711.754/10

The Secretary of State to the Minister in Albania ( Hart )

No. 254

Sir: With reference to your despatch No. 553 of November 7, 1928,2 reporting the adoption by the Council of Ministers on October 18, 1928, of a Resolution, No. 761, to the effect that Albanians naturalized as citizens of the United States subsequent to the Agreement made between the Legation and the Albanian Government in 19223 would not be regarded as having lost their Albanian nationality, and to your despatch No. 600 of March 28, 1929,2 reporting that, as a result of the representations made by the Legation, assurances have been given by the Foreign Office that Albanians naturalized in the United States would be recognized as citizens of the United States regardless of the date of their naturalization, and transmitting a copy of a note of March 26 from the Foreign Office to that effect, I beg to inform you that it appears to the Department that it would be desirable, in order to prevent uncertainty in the future concerning the status of naturalized citizens, to conclude a treaty upon the subject, similar to treaties heretofore concluded between the United States and other foreign countries. In this regard your attention is called to the Joint Resolution of Congress, approved by the President May 28, 1928, reading as follows:

“That the President be, and he is hereby, respectfully requested to endeavor as soon as possible to negotiate treaties with the remaining nations with which we have no such agreement, providing that persons born in the United States of foreign parentage, and naturalized American citizens, shall not be held liable for military service or any other act of allegiance during a stay in the territory subject to the jurisdiction of any such nation while citizens of the United States of America under the laws thereof.”

[Page 828]

You are instructed to bring the above Resolution to the attention of the Albanian Government with a view to the conclusion of an appropriate convention between the United States and Albania.

It will be observed that the Joint Resolution relates to two classes of persons. First, those born in foreign countries and naturalized as citizens of the United States, and second, those born in the United States of alien parents. While this Government does not admit that a person of foreign origin who has lawfully acquired naturalization as a citizen of the United States can properly be regarded as still owing allegiance to the country of which he was formerly a national, it is obliged to admit the existence of dual nationality in the cases of persons who are born in the United States of alien parents and who, although they are born citizens of the United States under the provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, are also regarded as nationals of the countries of which their parents are nationals under the laws thereof. Nevertheless, it seems only reasonable that, when persons of the class last mentioned have a permanent residence in one of the two countries concerned, they should be able to visit the other temporarily without being arrested and held for military or other national services.

I enclose herewith, for submission to the Albanian Government, a draft treaty concerning naturalization and military service,4 designed to carry out the provisions of the Joint Resolution. As you will observe, the first three articles of the treaty relate to the status of naturalized citizens and closely resemble the first three articles of the Naturalization Treaty of 1924 between the United States and Bulgaria.5 The fourth article relates to liability for military or other national services in cases of persons born in either country of parents having the nationality of the other.

In presenting the draft treaty to the Albanian Government you will call attention to the fact that the Government of the United States endeavors consistently to observe two principles with regard to the status and right to protection in foreign countries of persons of foreign origin who have obtained naturalization as citizens of the United States under the laws of this country. The first is that such persons, having left their countries of origin and established themselves permanently in this country, and having solemnly forsworn allegiance to their former sovereigns while at the same time taking an oath of permanent allegiance to the United States, should be regarded as owing allegiance to the United States only. The second [Page 829] is that this Government will not extend its protection abroad to a person of foreign origin who has obtained naturalization as a citizen of this country fraudulently or, although his naturalization may have been obtained in good faith, has abandoned his ties with the United States and established himself permanently in the country of his former nationality. In this relation you will direct especial attention to the provisions of the second paragraph of Section 15 of the Naturalization Act of June 29, 1906,6 providing for the cancellation of the naturalization, as void ab initio, of persons who establish a residence of a permanent character abroad within five years after naturalization, and the provision of the second paragraph of Section 2 of the Expatriation Act of March 2, 1907,7 under which the presumption of loss of American citizenship arises against a naturalized citizen who has resided for two years in his native land. It is believed that the proposed naturalization treaty, while it is, of course, intended to guarantee due protection to naturalized American citizens of Albanian origin who wish to visit their native land for legitimate objects, makes due allowances for the just demands of Albania, and thus tends to foster friendly and mutually beneficial intercourse between the two countries.

Especial attention is called to the provision of Article II of the proposed Treaty to the effect that former nationals of either country naturalized in the territory of the other shall not, upon returning to the country of origin, be punished “for failure to respond to calls for military service accruing after bona fide residence was acquired in the territory of the country whose nationality was obtained by naturalization”. It seems obvious that unless a provision to this effect is included in the treaty it will be of little or no value.

With reference to Article IV of the draft I may say that, if the Albanian Government should consider that the term “temporary stay” is too vague and requires definition, you are authorized to add the following proviso to the proposed article:

“Provided, That, if such stay is protracted beyond the period of one year, it may be presumed to be permanent, in the absence of sufficient evidence to the contrary.”

Pending the conclusion of the proposed treaty, you are instructed to endeavor to obtain an informal agreement with the Albanian Government in accordance with the Joint Resolution, which would be applicable to persons born in the United States of Albanian parents, in order that such persons, while maintaining their residence in the [Page 830] United States, may be able to visit Albania temporarily without molestation.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
J. P. Cotton
  1. Not printed.
  2. The agreement is in the form of an exchange of notes dated June 23 and June 25, 1922; for the substance of the agreement, see Foreign Relations, 1924, vol. i, p. 316.
  3. Not printed.
  4. Not found in Department files. For text of the treaty as signed January 21, 1931, see p. 835.
  5. Treaty of November 23, 1923, Foreign Relations, 1923, vol. i, p. 464.
  6. 34 Stat. 596.
  7. 34 Stat. 1228.