How to get an EU citizenship

The purpose of this post is to help you gain EU citizenship in a legal way.

Dual citizen as an American

Many Americans often talk about the desire to be a dual citizen. We Americans do not always like some of the economic or political policies of Europe, but peace and love we secretly admire the more relaxed lifestyle and cultural richness. Third generations Americans rediscover and connect to the roots that the first generation left and the second generation swore off.

How citizenship is determined

American citizenship is defined by birth, whereas European Citizenship is often connected to nationality. You ca be born in Germany yet not granted citizenship.So how can An American get/claim a dual citizenship, now the USA allows this. You will simply follow the laws of each country you enter and can not claim protect as a USA citizen if you entered on another passport.

Ok so how do you get a drawer full of passports like Jason Bourne?

Rules of citizenship

Generally for most counties these are the rules, – a parent, not a grandparent must have citizenship. If you grandparents came from there your patents must get it first, than you have to apply.

How to get citizenship

You can get all birth certificate on line and sent to you; just check off the box that says you are applying fore dual citizen it costs about 20 dollars at any state online site. Once you have all the birth and marriage documents, create a family tree. Then translate all this by an official translator. Then fill out the paperwork you can get at the consulate. If you parents are citizens then you are all set, if not usually you have to legally live in the country for five years for at least six months out of the year. Last option is write the president with your story and sometimes if you give them enough paper you case will be accepted. Oh and if you speak the language even to some level this will help you case.

Myth: Marry a EU citizen and you will become a EU citizen

People have old fashion TV based ideas. Marriage does not change your citizenship. It will allow you to get a visa easier to stay in the country which in term will allow you get get become citizen after many years and lot of paper.

If you know some of the language, you will see how much easier it will be to be a citizen.

Learn a European language

Author: Mark Biernat

I live in with family between two worlds, US and Europe where I create tools for language learning. If you found my site you probability share my passion to be a life long learner. Please explore my site and comment.

454 thoughts on “How to get an EU citizenship”

  1. Me and my Wife are both US Citizens and our Children were born in Germany and have lived their whole lives in Germany. In order to get their German Citizenship they are required to give up their American Citizenship. Is it possible to give the American Citizenship up get the German Citizenship and then re appy for the American ? The Germans do not have nothing against you getting another Citizenship once you are German you are just not allowed to have one before you are German and as far as I understand it the Americans do not care how many you have.

    1. Germany is a nice citizenship to have an all, but there is no way I would give up my US citixzenship to get a European citizenship. Zero, no chance. I have lived in Europe a good part of my life and the USA is much more fun and easy, even though Europe is interesting. If you give up your US citizenship, you might not get it back, you can try but they really do not just give out citizenships, talk to the embassy about this one.

  2. My mother was born in Manchester, but moved when she was 10 years old. She is now a Canadian citizen. Would she need to apply for her dual citizenship so that I could get my British passport? If I can attain it, do you know if I would still need to pay International student fees if i came overseas for university? I suppose I would need to contact the school for that answer, but just wanted to throw it out there.
    Thanks!!

    1. From my understanding of British citizenship law she was born a UK citizen and does not need to apply for anything. If you are still under I think 21 you just need to be confirmed a UK citizen, if not you can still apply. Talk to the UK embassy in this regard as I think you all have UK citizenship already, you just need confirmation.

  3. See I don’t think id ever state I was an American in Europe. Have you seen what those crazy bastards do in new york/Toronto?

    To much of a pain in the neck dealing with those crazed bbc followers. Easier to just to say ur Canadian or better yet new Zealand. Nobody gives a damn about newzealand. It’s ok in canada cause hell they just toss u back in the usa. No way in hell would I want to do jack that would wind up with me having anything to do with the fuzz in alot of those countries.

    As for citizenship, getting that in the eu can be a pain in thesometimes. Definitely alot of paperwork involved to be a full fledged worker. Though if you were born in the EU doesn’t that make you a duel citizen? If ur parents are Americans ur automatically US. But I thought with EU if you were born there it was pretty much no questions, your a continent citizen.

