To Be or Not to Be a Citizen?

My father, former US congressman Bob Bauman, is a stickler for proper English.

For years, I’ve listened in bemusement as he tried to explain that “residence” and “residency” mean different things. Residence is a place: your home, for example. Residency, on the other hand, is a state of being, likehaving permission to reside in a country.

So, when we speak of the right of a non-citizen to remain in a foreign country indefinitely, we mean permanent residency, not permanent residence.

That may seem like splitting hairs (I’ll let you in on a secret: in most cases, it is). But there’s another distinction that many people fail to appreciate. That’s the deep and meaningful difference between permanent residency and citizenship.

Not long ago, International Living commissioned a survey to ask whether people had an interest in acquiring a second passport. Given the state of affairs in the United States, the proportion who answered affirmatively was quite high.

But a surprising number of people said that they didn’t see the point in having another passport because they already had permanent residency in another country. Frank S., for example, said, “I got permanent residency in Costa Rica a while back. Why should I go through the hassle and expense of applying to become a citizen?”

Frank is making a common mistake. And it could be costly.

Permanent residency status allows a foreigner to remain in a country indefinitely. But that’s about it.

Here are some of the things it doesn’t do:

• Protect you from arbitrary deportation from that country.

• Guarantee your right of entry to the country, even under extraordinary conditions like the COVID pandemic.

• Give you full access to the legal system of that country.

• Ensure you have full rights to purchase property anywhere in the country.

• Protect you from extradition from that country to the country of your citizenship.

• Give you access to consular services from that country when traveling abroad.

• Allow you to vote, run for office, and take part in the country’s political affairs.

These aren’t hypothetical issues. Consider the case of an acquaintance of mine who has been a permanent resident of a southern African country for over five decades.

Caroline was born in England in the early 1960s. When she was two years old, her parents moved to what was then Rhodesia. She spent her childhood and young adulthood there, becoming a permanent resident along with her parents.

In her 20s, Caroline was a political activist actively opposed to white minority rule in Rhodesia. In 1980, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. Like many of her compatriots, she was thrilled to be living in a democracy.

But by the late ’80s, the ruling liberation party had become oppressive. True to her activist roots, Caroline was an outspoken opponent of this betrayal of the promise of liberation.

As she returned from one of her regular trips to Johannesburg to visit friends, she was stopped at the border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe. She was informed that the Zimbabwean government had canceled her permanent residency.

She had no right to remain in South Africa. Her only alternative was to return to England, a country she barely knew where she had no roots and no livelihood.

You may think this is an extreme case, and you’d be right… but it’s not an isolated one. The US, for example, regularly deports people who have been permanent residents since infancy. Even minor violations of the law can lead to summary expulsion to countries where folks don’t even speak the language.

Again, you may argue that this hardly applies to “normal” folks. But in uncertain times like these, “normal” can change very quickly as the political winds shift direction.

Just because a country where you’ve put down roots, lived for decades—and even invested the bulk of your wealth—has treated you well doesn’t mean that can never change.

Permanent residency (thanks, dad!) is a valuable tool, and one of the key steps to acquiring citizenship in many countries. But thinking of it as a permanent end state could be a serious mistake.