r/dualcitizenshipnerds

I’m a US/Canadian dual citizen and only recently acquired a Canadian passport.

All my previous travel to China has been with my US passport. I’m in their system with multiple past student visas and a 10 year tourist visa that’s still valid and that I’ve already used to enter once before last year.

At the time I filled out the info for all these visas, I didn’t have a Canadian passport and wasn’t a citizen yet, so I’m not sure if they would have anyway of knowing I’m Canadian at all or if that info would mess up the old visas (because you are supposed to tell them about other citizenships, I just didn’t have any at the time).

My assumption is to just continue using my US passport and visa and not even show them the Canadian one at all, even though my Canadian passport allows me to enter China without a visa.

It doesn’t matter for this trip, but my visa gets me 90 days while Canadian visa free is only 30. So I’m still very glad I have this visa regardless.

Thank you!

I’m a dual US Irish citizen living in ireland. My US passport is out of date and I’m travelling to South American by way of North America in 3 weeks. Just found out I can’t get an ESTA with my Irish passport so need an emergency US passport. Has anyone gone through the process at the embassy in Dublin? The information online is a bit contradictory (pay online vs pay in person etc) and I don’t know how strict they are on emergency passports being available a strict 2 weeks before travel.

Any advice / experience is greatly appreciated. Don’t want this oversight to ruin a big trip!

Hi All, I am seeking feedback on my statement for my dual citizenship application. I’m navigating this process by myself and would appreciate feedback from those with more expertise than me.

Upon advice from another Redditor, I am posting the statement here but with specific identifying details redacted for obvious Internet reasons. Here it is:

“I am applying for registration as a British citizen under section 4L of the British Nationality Act 1981, on the basis of historical legislative unfairness, specifically the historical inability of women to transmit British nationality to their children on the same terms as men.

My paternal grandmother, [first last] , was born in [city], Staffordshire, England, on [date] 1929. She married my grandfather in England in 1946 and subsequently moved to the United States. My father, [full name], was born in [city], Colorado, on [date] 1948, before my grandmother became a naturalized United States citizen. The enclosed birth, marriage and naturalization records document this family history and relationship.

At the time of my father’s birth, British nationality law did not allow a British mother to transmit British subject status to a child born abroad on the same terms as a British father. Had women been treated equally, my father would have had the corresponding route to British subject status through consular registration of his birth. This is the type of pre-1949 maternal-line historical unfairness recognized in Example 18 of the Form ARD guidance, which explains that a person born abroad before 1949 could have become a British subject through consular registration had women been able to transmit nationality in the same way as men.

I was born in the United States on [date] 1981. My birth certificate identifies [name] as my father.

Had the historical discrimination not prevented my father from acquiring the corresponding British status through his mother, he would have held the status necessary for my birth to be registered at a British consulate under section 5(1)(b) of the British Nationality Act 1948, providing me with a route to citizenship by descent.

Example 13 of the Form ARD guidance describes the same second-generation principle: a person born in the United States whose father would have been a CUKC by descent through a UK-born grandmother could have had his birth registered at a UK consulate within one year, and registration under section 4L may be appropriate where that opportunity was lost because women could not transmit citizenship in the same way as men.

The Supreme Court’s decision in The Advocate General for Scotland v Romein [2018] UKSC 6 also addressed the historical discrimination against transmission through the female line and the associated consular-registration requirement. The Court’s reasoning recognized the need for remedial nationality legislation not to perpetuate the consequences of the very sex discrimination it was intended to address.

Accordingly, the historical legislative unfairness prevented the necessary chain of British nationality from passing from my British-born paternal grandmother to my father and, consequently, prevented me from accessing the consular-registration route that would otherwise have been available following my birth in the United States.

I therefore respectfully submit that, but for historical legislative unfairness, I would have been, or would have been able to become, a British citizen within the meaning of section 4L of the British Nationality Act 1981, and I respectfully request registration as a British citizen on that basis.”

Hello, just wondering if anyone else has had a situation like this. I am born overseas but my father is british and married my mother. Therefore I would be a UK citizen able to apply for a UK passport and hold dual citizenship. However, my father was adopted and I only have his adoption papers, no birth certificate. The adoption papers state where in the UK he was adopted and by whom, and what his date of birth is. But no detail of that he was born in the UK. We do not know his birth parents or name prior to being adopted. Will this be accepted in lieu of his birth certificate?

Have asked the UK passport office and they can't tell me until I apply. Would rather know before I spend lots of money doing an application.

Thanks!!