    Course as said just take a trip down to the embassy and have a nice long, (very long) chat about all the rules, the holes, the stacks and mounds of paperwork, and of course the ever dependable wait time. Good luck with that headache. The DMV ain’t got on citizenship for migraines.

  4. My grandfather came to the United States from Sicily as a very young child. It was mentioned to me that I might be able to obtain dual citizenship due to this. Is this true, and if so, do you have any idea on how to begin this process?

    1. Yes you can claim Italian citizenship, as long as the family did not come here before, March 17, 1861, then it might be an issue as Italy did not exist. There is no generational limit on claiming Italian citizenship. Contact the embassy and fill out the paperwork. Jus sanguinis is the rule in Italy.

    2. You can fill out the paperwork but it takes tons and tons of certificates, like birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, of both your Italian and non-Italian sides of the family. They say it can take years – and I have a feeling the ‘years’ part is the waiting for all those originals of all that stuff to get to you from Italy so you can then somehow get the fees in Euros and schlep it back over to Italy. All in the mail. But hey, go for it.

  5. Hi Mark:

    I am EU (UK) visiting Austria when I happened upon my own Eat Pray Love moment. He is Tunisian, and illegal. Can we marry in Austria?

    1. I wish I could say yes, but marriage is a civil thing, and you would have to get proper documents and residence somewhere legally to marry, if you try he would most likely be deported. I would try in Tunisia. My friend married a Tunsian and he was able to enter the EU legally under a marriage visa latter.

    2. As an immigration lawyer, I can’t imagine someone telling you you can’t marry someone. You always have the right to get married. Now, if you mean will the marriage confer citizenship on the illegal person, that’s probably where the “no” comes in. But you can always get married. You can always marry. Your spouse could be deported – but you’d still be married. Sheesh.

      1. Penny, agreed. I get many people saying they can not get married because of one law or the other. You can always get married. Others write they can not bring their spouse over to a richer country. I say live in any country. I would live in any country as long as I could be with the one I love. Laws should not separate marriages.

  6. Hi there,

    My wife and I want to live and work in Spain. We are both New Zealanders but she has a British passport. She is pregnant and we will probably have the child in New Zealand. I want to know what is the likelihood of the three of us being able to live in Spain and what we need to do to make it happen. I have two years left on a British spouse visa.

    Thank you,
    Aidan.

  7. Hi Mark, nice work you’re doing on here. I’m an a dual national of America and Britain, I’d like to ask how you rate Canadian citizenship? Is it well sought after and what are the benefits in your honest opinion?

    Kind Regards
    Leroy

    1. I think Canadian citizenship is on par with US citizenship. Ok, Canada is cold and the USA rocks in terms of variety of things to do, but Canada has a high standard of living and this will not change, because of the shale oil and free markets. Canada is peaceful and has many social benefits. I think EU, USA and Canadian are all very close along with Australian and New Zealand. I would say USA, the Canadian and then an EU citizenship close behind it.

      1. Mark, I think Canadian citizenship is better than US citizenship these days. Unfortunately, the US wants to apply their rules extraterritorialy, making life somewhat “restrictive” for US citizens abroad. I’m talking about the FACTA and the overall treatment of American-owned businesses abroad. Even if an American is a 10% partner in a business, they have to send financial information to the US, yet the company does no business with America and the business partners aren’t Americans. That’s overreach to me.

        Additionally, I can tell you that travelling in South America as a US Citizen is more expensive, than say someone with a EU passport due to “reciprocity fees”. The US charges them, so they will charge US Citizens.

        I think the US passport was great 30-40 years ago because you were free to travel just about anywhere. Fast-forward to today, and many people from many different countries can do that. With some countries, you just need to get a visa. I think that will never change because these countries make a lot of revenue from issuing visas, especially the US.

