SCG Civics

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The Sol Central Government has many tiers of civic status that an individual can possess, intertwined with many levels of local, planetary, and federal citizenship. This page will help outline these categories as they are described in law. While this page covers federal civic status – which guarantees many of the fundamental rights and protections of sapients within the SCG – many people living within Sol self-identify with their planet or colony of residence, whose civic infrastructures can vary wildly within the broader framework of the SCG.

Citizens

Eligibility

The primary sources of Solar citizenship are:

• By birth:
  • Humans born within SCG space are automatically SCG citizens. For the purposes of determining citizenship, SCG space includes:
    • Any colony of the SCG, plus the space within a certain distance of said colony determined by colony charter.
    • Any station, vessel, or gateway licensed under an SCG registration.
  • Children of SCG citizens are automatically granted SCG citizenship.
    • Artificially-born humans (e.g. “vat-borns”) are considered the legal child of the person(s) who commissioned their creation and are eligible for citizenship accordingly.
• By naturalization:
  • Non-citizens living within the SCG are eligible to apply for citizenship so long as they meet the following criteria:
    • Are human.
    • Have been a permanent resident for at least 5 years (see below).
    • Have no felony convictions within the SCG.

Additionally, all applicants are subject to screening and review by the Bureau of Citizenship. This is often a long, drawn-out process, with additional scrutiny given to emigrants from “high-risk” areas (namely, emigrants from the GCC and Northern Gaia).

Under the current SCG Charter, only humans are eligible for citizenship. This is a highly controversial issue and one currently being debated in the Solar Assembly.

Rights

Citizens are afforded all rights and privileges of the SCG under the law. Citizenship is a prerequisite for service within many of the SCG's state services, including the Fleet and the Expeditionary Corps, as well as the Army (which restricts membership to natural-born citizens only). Some exceptions apply in the case of positronics (see below). Additionally, only citizens may vote in Solar elections or hold elected office within the SCG.

Permanent Residents

Eligibility

Permanent residency is a legal status granted to individuals who are non-citizens but are allowed to live permanently within the SCG. Barring special cases, permanent residency is usually the first step towards becoming a naturalized citizen; it also covers rights and status for those who live within the SCG but are unwilling or unable to pursue full SCG citizenship.

To obtain permanent residency, a person must apply for a Permanent Residency Card with the Bureau of Citizenship. The following groups may apply for permanent residency:

• Spouses and immediate relatives (parent, child, sibling) of current SCG citizens and permanent residents.
• Workers employed within the SCG.
• Asylum seekers.
• Free positronics created within the SCG or falling into any of the previous categories.
• Any persons without citizenship or permanent resident status who do not otherwise fall into one of the previous categories, provided they arrived in the SCG before age 14.

As with citizenship applications, applications for permanent residency are subject to stringent screening and review by the Bureau of Citizenship. Only humans and positronics are currently eligible for permanent residency.

Rights

Residents are afforded almost all the same rights as citizens with the exception of the ability participate in government or state service.

Visitors

Visitors are persons who are temporarily in the SCG, usually under a visa. 

The SCG issues a variety of both short-term and long-term visas, including for work, education, leisure, and asylum, as well as immigration visas for those intending to seek permanent residence later on. Visas are usually obtained at a local SCG consulate in the area a visitor is traveling from or through a direct application with the Ambassadorial Service if a consulate is unavailable. Certain corporations retain the right to issue visas directly, though corporate visas are usually subject to additional restrictions and only apply under their jurisdiction.

All sapient species are eligible to apply for visas within the SCG, though under some circumstances, the SCG does not require a visa for visitation. For example, traveling through SCG space does not usually require a visa. Additionally, certain non-SCG groups (such as members of affiliated colonies) do not require a visa to visit neighboring SCG systems.

Visitors are afforded the rights that apply to them under their visa, as well as the standard legal rights afforded to sapients in SCG space.

Other Citizenship Categories

Planetary Citizenship

Individuals can possess citizenship of a member state of the SCG while not holding SCG citizenship, this in traditionally held by people of colonies which recently integrated into the SCG, however many immigrants to the SCG who obtain Visitor status or Permanent Residency and do not wish (or are unable) to acquire citizenship of the SCG will still hold citizenship of the planet on which they reside.

Corporate Citizenship

Most major Corporations within the SCG (specifically the 'Big Five') hold the right to issue their employees corporate citizenship, which only applies within corporate installations. This citizenship is entirely separate from SCG Citizenship, and is issued at the digression of the Corporation issuing it. This means that a Visitor to Solar space can hold Corporate Citizenship.

Special Cases

Positronics

With their origins entirely within the SCG, as well as third generations being shackled, positronics, while not Citizens, are able to join the uniformed services of the SCG, with second generation IPCs able to join the Expeditionary Corps, and third generation able to join both the Fleet and Corps.

Gaia

While on paper, Gaians would not usually be permitted admittance to the Expeditionary Corps or Defence Forces, as the planet is legally not a member state of the SCG, the ongoing military administration has routinely ignored tradition with ideas of Gaians in the service furthering the Gaian South's allegiance and dependency on the SCG, thus, provided they have never resided in Gaia's Northern Hemisphere post-conflict, they are permitted to join the EC or Defence Forces.

This policy is somewhat controversial, with the argument against it is one of following legal precedent. This however has been overshadowed by the reality on the ground, with the vast political capital held by Brigadier General Montgomery along with the mandate he holds as Military Governor of the Gaian Administrative Area permitting the regulations to be bent.

Copernicus and the Frontier Alliance

The SCG does not recognize the secession of Copernicus and inhabitants of Iolaus and Brahe retain their SCG civic status. In practice this primarily affects refugees and expatriates, as the SCG considers the Frontier Alliance a terrorist organization and Copernicus is under active blockade. Inhabitants of the Frontier Alliance colonies of Kaze, Umiri, and Sunset are not considered Solar citizens.

New Colony Citizens/Residents

Upon the integration of a new colony into the SCG, all those who younger than 14 would instantly become citizens of the SCG, while all other members of the colony would become residents with extra privileges. Specifically, the ability to take part in the government of that colony up to the system level, represent the colony if elected to the Solar Assembly or Senate, and serve within the Planet's PDF/SDF. They however would still be unable to serve within the SCG Armed Forces, or any appointments to the federal government.

Tables of Examples

General Examples

	Citizen	Resident	Visitor
Human	Yes	Yes	Yes
IPC	No	Yes	Yes
Other Non-Human	No	No	Yes
Uniformed Service	Yes	No	No
SFP Tracker	Yes	Yes	No
SFP Agent	Yes	No	No
Federal Government	Yes	No	No
Work on the Torch	Yes	Yes	Yes

System of Origin Specific Examples

	Citizen	Resident	Visitor
All SCG	Default	Yes	N/A
All GCC	Naturalization Only	Yes	Yes
Gaia	No	Yes	Yes
Other Human	Naturalization Only	Yes	Yes
Positronic	No	Yes	Yes
Other Non-Human	No	No	Yes