I'm interested in obtaining dual citizenship in Italy. I have my paperwork, but I cannot secure an appointment with the NY Consulate. I would like to use an attorney. I prefer one in the US, but I'm open to using one based in Italy. I cannot find one that is reputable and not crazy expensive. Two years ago, lawyers were charging 3k. Now I'm being quoted 12k plus court fees. Some lawyers want me to pay for a consultation before they will even give me a price for their services. I don't think it's fair to not be upfront and transparent about fees. I've been in touch with one of Italy's top immigration lawyers. He's highly praised in the media, he's written books, and he has lots of wonderful online reviews. He won't tell me his fees unless I give him 520 Euros first for a consultation. Afterwards, he'll name his price. I'm totally disgusted with the whole process. Can anyone recommend a lawyer that they are currently using or very recently used that is very reputable and charges a fair price?

It's fascinating to look at some of the discussions on the canadiancitizenship sub, which is mostly Americans applying for recognition of Canadian citizenship by descent under the new law. Now that processing is taking years instead of months, people are already talking about lawsuits against the Canadian government. Others are complaining about the staff or how they're processing the applications, suggesting that they should be digitized or whatever.

Fine. Everyone complains. Everyone wants stuff done as quickly as possible.

But when Americans start lawyering up and harassing the Canadian government over citizenship recognition that many Canadians see as more of a "gift" or "privilege" than a "right" or "recognition" of "denied Canadian citizenship," not only will public opinion start to turn against the program, but bureaucrats and politicians will start having second thoughts as well.

Patience is a virtue.

My parent divorced back in 2021. My father has since remarried in Mexico. Do I need my parent divorced certificate to get my dual citizenship?

I’m trying to get Greek citizenship and have been talking to a few different people about my case. I have two possible routes, one through my dad who was born in Greece and adopted, and another through my maternal grandfather who was born in Aegina.

I paid GreekRoots to review everything and sent them a pretty large amount of documents for both sides of my family. They got back to me really quickly (almost too quickly i felt) saying they had thoroughly reviewed the whole case and told me I had two possible paths. Article 14 through my dad and Article 10 through my maternal grandfather.

The problem is that what they told me about my dad is different from what the Greek Consulate in Atlanta and two lawyers in Greece have told me. They thought the adoption/registration situation would most likely make it an Article 10 case.

So on August 4 I emailed GreekRoots back asking them to explain why they think Article 14 applies in my case. I also asked why they think my maternal route would be Article 10, and whether I could instead have my mom establish her citizenship through her Greek father first and then apply through her.

I wasn’t arguing with them or asking for a refund or anything. I just wanted to understand why their answer was different.

They never replied.

I waited, sent a follow-up email, and called and left a voicemail. Still nothing. I finally emailed again asking them to either answer the questions about the assessment I paid for or let me know about a refund. Still no response.

It’s been over two weeks since my original questions now.

Has anyone here actually used GreekRoots through the entire citizenship process? Did you have communication issues like this?

I’m not saying they’re a scam because I don’t know that. They did send me an assessment. It just seems really strange that they responded quickly until I asked them to explain the legal reasoning behind it, especially since their answer conflicts with what other Greek lawyers and the consulate told me.

I’m trying to figure out whether I should keep dealing with them or just move on and use one of the individual lawyers I’ve been speaking with.

I’m a little confused as to whether I should use my Canadian passport during an upcoming trip to UK and Europe (5 Schengen countries).
My plan is to use my British passport into the UK (which is a requirement now) and use my Canadian passport for EES, traveling in and out of the Schengen area.

Plans are
London - Oslo
Bergen - on a ship to Shetland ending in London
London - Paris by train
Malaga - London

Has any other dual citizens done gone in and out like this and were there any problems?

I'm a US citizen who was born in the US in 1987 and whose mom was born in the UK in 1959. I posted here yesterday about getting my UK passport. Apparently, I've been a UK citizen my whole life.

Are there any potential downsides to me getting a UK passport? I'm thinking in terms of taxation, travel, etc?

I also hold an OCI -Overseas Citizenship of India - which, despite its name, is a form of permanent residency and NOT Indian citizenship. Would getting my UK passport cause problems with that at all?

Quick context: US citizen. Father was born in the US in 1948 to a UK citizen mother (prior to her becoming a US citizen 2 years after his birth ). Me: born in 1981. So pathway is that she could not pass her citizenship to him and therefore him to me.

I began my process a month ago with gathering documents after being told I have a legitimate claim (nearly identical to example 13 in the guidance documents).