        Here’s what I’m talking about – the visa requirements for US and Canadian citizens is almost identical:
        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Canadian_citizens
        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_United_States_citizens
        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Brazilian_citizens

        1. Well the US is one of the few countries that require US citizens living abroad or doing anything abroad to report everything to the IRS. I mean I lived in the EU for years but I am still reporting the pittance I make teaching students English and paying Polish taxes too. I have to report everything. A US passport is good if you want to live in the USA. I moved to sunny Florida on an Island and I enjoy the quality of life here. But you are right, it is not the 1950s and the magic blue passport ment you are Brahmins in this world. I look around at my local Walmart and I do not know if these Americans are really that great off.

      2. Hi Mark, I think i disagree on the citizenship or passport ranks, I’d trade my USA passport any day for a Norwegian or Swiss passport. The USA is not what it was in the seventies, and the non ending debt and money printing will back fire big time down the road. I travel a lot to Scandinavia and Switzerland , the life quality and freedom are there, expensive? yes, but worth it. regards

        1. I would still rather have an US passport than any other. The USA speaks English and I can travel anywhere and live anywhere. If I had a European passport, I can live in Europe (I do have one). But if I want to be somewhere warm and sunny, Norway is not either is Switzerland I would have to park in some rocky foreign land of the Mediterranean. While as an American I am living on an Island off the coast of Florida with white sandy beaches and English.

          The debt problems will be corrected if the libs do not keep voting for representitives who inflate the debt to no end.

          USA is the land of dreams still if you can use your imagination and freedom. Europe has greater social benefits but these are overatedin terms of living a high quality of live.

      3. No, actually one major difference, especially lately, is that Canadian citizenship seems to require residence in Canada while US citizenship can be granted from abroad. You can be a US citizen (through birth abroad to US citizen parents) without ever having set foot in the United States, while Canada is cracking down on that.

  8. Hey Mark
    If I have a brother in Spain with a European Citizenship is their any way I could get a European Citizenship through him rather than a parent?

    1. No, not through him as European citizenship is achieved through blood or marriage and I assume he got this via marriage? However, you can certainly apply for a visa that could lead to citizenship, but you would have to live in Spain for a while and do a lot of paperwork.

  9. Dear Mark I had to questions,I hope you can help me answer I’m uk born and I married my husband who is a EU Lativan Citizen but was born in ukrian. In other words he is Russian/ukrianian.

    In have Been having trouble with trying to Change my name to his. Which is a typical Russian name. Ending in “ov” the problem is for me it would be “olva” but I have been having trouble trying to convince the emberssy that the “a” on the end is what is needed. Other wise it would be a male surname. I have got lativan documents to translates the “suffix in slavic surnnames” also a English translation.

    Could you tell me why it is so hard to change my name upon marriage.

    2) my husband has been to a English university and graduated with a teaching degree . To teach English in schools. He now can’t find/refuses job calls. They keep saying it’s because he is not British citizen. Even though he holds a EU passport and has been in the UK for 5+ years and married to me for one!

    What can he do! He seems like he wasted his university in England only to be told he cannot get a job in england!?

    1. When in Rome do as the Romans. In Poland for example we have the same convention of putting an ‘a’ at the end of a female name. But many names do not require this. Like my wife’s name is Kasia Biernat not Kasia Biernata. The PM of Poland’s name was Miller. His wife was not Millera. Our daughter’s name is Łucja but on her US passport it is Lucja and we call her Lucy in the Usa and Łucja in Poland. When living in an English country it is OK to be flexible and the embassy is OK with it too. Legally she is Lucja here in the USA.

      Do the best you can but you do not have to follow Slavic naming conventions in the English speaking world.

  10. My husband was born in Scotland we married in the US and we live in the US but I was wondering what I have to do to get duel citizenship so I can legally travel, work and live in Europe if I were to ever want to with him. Thank you!

