[ADVISORY QUESTION] Citizenship Removal

The Conclave
1

Honorable Members of the Conclave,

My question to you is in regard to citizenship. The Citizenship Act contains this section:

— Begin quote from ____

…3.3- Any Citizen whose Nation has left the Region or ‘Ceased to Exist’ shall have their Citizenship immediately suspended for 14 days. The Citizenship Commission shall remove Citizenship from anyone it notices has suspended Citizenship.
…3.3.1- Should the Citizen’s Nation re-enter the Region and should the Commission fail to remove Citizenship within the 14 days, Citizenship shall be automatically reinstated.
…3.3.2- Should the Citizen’s Nation fail to re-enter the Region during the 14 days, their Citizenship shall remain suspended and eligible for removal. Citizenship shall be reinstated when the Citizen’s Nation re-enters the Region, but only if Citizenship has not been removed.

— End quote

As many of you know, 1 Infinite Loop has returned, and his NS nation has been reactivated and is now in TEP. Since the time Loop was last active, “honorary citizenship” has been removed from law. On the face of it, the first assumption would be that, having Ceased to Exist, Loop would have lost citizenship. However, my particular question has to do with section 3.3.2: “… only if citizenship has not been removed.” What constitutes citizenship being “removed”? Notably, Loop still has the mask of “Citizens” on the forum.

My (layman’s) read of the text would imply that citizenship for Loop - or anyone in TEP - is only lost if the Citizenship Commission takes a particular administrative action to remove the citizenship from a person. What constitutes that action? Is the citizenship mask on the forum the definitive prima facie evidence of citizenship?

I want to emphasize I am not interested in finding a loophole in the law, even for someone who is particularly renowned in the community. It may very well be that Loop must apply for citizenship on the forum application thread just like everyone else. However, I did want to confirm this question first.

Thank you for your time.

2

There are various means by which we identify citizens, but for the most rigorous purposes the Grand Vizier’s Roll of Citizens, a record ordered by Concordat E.3, is the official standard for determining citizenship.

— Begin quote from ____

The Viziers led by the Grand Vizier shall be charged with overseeing the naturalization process and maintaining a record of all citizens.

— End quote

The Citizenship Commission, under the Grand Vizier’s authority, is given various duties and powers by the Citizenship Act.

— Begin quote from ____

The Citizenship Commission, led by the Grand Vizier, is hereby established. The Commission shall maintain a record of all Citizens, and an official application thread within The East Pacific’s regional forums referencing the Concordat. Said thread shall be linked on the region’s world factbook entry. Citizens shall be required to validate their applications with the Citizenship Commission via telegram.

— End quote

— Begin quote from ____

Any Citizen whose Nation has left the Region or ‘Ceased to Exist’ shall have their Citizenship immediately suspended for 14 days. The Citizenship Commission shall remove Citizenship from anyone it notices has suspended Citizenship.
…1- Should the Citizen’s Nation re-enter the Region and should the Commission fail to remove Citizenship within the 14 days, Citizenship shall be automatically reinstated.
…2- Should the Citizen’s Nation fail to re-enter the Region during the 14 days, their Citizenship shall remain suspended and eligible for removal. Citizenship shall be reinstated when the Citizen’s Nation re-enters the Region, but only if Citizenship has not been removed.

— End quote

The Citizenship Act has been amended several times, and until several months ago contained this language:

— Begin quote from ____

Any Citizen whose Nation has left the Region or ‘Ceased to Exist’ shall have their Citizenship and naturalization, and all rights and privileges pertaining thereunto either, suspended.
…1- Any Citizen which has gained Honourary Citizenship is excepted from suspension under this Act.

— End quote

Now, the amendment of this language out of the Citizenship Act does not itself necessarily undo Loop’s honorary citizenship. However, it removes the exception for honorary citizens under the law, and therefore tasks the Citizenship Commission with removing their citizenship upon noticing their suspension. If Loop is not counted among TEP’s citizens in the Grand Vizier’s Roll of Citizens, then that would indicate their citizenship was removed.

What constitutes citizenship being “removed”?

In the most official sense, citizenship is removed upon the removal of a citizen’s name from the Roll of Citizens.

My (layman’s) read of the text would imply that citizenship for Loop - or anyone in TEP - is only lost if the Citizenship Commission takes a particular administrative action to remove the citizenship from a person. What constitutes that action? Is the citizenship mask on the forum the definitive prima facie evidence of citizenship?

I cannot speak to the administrative processes of the Citizenship Commission, but the law indicates that they shall remove citizenship upon noticing the various qualifying standards laid out in the Citizenship Act. Having ceased to exist for some time, Loop meets those standards.

In most cases, the citizen forum mask would be a good indicator of citizenship. That is understood, however, not to be entirely reliable, just as Discord masks are not entirely reliable indicators of citizenship. The Roll of Citizens is always a more reliable resource.

3

For the most part, I agree with Wall.

The Roll of Citizens is the most accurate indicator of citizenship as of now. And while it may not always be, it is what citizenship is based off of, as it is the only official “record” of citizens compared to forum masking or discord masking, which are not collect records in on themselves.

In other words, the Roll is the only basic record of citizenship that is truly maintained by the Viziers rather than by Administration, and therefore citizenship is based off of that. Forum masking is often used for a reference for records, but in Loop’s case since he has CTE’d and is not on the Roll, Forum masking would be in the wrong and have to be changed.