Native Americans were not granted US citizenship until 1924, and are considered US citizens living on property held in trust by the government. They can establish their own laws and public services, but not militaries or currencies. They are not recognized as separate, sovereign nations, but if they were, they could claim dual citizenship. They are considered citizens of the US or Canada first, then legal residents of their chosen tribal lands.
This is a difficult issue to address, considering the historical situation of Native Americans and the highly contentious nature of the relationship between the US government and Native tribes. Native Americans were not officially granted US citizenship until 1924, and some states continued not to recognize their legal rights as full citizens until the late 1940s.
The US government has designated nearly 600 localities in the country as Sovereign Indian Territories, meaning Native American leaders in those areas can establish their own laws, public services, taxes, and other rights left to the other 50 states. What they cannot do is establish their own militaries or issue their own currency, which puts Indian reservations in the same subordinate position as overseas states and territories. In this sense, people who live there are considered US citizens living on property that the government technically holds in trust.
It might be more accurate to think of Native Americans as US citizens who must pay federal taxes, obtain US birth certificates, register for a US Social Security number, and carry a US driver’s license for identification. This is considered a separate issue from nationality itself, meaning that someone living in a tribal territory is always free to consider themselves a member of a recognized tribal nation.
In the strictest legal sense, Native Americans do not hold dual citizenship between their tribal lands and the United States, as tribal territories are not recognized as separate, sovereign nations. They are considered “internal dependent nations” by the US government. A controversial Bureau of Indian Affairs still deals with matters between the federal government and individual tribal leaders, not the Secretary of State’s office. This lack of official recognition as independent sovereign nations continues to be a source of contention between some Native political leaders and the United States government.
If a single tribal territory were to achieve true sovereign nation status, the people living there might in fact be able to claim dual citizenship, with duplicate legal documents and equal rights to participate in political elections and other civic duties. . However, the question of loyalty to a particular nation could become a problem if this new nation chooses to raise its military within the geographic borders of the United States.
Native Americans are generally considered citizens of the United States or Canada first, then legal residents of their chosen tribal lands. That would be the equivalent of a state resident legally considered a U.S. citizen but residing in Ohio, Nebraska, or California. These states may form their own governments and enforce their own laws, but are still subject to the rules and regulations of the United States as a whole.
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