Citizenship in the Arab Union

In the Arab Union, citizenship (Arabic: المواطنة al-muwāṭanah) is governed by the Constitution of the Arab Union, specifically Chapter III, Articles 11 to 18—commonly known as the Nationality Law (نظام الجنسية niẓām al-jinsīyah). As constitutionally proscribed, citizenship is unitary in nature and thus independent of the republic (or equivalent federal jurisdiction) of origin and residence, with citizens free to move between jurisdictions at will and without governmental approval.

Citizenship is automatically granted to all persons born in the sovereign territory of the Arab Union (including its embassies and foreign military bases but excluding consulates), and can be claimed by the biological or legally adopted child of at least one living citizen, regardless of country of residence or sex/gender of the citizen parent; such claims are granted automatically, except in the case of the applicant having a criminal record in at least one country where s/he holds citizenship, or currently or formerly serving voluntarily (ie. absent a draft) in the armed forces of a country currently or formerly at war with the Arab Union. The Minister of Customs and Immigration may refuse applicants who meet all required criteria at their discretion, although this is very rare and occurs only for reasons related to national security (such as the applicant being a suspected spy).

Citizens of the Arab Union are not limited by number of foreign citizenships held simultaneously. Furthermore, if an Arab Union citizen is required to formally renounce his/her Arab citizenship in order to obtain citizenship abroad, the renunciation is not legally recognised by the Arab Union, thus allowing any party considered by a foreign government to have legally renounced his/her Arab citizenship to return at any time as a citizen indefinitely. The exception to this is situations in which an individual's renunciation of Arab citizenship constituted in itself or part of an act of treason—the most common example is Arab citizens who willingly defected to enemy states during hostilities.