What does it mean to be Australian? While citizenship is being used in political discourse as a way to determine whether someone belongs, the intricacies of citizenship around the world make it much more complicated.
Henriette has called Australia home for 20 years, after migrating from the Netherlands.
As a permanent resident, Henriette can remain in Australia indefinitely, work and study, enrol in Medicare, apply for bank loans to buy property, sponsor eligible relatives for permanent residency and apply for citizenship.
But in Henriette’s case, she says she won’t apply for citizenship as that would mean giving up her Dutch citizenship.
The Netherlands limits dual citizenship, so if Henriette became an Australian citizen, she would automatically lose her Dutch nationality.
"I'm in Australia all by myself, and that means that for me, the people that I love are in the Netherlands. And by giving up my citizenship in the Netherlands, if I then would go (back) to take care of my elderly parents or for any other reason, I could never stay for longer than three months," she told SBS Examines.
In this episode we hear why some migrants choose to become Australian citizens, why some decide not to, and ask what citizenship really means.
This episode was produced in collaboration with SBS Dutch and SBS Cantonese.
