Americans using their ancestry to gain European citizenship - 40% of Americans eligible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been exploring this. My ancestors are German. Do you have any more specifics on what is required for Germany? So far I have traced 3 of my 4 grandparents back to German immigrants who arrived between 1734 and 1750.

No you will not be able to get German citizenship on that basis.

Bummer, though I kind of figured. I mean, that would be a lot of potential new citizens. Anyway, it has been interesting to do the searching. We were apparently all here before the Revolutionary War.

[Anonymous]

I looked into this in Ireland but the blurb in the OP is wrong -- you can't go back four generations. One set of great grandparents immigrated to the US from Ireland but because my grandmother was born in the US I'm not eligible. If her parents had applied for her to have Irish citizenship I might be, but otherwise it's too far removed. I was disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've looked into it. It can get a little tricky because borders have moved.

For instance, my grandparents were Polish, and came over to America in the late 1800s when all these present-day-countries were under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, after WW2 the lines were redrawn and their villages are now in the Western Ukraine. So does that mean we look toward Polish citizenship or Ukrainian? Messy!

Galicia? How interesting!!

Not that uncommon in dc considering the number of ashkenazis here

[Anonymous]

My sister and I are going to do this for Germany. My mom was born in Germany and brought over during the war as part of operation paperclip. Hopefully we can do it. The lawyer says absolutely for me as in I pretty much already am one. The relief at knowing that I may not HAVE to scrounge for health care in retirement was surprising.

[Anonymous]

Croatia has no limit on the number of generations removed as long as you can document lineage (including any transition from Croatian to Americanized spelling). They also recently got rid of their Croatian language requirement as well. EU country!

[Anonymous]

My great grandparents were Swedish and Norwegian, and immigrated to Canada. I was born in the US. Would love some of those amazing Scandinavian benefits!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've done this. Got my kids citizenship in Canada and an EU country. I want them to have options.

How far back did you go for Canada?

[Anonymous]

My ding dang grandfather renounced his Italian citizenship before my mom was born, so I can’t claim citizenship it seems.

[Anonymous]

Yep. I'd do it in a heartbeat. My mom might get me into Canada, and my dad, England.
My daughters have lost their civil rights, don't want them becoming grown women here.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't the residents of these EU countries resent it if so many Americans started using their low cost universities and healthcare without having paid into the system first?
Just a thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sister and I are going to do this for Germany. My mom was born in Germany and brought over during the war as part of operation paperclip. Hopefully we can do it. The lawyer says absolutely for me as in I pretty much already am one. The relief at knowing that I may not HAVE to scrounge for health care in retirement was surprising.

Are you planning to move to Germany? If not it won’t help you much for healthcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister and I are going to do this for Germany. My mom was born in Germany and brought over during the war as part of operation paperclip. Hopefully we can do it. The lawyer says absolutely for me as in I pretty much already am one. The relief at knowing that I may not HAVE to scrounge for health care in retirement was surprising.

Are you planning to move to Germany? If not it won’t help you much for healthcare.

Even if you move there, I believe there are limitations if you don’t have a work history in the country.

[Anonymous]

Around 2015 Spain extended citizenship to Sephardic Jews as a 'reparations' gesture (in between quotes because I doubt its sincerity, especially as it was conceived during an economic crisis), then started denying the majority even with great documentation. Guess they decided they didn't want that many poor Latin Americans and others living in Spain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't the residents of these EU countries resent it if so many Americans started using their low cost universities and healthcare without having paid into the system first?
Just a thought.

Yes, I'm sure they will, and I bet if enough of us apply, they will change the rules or set quotas or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Seems like our US and EU citizen kids need to keep applying for passport for their kids until the law is changed. My kids were born EU citizens. We just had to let government know I'm the mother and they exist.
Very easy nowadays; we just need the ID card and the reader.
They don't have to know the language, visit the country or give up US citizenship (for now).