  11. At time I have dual citizenship (Brazilian & German), but my mother was polish, and I am now applying for the polish citizenship.

    I have the original birth certify from my mother, travel document from PKP (Polish state railways company), where my grandfather was working, and the surname of my mother, Kolesinska, sounds traditional Polish.

    She left Europe in 1947, when she was underaged (she born in 1929), and arrive to Brazil mentioned in the UNRRA “passport” of my GrandFather, as daughter of Wladyslaw Kolesinski.

    I born in Brazil in 1960, then the second Polish law allows me try the Polish citizenship.

    I know a lot of persons in Brazil with Polish roots that acquire succesfully the Polish citizenship, with parents from both or either side from Poland, including with lack of passports or ID Cards, due the complicated conditions in Europe in time of WW2.

    I obviously contract a good lawyer in Poland to apply my citizenship, and I ask you, how are my chances to confirm my Polish citizenship?

    Best Regards

    Thomas

    1. My grandparents were Polish citizens and I got Polish citizenship by first getting a greencard, which is easier, then living in Poland. However, if you can prove one of your parents are Polish citizens all you have to do is get a letter of confirmation from the Polish embassy. You are already a Polish citizen. I think one EU citizenship is enough frankly unless you want to be like Jason Boune or more for national pride. However, I think all you need to do is prove your connection to a Polish parent with a birth certificate and you should be all set.

    2. Thomas or Mark
      If you can please recommend an attorney in Poland for obtaining citizenship, my wife,s mother was born and a citizen of Poland before world war 2 , and as i read in several sites my wife will be entitled to apply for Polish citizenship, her father was Russian

      1. You do not need an attorney, just contact the Polish embassy. Attoney will do nothing greater than explain the law which is what the embassy will do.

  12. Now I am again.

    My GrandMother, Anna Voss, was borned in Poland, Luninets, and was from Jewish origins, but all documents of she where loosed in WW2, due German and Soviet persecution against Jewish and Polish persons.

    By the Jewish rules, I have the right to be Israeli citizen, is necessary first change religion to Jewish and live in Israel for over 1 year, it is the Cafetorah right.

    I read some notices that the Jewish govern may cancel the Cafetorah right, it is done? or the Cafetorah continue valid?

    1. My friend is a devout Messianic Jew and he has told me he would not be accepted in Israel nor could he get citizenship. The irony is there are many Jews in Israel that are atheists (and around the world). If you want Israeli citizenship I would keep the fact that you are not of the Jewish religion under your hat.

    2. So many Russian christians who entered Israel as Jews are Israeli citizens and continue wearing a cross after they received their citizenship, Hundreds of thousands of them, to get Israeli citizenship for any jew is very easy, much better to do it in Israel after entering as a tourist.

  13. Hi Mark I am Udaya Raj Giri from Nepal.I am living and working in Poland from 5 year. As I heard if you work 5 year in EU you can apply permanent resident card. I know for sure I can get PR but my question is after getting PR I can apply citizen in poland or not?
    Thanks
    Best Regard
    Udaya Raj Giri

    1. After five years of living in Poland with a Permanent residence card you can apply for Polish citizenship. That is what I did, although since my family was Polish I was on an accelerated track.

  14. Hi Mark,

    I have been in a relationship with my first cousin for the past 4 years. I am Spanish by ancestry and already have my EU passport but he is not EU. He wants to work in Europe so we have been talking about getting married in Denmark soon and then live in Scotland, London or Germany. Are there any problems we may encounter? What do we have to be prepared for? How long does it take for him to get residence there?

    Thanks for the help.

    Sara

    1. You have to just make sure that first cousins can marry. In the UK and those countries you mentioned I think yes. It is about the country you marry in not the country you travel to. Once you are married I think you are married all over the world. Once married he can get a visa and then a passort.

