The President of the United States of America and His Majesty the King of the Belgians, led by the wish to regulate the citizenship of those persons who emigrate from the United States of America to Belgium, and from Belgium to the United States of America, have resolved to make a Convention on this subject, and have appointed for their Plenipotentiaries, namely:
The President of the United States of America, Henry Shelton Sanford, a citizen of the United States, their Minister Resident near His Majesty the King of the Belgians, and His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the Sieur Jules Vander Stichelen, Grand Cross of the Order of the Dutch Lion, &c., &c., &c., his Minister of Foreign Affairs;
Who, after having communicated to each other their full powers, found to be in good and proper form, have agreed upon the following articles:
Citizens of the United States who may or shall have been naturalized in Belgium will be considered by the United States as citizens of Belgium. Reciprocally, Belgians who may or who shall have been naturalized in the United States will be considered by Belgium as citizens of the United States.
Citizens of either contracting party, in case of their return to their original country, can be prosecuted there for crimes or misdemeanors committed before naturalization, saving to them such limitations as are established by the laws of their original country.
Naturalized citizens of either contracting party, who shall have resided five years in the country which has naturalized them, cannot be held to the obligation of military service in their original country, or to incidental obligation resulting therefrom, in the event of their return to it, except in cases of desertion from organized and embodied military or naval service, or those that may be assimilated thereto by the laws of that country.
Citizens of the United States naturalized in Belgium shall be considered by Belgium as citizens of the United States when they shall have recovered their character as citizens of the United States, according to the laws of the United States. Reciprocally, Belgians naturalized in the United States shall be considered as Belgians by the United States when they shall have recovered their character as Belgians according to the laws of Belgium.
The present convention shall enter into execution immediately after the exchange of ratifications, and shall remain in force for ten years. If, at the expiration of that period, neither of the contracting parties shall have given notice six months in advance of its intention to terminate the same, it shall continue in force until the end of twelve months after one of the contracting parties shall have given notice to the other of such intention.
The present convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and by His Majesty the King of the Belgians, with the consent of Parliament; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Brussels within twelve months from the date hereof, or sooner if possible.
In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and affixed thereto their seals.
Made in duplicate at Brussels, the sixteenth of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight.
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Source: Treaties, Conventions, International Acts and Agreements Between the United States of America and Other Powers 1776-1909. Compiled by William M. Malloy Under Resolution of the Senate of January 18, 1909 Washington : Government Printing Office, 1910. |