Bancroft Agreements

a series of agreements concluded in the 19th century between the USA and a number of other countries and aimed at reducing the number of cases of dual citizenship and the conflicts arising from them. The agreements were named after G. Bancroft, who, as US minister to Berlin from 1867 to 1874, was the initiator of agreements of this type. The first Bancroft agreements were concluded in 1868 (with the North German Confederation) and 1869 (with the southern German states) and dealt with the problem of reciprocal recognition of citizenship acquired by German emigrants in the USA and American emigrants in Germany. (The effect of these agreements was extended to the German Empire after its formation.) According to the agreements, each side recognized the naturalization of its citizens on the territory of the other country and declined to regard them as its own citizens if they had lived in the other country continuously for at least five years. The agreements also contained provisions for the punishment of persons who had committed acts before their emigration that were punishable under the laws of both parties to the agreement. The Bancroft agreements served as a model for agreements on questions of dual citizenship concluded by the USA and Mexico (July 19, 1868), Belgium (Nov. 16, 1868), Sweden and Norway (May 26, 1869), Great Britain (May 13, 1870), Austria-Hungary (Sept. 20, 1870), and Denmark (July 20, 1878).