I'm from Argentina, and I have some papers proving that he was an Estonian citizen, would it be possible for me to get EU citizenship?
Here where I live there is no Estonian embassy, unfortunately.
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1en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_of_the_European_Union – Artemix Nov 23 '15 at 17:50
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1It's a right given to you as a citizen of an EU country. You can't apply for "EU Citizenship", you have to be / apply to be a citizen of an EU country, then once you are you have it – Gagravarr Nov 23 '15 at 18:12
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2@Gagravarr being something that doesn't exist separate from national citizenship isn't the same as not existing whatsoever. – phoog Nov 23 '15 at 18:37
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If you're from Argentina, I doubt your grandfather was Estonian citizen when his children were born. More likely, he fled the Soviet occupation, and when your parents were born - there was no Estonia at all. – littleadv Nov 24 '15 at 10:13
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2@littleadv No. First, the grandfather might have been born before the Soviet takeover of Estonia, namely, in the 20s or 30s. Second, even if he was born after Estonia became part of the Soviet Union, he would have been a citizen of the Estonian SSR. Besides, most countries consider the Estonian SSR to have been the result of an illegal occupation. I imagine that Estonia is one of them. So, legally, Estonia did have an independent identity. Soviet nationality law is therefore likely to be irrelevant. – phoog Nov 24 '15 at 21:21
Your grandfather cannot pass the citizenship to you directly according to the Citizenship Act, only to your parents:
Chapter 2
Conditions for acquisition of Estonian citizenship
§ 5. Acquisition of Estonian citizenship by birth
(1) Estonian citizenship is acquired by birth by:
1) any child at least one of whose parents holds Estonian citizenship at the time of the birth of the child;
2) any child who is born after the death of his or her father who, at the time of his death, held Estonian citizenship.
So your father or mother has to make sure they have Estonian citizenship prior to passing it on to you.
While the same act states that:
(3) No one may be deprived of an Estonian citizenship acquired by birth.
You might want to check with the Estonian Embassy (Closest one is in Brasilia) that the following paragraph doesn't apply to their or your situation:
§ 29. Loss of Estonian citizenship due to acceptance of the citizenship of another state or renunciation of Estonian citizenship
A person is deemed by the governmental authority authorised by the Government of the Republic to have ceased to be an Estonian citizen when the person accepts the citizenship of another state or when he or she renounces Estonian citizenship in favour of the citizenship of another state.
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3It is quite possible that Artemix is Estonian. For example, based on your citation, this would be the case if the grandfather naturalized after the father or mother was born, so the father or mother acquired both Estonian and Argentinean nationality at birth. – phoog Nov 23 '15 at 18:45
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2It is quite possible. The questions still need to be posed to the embassy since one would have to assume that this citizenship act is only ~35 years old and the Grandfather may have been a subject to laws from 1930s or 40s, that could have been different but again I don't have access to those. – Karlson Nov 23 '15 at 18:52
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1That is a good point. I'm mainly concerned that your first sentence might be taken incorrectly as a flat "no" answer. – phoog Nov 23 '15 at 19:09
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You can become a citizen if you can prove your relationship with your ancestor. But it is not easy to do, you have to appeal to the country's national archives.