      1. I seem to have a unique situation. I was born in the US but have dual, Italian-American, citizenship. My husband only has American citizenship. We were married 9 yrs ago in the States and moved to Spain last year. After much research -before moving-I was told that by providing our marriage certificate and a number of other documents that he could get temporary residency here. We had our certificate translated and apostatized and it was accepted. Now after a year of being here and still no residency card for my husband, I am being told that I need to submit an Italian marriage license. Are they making things up at this point to make life difficult for us or do I really now after many yrs of marriage have to get remarried in Italy? (I understand I can register my marriage in Italy but this is an extremely long process and I’m afraid my husband will be kicked out in the meantime!) Any advice?

        1. Something is not right. You only need one marriage document (American translated) as it is illegal to get married in more than one place if so there would be international chaos as people would be getting married with different dates and laws. I am married, therefore I can not get a marriage license in Europe or the USA again. In fact since I was married in Poland the court needs to check this to make sure we are not already married and I have to get a letter from my embassy etc. Someone is telling you mis-information. Often then government workers do not know the law. You have to be very proactive and do the leg work and look up the codex yourself. I did or else people will just talk. I do not think he can he deported legally because the process is in motion and you can get another visa that is temporary as governments make it this way so they do not break up families except in extreme cases.

          I would work with the office of foreigners and the US embassy to make sure everything is OK. The rule is you can not be married twice even if you want to. Now I could go get my vows renewed but it is illegal to get married twice by most understanding of International law. Maybe I am wrong to write this, but this is what I looked up and was told because people could scam governments through marriage, divorce yet staying married etc. Can you not get cheap legal advice by a professional, it does not need to be a lawyer there are many people who do this on the side legally and work with immigration. I know someone in the USA that does this and he is Judge in Europe.

          1. Thank you Mark, I am researching further into this but your preliminary information has at least put me on the right path. I am looking into some free legal consulting as well as asking a friend who works for the Italian embassy some additional information. I hope this will get cleared up soon. Thank you again…

          2. Well It’s back to the forums, since my last post I have had some things cleared up and yet also encountered some more difficulties. Spain has said that I do not have to get remarried but “simply” register my marriage in Italy. And until I give them this document saying my marriage is registered, they could deny my husband his residency card. I was told the Italian consulate in Seville could help me. When I arrived there with all the required documents I was told that they cannot send the forms on my behalf because I was married in NJ. So I called the consulate in NJ. From them I am told that they can only verify and stamp the documents but not send them to Italy because I am now living in Spain. I tried calling my town in Italy, but could not get in touch, but I have sent an email, a big gamble as these take quite a bit of time to get answered or possibly never, anyway it was my only option. I have emailed some other people and will be going back to the town hall in asap next week. Do you have any idea as to which consulate should be sending my paperwork? I am at my whits end. This process is taking 9 + months longer than it should have been!

          3. You can send your paperwork technically to any embassy but I would go with the one closets or the biggest. But for clarification you are talking about the US embassy? I would go there directly I would not do everything by mail and hope. I was in the same situation and I went there. I got an appointment and camped out there and went back several times a week until all was resolved.

            Look I know it is stressful now but next year it will be all a memory and everything should be OK. Every person I talk to is stressed about situations like this but the main thing is to stay calm and work through the paper maze by being persistent and go meet people there in person, if you have questions not by e-mail or phone.

  15. My brother is from Syria and his wife is Canadian . So I wanted to know if I can take the Canadian citizenship from her or not? And if yes, what shall I do to have it.

    1. You have to go through a long process with the Canadian embassy. All you might be able to get is a visa. That could lead to citizenship over time.

  16. Dear Mark
    My boyfriend is an US citizen and has papers of when his grandparents took American citizenship in Chicago around 1912. Both his parents are deceased so we can’t get them Polish citizenship first before he tries as you mentioned above and there are no further papers available. We are living in Spain so want to get him an EU passport to make it easier to finally get Spanish residency as a retired non working person. Would he have any chance if he applied ? And would he have to give up his US passport – someone once told me that the Polish can only hold one passport – is it true ? Thank – you are a great information base.

