In 1822, Brazil declared
independence from Portugal and established the
Empire of Brazil under
Pedro I, who had been living in exile in the country since 1808. The nation's first
constitution was adopted in 1824 and provided that Brazilian citizens were free-born or emancipated men who were born in Brazil, unless their father was a foreigner in the service of another nation. Legitimate children born abroad to a Brazilian father, or illegitimate children born to a Brazilian mother, could establish nationality by becoming domiciled in Brazil; however residence was waived if their father was in government service. Portuguese nationals and naturalized foreigners who resided in Brazil at the time of independence were naturalized by residence in the empire. Citizenship could be lost if one was naturalized in another country or accepted employment or honors from foreign governments without the approval of the crown. In 1860, to eliminate Brazilian nationality law conflicts with European legislation, Brazil passed Decree 1,096, which clarified the status of children born in Brazil to foreign parents who were not in government service, and married women. The decree specified that minor children shared family nationality, but upon reaching their majority would be entitled to Brazilian nationality and rights of citizens. Article 2 provided that upon marriage a woman took the nationality of her husband, but could repatriate if her husband died and she re-established residence in Brazil. Immigration legislation passed in 1890 barred people of African or Asian descent from the country. The law was modified in 1892 to allow Chinese and Japanese laborers. The 1824 constitution remained in force until the
First Brazilian Republic adopted the Constitution of 1891. The republican constitution was modeled on the United States Constitution. Despite feminists' efforts the Constituent Congress denied them the rights of citizens. It provided, as amended in 1926, that children born in Brazil were birthright nationals of the country unless their foreign parents were residing in Brazil because of government service to another nation. The legitimate child born abroad to a Brazilian father was considered to have his father's nationality as long as he established a home in Brazil. The domicile requirement could be waived for a child whose father was employed abroad in service to the government. Only the illegitimate child born abroad to a Brazilian mother could derive nationality from her, on the condition of establishing residency in Brazil. Decree No. 6,948, of 14 May 1908, stipulated that a foreigner, regardless of gender, who married a Brazilian, or who had Brazilian children, and resided in Brazil derived Brazilian nationality unless they declared in the proper legal manner that they chose to retain their original nationality. In 1932, Decree 21,076, which established the first Electoral Code of Brazil, outlined in article 2 that the rights of citizenship were not dependent on sex, and in article 3(b) that Brazilian women could not lose their nationality as a result of marriage. In 1933,
Gilberto Amado and Lucillo Antonio da Cunha Bueno, the Brazilian delegates to the Pan-American Union's Montevideo conference, signed the Inter-American Convention on the Nationality of Women, which became effective in 1934, without legal reservations. That year, a new constitution was adopted, keeping most of the provisions of naturalization specified by its 1891 predecessor. It specified that nationality could be lost by obtaining dual citizenship. From 1907 to 1934, racial exclusions were not specified in immigration law, but in the latter year, a quota system was devised to limit immigration from certain countries. Since 1995, consent is required for loss of Brazilian citizenship for dual nationals. ==See also==