3 ms·

Could be various things, depending on the country in question and the type of alien residency. Off the top of my head: * Right to work, accumulate social secur

Could be various things, depending on the country in question and the type of alien residency. Off the top of my head: * Right to work, accumulate social security/pension rights, work for government entities, security clearance * Right to own land / property * No duty to carry an alien registration card at all times / freedom of movement within the country * Right to marry or (if married to a citizen) keep their children with them if they ever divorce and move back home * Right to political speech / lobbying * Right to leave the country and return unconditionally

coldtea 8y ago
Those are privileges that come with being a citizen. The question was what distinguishes a non-citizen from a citizen -- which comes before that.
- anvandare 8y ago
  Then I don't understand the question. Citizenship is a legal status. By definition, any distinction with other statuses will be legal ones: more or less rights (or privileges, if you will) and duties.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    >Then I don't understand the question. Citizenship is a legal status. Depends on the culture. In ancient Athens, for example, being a citizen was attached to a moral imperative towards your state, not just a mere "legal status". You were first and foremost a citizen. In fact the opposite, a person concerned with his own affairs first and foremost, was considered by the culture an inferior person, and the word use ("idiotis" -- literary "private/concerned with private affairs"), survives to english as "idiot". That wasn't the case only in ancient Greece of course. In all kinds of cultures, citizenship and being a citizen, was considered as something bigger than "i got this legal stamp".
    - Mikhail_Edoshin 8y ago
      By the way, I always thought that "Starship Troopers" were basically ancient Greece replayed in sci-fi setting. In Greece all citizens had to fight for the state, when the need arises (which was happening regularly and the threats were very serious). Sometimes they conscripted slaves, but the slaves were given freedom (or maybe even citizenship) after that.

coldtea 8y ago

Those are privileges that come with being a citizen. The question was what distinguishes a non-citizen from a citizen -- which comes before that.

anvandare 8y ago
Then I don't understand the question. Citizenship is a legal status. By definition, any distinction with other statuses will be legal ones: more or less rights (or privileges, if you will) and duties.
- coldtea 8y ago
  >Then I don't understand the question. Citizenship is a legal status. Depends on the culture. In ancient Athens, for example, being a citizen was attached to a moral imperative towards your state, not just a mere "legal status". You were first and foremost a citizen. In fact the opposite, a person concerned with his own affairs first and foremost, was considered by the culture an inferior person, and the word use ("idiotis" -- literary "private/concerned with private affairs"), survives to english as "idiot". That wasn't the case only in ancient Greece of course. In all kinds of cultures, citizenship and being a citizen, was considered as something bigger than "i got this legal stamp".
  - Mikhail_Edoshin 8y ago
    By the way, I always thought that "Starship Troopers" were basically ancient Greece replayed in sci-fi setting. In Greece all citizens had to fight for the state, when the need arises (which was happening regularly and the threats were very serious). Sometimes they conscripted slaves, but the slaves were given freedom (or maybe even citizenship) after that.