Option of nationality

The practice of allowing individuals to choose their nationality has its roots in a historical right called beneficium emigrandi, which permitted people to leave a territory that had been transferred to a new ruler. and Turkey), as a safeguard against statelessness. Somewhat less frequently the concept was utilized after World War II and into the 1950s. Options have been granted not only in Europe but in the Americas, in Africa, East Asia, and the Pacific. In the 1990s, as the USSR, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia no longer existed, the right to opt into a successor state’s nationality became more prominent than the right to opt out of it. Optants were generally allowed to keep their movable property, while the rules for immovable property changed over time: originally, they had to sell it, but from the 19th century onwards, they were typically permitted to retain it after emigrating. ==Examples==

1697 Alsatian option After the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 the Alsatians were authorized to leave the kingdom of France with their property, or became the subjects of the French king. 1839 Dutch nationality option When Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands, the 1839 Treaty of London provided any Dutch national born within Belgian borders with the option of becoming Belgian or leaving the country and remaining Dutch. 1947 Italian nationality option The 1947 Treaty of Peace with Italy provided for the right of Italian citizens living in the territories that were to be taken over by Greece, France, and Yugoslavia to remain Italian citizens, provided the possibility of request by those states that they moved out of the area within a year; it granted a similar right of option to Italian citizens who habitually spoke "one of the Yugoslav languages (Serbian, Croatian or Slovene)" and who lived in Italian territory. in what was later called the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus. ==References==