Today I finally got my grandmother‘s UK birth registry entry from the GRO. And I’ve got a couple questions / concerns.

1. There is no name and surname for the father.
2. Cursive on the mother‘s box is somewhat difficult to read (lots of detail written ). I will provide a photo in my first comment.
3. The name of her mother matches the name she used her whole life (Coxon) and is what appears on marriage certificate to my grandfather and all of the other subsequent documents. Will a father’s name not being listed have any impact on my application?

Any help is appreciated.

I'm a British citizen by birth, born 1971 currently resident in Cambodia. My mother was born in Ostend, Belgium before the war. She settled in Britain just after the war but never got a UK passport, she died Belgian in 2008. AI is telling me I used to Belgian and could reclaim it. I want to check what humans think.

Has anyone from the U.S. recently gone through the Mexican dual citizenship process? I’m wondering how you filled out the application when your U.S.-born family members have middle names. Did you include the middle name, and if so, where? I want to make sure I fill everything out correctly. Thanks!

Dual EU/US citizen here. I recently flew into Barcelona and went to the EU citizen line (as I have regularly done), which had the option to wait for one of two border officers (there was a short line) or use the e-gates (no line). I had never used the e-gates before and figured it would be quicker. When I went to put my passport on, it took a long time, and ultimately rejected it. They told me it was because when I left the US, I used my US passport, and I needed to use the same passport for the whole journey. So then they sent me to the ESS line, which was obviously longer.

This all sounded wrong to me, so I kept holding my EU passport up where it could be seen, and someone eventually noticed and told me I should go back to the EU entry, which I did. This time, I went to the short line to show a border officer. She took my passport, scanned it, and gave it back to me. No issues.

Any idea what I did wrong? Since things seem to be moving more digital, I'd like to avoid any future issues. For what it's worth, my passports have slightly different spellings of my name.

Hi there. I'm from Argentina. I know lately these conversations about citizenship by people with far ancestors receive a lot of hate. But I already have a EU citizenship as well. This is more of a curious question I have had for some years.

I have second great grandparents from Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium. All emigrated to Argentina around 1890. One of my great grandparents did ask for his Belgium passport if I remember properly but that was like around 1940 and he died around 1990. The chain ended there. My mum even holds their lastname.

Is there any way that I could start a claim of these citizenship?

Hello,

I have a question about ethnic minorities.

Let's say an ethnic Georgian who grew up in Russia, who has Russian passport, and is perfectly bilingual. Would we say she has a double identity or dual identity?

What do you think of marriage for papers? Would you do it?

Im a non-EU citizen been living in Slovenia for a while, working remotely, have money, apartment etc... but dont wanna wait 10 years for a passport. So was thinking of this option. Maybe here in Slovenia.

Or maybe one day for a foreign US or UK one.

Would you do it if someone paid you to get married? Or would you offer money for a foreign one?

Just curious at this point what people think on the topic.

I recently got my Mexican citizenship (born in the USA) and now I’m strongly considering on getting my Spanish citizenship and I have questions!

So first question is in regards to how long am I supposed be there (and yes I know about the 2 residency rule) let me explain my situation I am currently in my early 20’s and going through a bit of rediscovery phase, my family who has been supportive has given me two options, go to school in the states (USA) or live abroad in Spain. However they will ONLY be willing to fund my expedition for 2 years, after that I will return home. They personally don’t mind paying for my expenses while I attend an online school. So once I complete the 2 year residency in Spain, can I return home, and acquire my citizenship through the consulate or deal with a lawyer who works on my behalf in Spain? I also don’t mind returning every now and then for the oath and ceremony stuff.

Question 2- while aboard what sort of documentation do I need? Or is the Visa all the proof I need? Like do I need rent receipts? An identification card? To register at the civil office? What sort of things.

Question 3- We have a family friend who lives in Spain, so I would opt to live with (they would still charge me rent, but not as much like 500 euros) does this qualify? Or no? Because it’s a private landlord, or do I need to go with a landlord who submits the payments to government idk.

Please answer ONLY if you’ve gone through this process, please don’t give me baseless conjectures about things I already know, thank you!

hey, I was born in the US but moved to the philippines 3 years ago with my dad. he's planning on marrying a filipino and obtaining a dual citizenship for me and my sister, but i honestly don't believe that's possible until i'm an adult, as most of the laws are centered around the child (me in this case) being born to the filipino in question. but both of my birth parents are US citizens and I'm worried my dad is going to try something that won't even work.

I don't even really want to stay here any longer anyways so nevermind getting a citizenship as an adult