    1. You can hold both a US an Polish passport not problem. I do as does my daughter. Here is the thing. Your boyfriend can not get Polish citizenship confirmed but if he lived in Poland he can apply for a Polish green card which will lead to citizenship. He can get this based on the Polish constitution.

      A Spanish residence card is possible as long as he works in Spain legally for a number of years.

  17. Hi Mark,

    I would like to move to EU. My grandmother was born in Budapest, however she was of Polish-Jewish descent, despite Poland not being an official country at the time of her birth – 1898. My mothers father was born in Krakow. My father’s grandparents were born in Germany. Which country would I have a better chance of immigrating to? I have my grandmother’s birthcertificate and it lists her parents as Polish descent.

    Thanks for your help

    Debi

    1. I think Poland. Poland is friendly to Jewish people and you have a Polish background. However, under the laws at the time I think citizenship passed through the male not the female. I think you need to contact the Polish embassy as they would give you a greencard but a citizenship is less likely do to the laws at the time. In most countries it is the law at the time of action that counts.
      Germany I can not see it as your relatives would have had to sign a book after the war to declare themselves Germans. It was because of the chaos. But There still might be a chance.

  18. My three children (ages 20, 19 and 17) all have dual U.S./Latvian citizenship and passports. It is my understanding that with the Latvian passport they would be able to work within the EU, if they so desire. My oldest is considering a year overseas for school and I imagine may even consider living in Europe for a while. My question is this; if he were to move there, how hard would it be for me to join him there or how hard would it be for my youngest and me to move there? ‘There’ could be Latvia or it could be Holland, Switzerland, Italy or Germany. I would really love to spend several years living in Europe. And, yes, I will need to work during my time there. Suggestions?

    1. Europe is a fun place to live, I think it is an interesting idea for your life perhaps. If you are married and your husband is from Latvia you can get a visa based on your marriage. If you are not married you generally could not get a visa unless you had a skill, but you could always teach ESL and that would be your skill and someone would sponsor you.

  19. Hi there,

    My parents were born in the US as well as myself but they have lived in France for about 20 years and have European citizenship. I lived in France for 14 years growing up. However, I attended univeristy here in the US and now have been here in the US for 12 years. I do not have citizenship in Europe. How can I get European citizenship?

    1. Based on your parents and the time you spend in France it should be no problem for you to get naturalized as a French citizen. I imagine you have titre de séjour. You are educated and many years living in France, just contact the embassy consulfrance-newyork.org/-English- and they can start you with the paperwork. Technically since you were not born there nor have French bloodline you need to be naturalized based on your parents and your length of stay in France and that you are educated and love France etc. You basically make a well documented yet passionate argument. I would imagine you need a French address though or you can get around it and say you are a student but if you have permanent residence and your a student that is OK. As long as you have some current connection to France now.

  20. OK I have a special situation. I am American born, my husband is Dutch born, my children are American born with Dutch passports as well as American. We lived in Germany for 1 1/2 years, as my husband had a sabbatical, and we all fell in love with it there. We would like to move back. However, it seems that Germany and the Netherlands both (as well as other countries in the EU) will not hire outside of their country unless no one can fit the job, then they seek the EU. We live in the US so they don’t look at my husbands applications. I thought it would be good if I went over with the children and set up house, so he has a German address, but I can not go with out my husband. I also can not get a Dutch nationality as I know German (grundstufe) and not Dutch. What can I do to make this work? Really I am just feeling confused and desperate in this whole situation.

    1. Dutch citizenship is a bear to get but if you make a strong enough case you should be able to overcome the main objections. You can do it, it just might take a few years. I also do not recommend separating from your husband for too long for logistical issues. Being apart from your beloved is just not worth it.

