The Naturalised Citizen Abroad at Election Time
Jānis naturalised in 2019. In 2024 he moved to Dublin for work and has Irish permanent residence, not Irish citizenship. His Latvian passport expires in four months. Saeima elections are in six weeks. He wants to vote, renew his passport, and register his daughter, born in Dublin in January, as a Latvian citizen. A colleague tells him: 'Once you live abroad, naturalised citizens lose the right to vote, and your daughter cannot get citizenship because you were not born a citizen.' Jānis also wonders whether he must inform the Latvian authorities about his Irish residence permit and whether his naturalisation oath creates ongoing duties. He has an appointment at the Latvian embassy in Dublin in three weeks. He asks for a short, practical checklist, not a legal treatise. The embassy's website says that voting from abroad requires registration and that passport applications can be lodged at a diplomatic mission.
1. Is Jānis still a Latvian citizen, and can he vote in the Saeima elections from Ireland? Explain.
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Jānis remains a Latvian citizen. Living abroad does not automatically strip citizenship acquired by naturalisation, and an Irish residence permit is not Irish citizenship. As a Latvian citizen, he has the right to vote in Saeima elections from abroad, but he must be registered in the voter register and use the embassy or consulate route; the embassy website says registration is required. He should check the deadline to apply and bring his passport. His colleague's statement that naturalised citizens lose the vote by living abroad is wrong. The practical judgement is to act now: confirm registration, book the embassy slot, and keep proof of registration, because the six-week window is short and the passport expiry is a separate deadline.
2. What steps should he take for his daughter's citizenship and his passport?
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For his daughter: a child born abroad to a Latvian citizen parent generally acquires Latvian citizenship by descent; she does not need naturalisation. He should register the birth with the Latvian authorities (through the embassy or the Citizenship and Migration Affairs Office) and apply for her passport or identity document, using the birth certificate and proof of his citizenship. For himself: apply to renew his passport at the embassy before it expires; bring the old passport, photo, and fee. He should also ask whether his registered residence abroad affects any records. The reasoning is that citizenship status and document validity are separate: his daughter's status follows descent, while his passport is an administrative document with its own renewal timeline.
3. Which of the colleague's statements are wrong, and what ongoing duties does the oath imply?
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Wrong: 'naturalised citizens lose the right to vote by living abroad' and 'your daughter cannot get citizenship because you were not born a citizen'. Residence abroad does not remove the vote, and descent from a citizen parent is the relevant test for the child. His naturalisation oath does create ongoing duties: loyalty to Latvia, respect for the Satversme and laws, and not acting against the state and its democratic order. He should not confuse an Irish residence permit with a change of citizenship. Practical checklist: register to vote; renew passport; register daughter; keep embassy receipts. If he later seeks Irish citizenship, he should check the dual-citizenship rules for naturalised citizens before applying, because that is a separate legal question.