireland, where you can pass citizenship indefinitely as long as you keep registering with the embassy/consulate when the next generation is born. But because many people have not done this the feasible time is to the grandparent (I am an Irish citizen this way; my grandmother was born in Ireland, my mother was therefore an Irish citizen though born in the USA, therefore I became an Irish Citizen as soon as I was registered and so my children will be citizens when they register.
Greece also has a fairly generous law.
Some countries such as Germany or France do not allow it to any real extaent.
laduree2
It's called citizenship by descent.