2.1.1 Historical background Until the 17th century, every person living in Sweden was automatically considered to be a Swedish national. Legislation defining Swedish nationality started developing during the 17th and 18th centuries. During this time, persons born in Sweden whose parents were Swedish, or aliens permanently residing in Sweden, were considered as Swedish nationals. From the 19th century on, formal naturalization of aliens was introduced. A provision on naturalization was contained in constitutional law for the first time in the mid-19th century, in the Instrument of Government of 1856-1857.26 The provision was elaborated in the Royal Ordinance of 1858,27 which was the first real nationality law of Sweden. However it had a rather limited scope and only provided for naturalization of foreign men. The Ordinance laid down the principle of single citizenship by stating that a person who applied for naturalization in Sweden had to prove that he no longer was a subject of a foreign State. Other forms of acquisition and loss of nationality were not regulated in the Ordinance and remained a matter of administrative practice.28 Nordic cooperation resulted in Sweden’s enactment in 1894 of an Act on Acquisition and Loss of Right to Nationality.29 The Act codified the jus sanguinis principle by providing that a child acquired Swedish nationality through the father if the parents were married and through the mother if the child was born out of wedlock. The Act introduced an automatic acquisition of nationality at the age of 22 years for persons of foreign origin who were born in Sweden, and had resided in the country since birth. A foreign woman who married a Swedish man automatically acquired Swedish nationality upon marriage. If a Swedish woman married a foreign man, she automatically lost her Swedish citizenship, regardless of whether she acquired a new nationality. Dual citizenship was not allowed and the acquisition of a new nationality automatically led to the loss of Swedish nationality.30 In 1924, a new Act on Acquisition and Loss of Swedish Nationality entered into force.31 The new Act also contained provisions on naturalization, thus repealing the Royal Ordinance from 1858. In principle, a person who had reached the age of 21, who had resided in Sweden for the past five years and who was known to lead a respectable life and support his family, could be naturalized. One of the most significant changes in the Act was the provision on loss of Swedish nationality when the person acquired a new nationality. Previously, Swedish nationality was lost when a person acquired a new nationality, but according to the 1924 Act, Swedish nationality was no longer lost upon acquiring another nationality, if the person remained a resident in Sweden. However, with regard to naturalization, Swedish nationality could still only be acquired if proof of loss of the individual’s other nationality was provided.32 In 1950, a new Act on Swedish Citizenship entered into force.33 The law was based on three basic principles: the principle of jus sanguinis, the avoidance of dual nationality and the avoidance of statelessness. One of the main amendments concerned the position of married women and was a major step forward in terms of gender equality in the nationality legislation. Where the nationality of married women had previously been dependant on the nationality of the husband, the 1950 Act on Swedish Citizenship abolished the automatic acquisition and loss of Swedish nationality of women upon marriage. Instead, the Act provided for the possibility of acquisition of Swedish nationality for foreign women who married Swedish men. Further to this, Swedish women who married foreign men no longer automatically lost their Swedish nationality. The 14 26 The Instrument of Government (Regeringsformen) is one of the constitutional laws of Sweden, see for further information at: http://www.riksdagen.se/en/how-the-riksdag-works/democracy/the-constitution. 27 Kungliga förordning den 27 februari 1858 (nr 13) angående ordningen och villkoren för utländsk mans upptagande till svensk medborgare. 28 EUDO Citizenship Observatory, Country Report: Sweden, Hedvig Lokrantz Bernitz, November 2009, revised October 2012 (“EUDO, Country Report: Sweden”), p. 2, available at: http://eudo-citizenship.eu/docs/CountryReports/Sweden.pdf. 29 Lag den 1 oktober 1894 (nr 71) om förvärvande och förlust av medborgarerätt. 30 EUDO, Country Report, Sweden, p. 3. 31 Lag den 23 maj 1924 (nr 130) om förvärvande och förlust av svensk medborgarskap. 32 EUDO, Country Report, Sweden, p. 3-4. 33 Lag (1950: 382) om svenskt medborgarskap. M A P P I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S I N S W E D E N