FOR WRITERS
Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Victoria Stagg Elliott:
How do you see changes in citizenship rules, laws and regulations playing out in science fiction?
For example, I’m a dual national (UK/US) because I was born in 1969 in Britain to a British parent and a U.S. parent. Britain has changed its citizenship rules since. The U.S. has also changed how people become U.S. citizens over the years. I have one friend whose German father was recently told he is actually Russian because of border changes over the years.
When I was living in Cambodia, an expat couple had a baby, and there was a risk of the baby being stateless because of citizenship rules in Cambodia and the parents’ home countries.
What about a world where citizenship is not guaranteed either because of where you are born or because of parentage? What if citizenship in prime countries or planets is more of a competition?
Any other thoughts on how citizenship can be used as the basis for a sci-fi story?
This is not a discussion about current immigration issues.