Ms. Lisa Duncan is an award winning writer with multiple Nationality, Government and magazine articles to her credit. Yet, when Nationality matters in a relationship it often means working outside one’s own ethnic background (Spanish/Mexican/ Croatian) or religion (Baptist and Catholic). It could also mean that one is not of legal age and therefore unable to get married.
Nationality, in the context of marriage does not simply refer to biological origins but also to cultural identity. If you are a lawyer practicing in the USA, it would be easy to presume that all lawyers are of Hispanic descent. In the same way nationality is determined by where one was born rather than by what one practices or does in their spare time (jumping between countries for business purposes can easily make someone appear to be from two different countries.) So it would be easy to assume that a Nationality such as American (American Indian, Caribbean) or British (Irish, Scots) automatically qualifies as one’s true or native nationality. But while a partner may be working in a country where their parents are American (despite their lack of citizenship papers), if they have grandparents or other relatives in their homeland who are considered British it would not follow that their children are actually British citizens by choice or even necessarily their birthright.
In my opinion, it is important to be honest about one’s roots so that if a partner wants to marry someone of a different nationality they are not pretending to be something they are not. But this is not always practical or simple within a working relationship. Nationality issues tend to arise when a relationship is first beginning to develop because often partners will be attracted to each other on an intellectual or emotional level but fail to recognise the cultural and linguistic differences that may also affect how they interact with each other. Being honest about one’s roots is not only important in working relationships, but in life in general – why should you leave your mother’s homeland to go and live in a poor neighbourhood (assuming it exists) when you can stay home and earn a living better by going to college?