  21. Hi Mark,

    I’m a US citizen working over in China right now. I’m preparing to transition into a ESL career. I was wondering if I were work as an English teacher in one of the central or Eastern European countries and work for a x number of years, is it possible to gain permanent residence status, later gaining citizenship? I know it’s a long stretch, but I would love to attempt the nearly impossible. I’d appreciate your take on possible options available as an American trying to get dual citizenship.

    Aaron

    1. Yes, if you work legally it is not a problem. They like friendly income earning foreigners in Eastern Europe. You could fall in love and get married which would accelerate the process of naturalization. The key is to keep a job and a life and learn the language a bit.

  22. Mark,

    My husband is an EU citizen (Greece)/US permanent residency card holder, I hold permanent residency card for Greece and I am a US citizen although we are living and working in the USA , our kids are registered in Greece under their father and have EU citizenship, my question is if one of my kids wants to study in an EU country would they qualify for EU residency rates for tuition if they graduate from high school in the states? Thanks for your help.
    Ellen

    1. I think it is based on citizenship. In Poland if you are a Polish citizen, you get a discount. I think if there is a will there is a way. In theory you could have them registered at a relative’s home in Greece while they are here also.

      With imagination you can do anything.

  23. What is the best way to apply for Czech citizenship? Is it possible?
    I am Australian and born in 1961. My mother is Australian. My Father was born in Czechoslovakia in 1939 but had to leave because of the Communists with his family when he was 13\14 years old. They emigrated to Australia and thus lost their Czech citizenship. Do you have any suggestions?

    1. I think this will not be a problem, but you have to apply with the Czech embassy and be sure to include a very detailed and passionate analysis of all the facts and how you feel Czech. This is will tip the scales on the human factor. You can start with the Embassy website.

  24. My father was born in what is now Northern Ireland but before the 1921/22 partition. I got an Republic of Ireland passport in 1966 but have never visited there. My son was born in Zimbabwe and I registered him as an Irish citizen. He hasn’t been to any part of Ireland either. I think the rule for Irish citizenship is still one grandparent born is either Irish state.

  25. I have been dating a Latvian here in the USA for a few years. If we were to get married, would she become a US citizen automatically, or would I be able to have dual-citizenship in her country of Latvia automatically? What would be the way so we could live both places a few moths of each year (if possible)?

    1. You and your future wife would have to go through a process for US citizenship that would take about four years. It is based on your income and other factors and you would have to pledge to support her financially for ten years even if the marriage would do be dissolved. Similarly you would need to live and work in Latvia for several years to get citizenship and learn the language a to a certain level.

  26. Hi Mark, I hope you can help. I was born in South Africa (1960), as was my mother (now deceased). My father was born in England. Both parents got US citizenship and no longer have UK passports. I still do. My kids were born in US, my husband is American. They are both over 16. My daughter (24) would like to live in Europe for a while and would love to get an EU or UK passport but we can’t tell if she qualifies and where to go. The UK Gov site doesn’t help.

    Many thanks if you can help out on this.

    1. This is a very common question I get, and often the laws are unclear to the layperson. Even people working at the embassy need clarification. Since your daughter is an adult, I believe is she can not be confirmed a British citizen. However, she can achieve citizenship though a process because she has the linage. Being confirmed a citizen means that she is and always was a UK citizen. Achieving is a process that requires a series of steps.

      This will be a combination of lex sanguinis and naturalization. Children born after 1983 have it easier but there are additional steps and if you have not lived in the UK for thee years of your life it makes it more complicated.

      Therefore, my recommendation is that you start looking at this like a case. That is you create as much documentation and support for UK citizenship as you can in terms of paper and testimony (that you feel British etc.). Governments like paper. You need to set up something called an informational interview with your embassy near you. If you get in front of a live person they have to explain it to you.

  27. My father was born in Prague however lived in Canada and is now deceased. Am I eligible to have EU citizenship?

    1. Yes depending on if kept his Czech citizenship or not and other factors, but generally I think it would might work.

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