Discrimination based on nationality is discrimination against a person based on their

nationality Nationality is the legal status of belonging to a particular nation, defined as a group of people organized in one country, under one legal jurisdiction, or as a group of people who are united on the basis of culture. In international law, n ...

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

, or

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

. Many countries' non-discrimination laws contain exceptions for nationality and immigration status.

International

The

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discri ...

(CERD), currently signed by 88 countries, allows discrimination by nationality, citizenship or naturalization but prohibits discrimination "against any particular nationality". Article 7(1) of the

Refugee Convention The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is and sets out the rights of individuals ...

prohibits discrimination of the basis of nationality between

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s and

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, a lifeform with ext ...

. Some international investment agreements also prohibit discrimination based on the nationality of the investor.

By juristiction

Prohibition of discrimination based on nationality for nationals of European single market member states is a key aspect of the

European single market The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the member states of the European Union (EU). With certain exceptions, it also comprises Iceland, ...

. Article 18 of the

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously known as the Treaty Establish ...

(TFEU) bans discrimination based on nationality within the scope of the treaties. According to the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

, this prohibition is not applicable to non-nationals of member states of the European Union or European single market.

Migration law

Many states have travel and immigration laws based on nationality, for example offering visa-free travel to nationals of certain states but not others. A well-known example of discrimination on the basis of nationality is the

Executive Order 13769 Executive Order 13769, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, labeled the "Muslim ban" by Donald Trump and his supporters and critics alike, and commonly known as such, or commonly referred to as the ...

("Muslim ban") in which nationals of several Muslim-majority states were prohibited from traveling to the United States.

Criticism

Nationality is related to race and religion, so direct discrimination on the basis of nationality may be

indirect discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sexu ...

racial Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

grounds. According to Thomas Spijkerboer, "at face value, migration law is also a form of racial discrimination" under the CERD.

Global apartheid Global apartheid is a term for a concept of how Global North countries are engaged in a project of "racialization, segregation, political intervention, mobility controls, capitalist plunder, and labor exploitation" affecting people from the Global ...

is a term used to describe how

Global North Global North and Global South are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to socioeconomics and Global politics, politics. According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Global S ...

countries discriminate on the basis of nationality and deny permanent residency or citizenship to migrants from the Global South as well as discrimination based on nationality in migration law. According to Gareth Davies, eliminating discrimination based on nationality would create polities based on residence rather than citizenship.

Labor market

One study found that foreign

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

players were paid less than United States nationals of equivalent performance between the 1999-2000 and 2007–2008 seasons.

International

By juristiction

Migration law

Criticism

Labor market

See also

References

Further reading