ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concept of multiple citizenships, and then turns to an enumeration of those countries that allow it, and examines them in the context of American immigration policy from 1986 to 1997. It also discusses two additional sources of multiple citizenship eligibility in the United States, illegal immigrants and their children, and those who are already eligible to become citizens. Legal immigration is an important element in understanding the numbers that fuel the importance and implications of dual/multiple citizenship in the United States, but by no means the only one. Illegal immigration then, whether through the various amnesties that have been implemented over the years or because the children of illegal immigrants are citizens, or both, does have a bearing on dual citizenship numbers. The chapter concludes with some questions regarding the implications of multiple citizenships for American politics and society.
