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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people do this? To move to the EU?

Because the US is becoming an oppressive oligarchy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtkPacTl64I

According to an EU diplomat, the EU is a garden the rest are jungle. So, there's that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m eligible for Italy. We started collecting all the paperwork but paused after we hit a snag in getting my ancestor’s Italian birth certificate. Original records were apparently lost in a fire and don’t know if I can still get it without that.

Before you hit the snag, how hard was it to do? I’m realizing I need to start the process myself. I’m very interested in this and my elderly parents were going to start gathering documents as a hobby but never got around to it. My great grandparents came here from Italy and never became American citizens. I need to start researching how to find records.

I am the PP who already submitted my paperwork. It can be very easy or incredibly hard, it's very case by case. Took me a few years to get my hands on everything I needed, but you might have an easier time. Things that were snags for me:

--NYC couldn't find my GGF BC for over a year
-- I didn't know the exact date of death for my GGGparents in order to get their DCs
--it takes over a year to get the USCIS package with the naturalization stuff; NARA was closed for Covid on and off and they too had a huge backlog, however I got the NARA package early on to provide me some details for my search of other docs
--My comune in Sicily suffered various natural disasters and as a result the record books of some of my records were destroyed. I had to hire various italian researchers to help get letters and stuff explaining this. I also combed through microfilm on familysearch.org to find unoffical second copies of the records
--I attempted to correct all name discrepancies before my appointment. Hilarity ensued.

I can't stress enough how helpful the facebook group is if you are attempting to do this. If you've got the cash, there are services that will do this for you, but after having done it myself I am not sure a service would have gone as far as I did to solve all my issues. When I presented my stuff at my appointment I was accepted "without homework," so the years of hard work paid off (finger's crossed).

As long as the final review of my application does not get flagged for anything, in about 2.5 years I will have citizenship as well as my two small children. If my DH wants it he needs to pass a language exam and then apply through marriage after I am fully recognized. We discuss the concept of moving there all the time. When I started my records search I had no children and it was just a fun side hobby to see if I could complete the daunting task (I like research). Now, we both think it is incredibly useful and seriously think about a future where we move there permanently to get our kids out of here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t transfer to spouses

It does for Italy. Wife and kids (through her bloodlines) were eligible, and I got to hitch a ride.

I'm not seeing the same spouse hitch for Ireland. DH's application is in. Oh, well, he can travel with his brothers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m eligible for Italy. We started collecting all the paperwork but paused after we hit a snag in getting my ancestor’s Italian birth certificate. Original records were apparently lost in a fire and don’t know if I can still get it without that.

Before you hit the snag, how hard was it to do? I’m realizing I need to start the process myself. I’m very interested in this and my elderly parents were going to start gathering documents as a hobby but never got around to it. My great grandparents came here from Italy and never became American citizens. I need to start researching how to find records.

I am the PP who already submitted my paperwork. It can be very easy or incredibly hard, it's very case by case. Took me a few years to get my hands on everything I needed, but you might have an easier time. Things that were snags for me:

--NYC couldn't find my GGF BC for over a year
-- I didn't know the exact date of death for my GGGparents in order to get their DCs
--it takes over a year to get the USCIS package with the naturalization stuff; NARA was closed for Covid on and off and they too had a huge backlog, however I got the NARA package early on to provide me some details for my search of other docs
--My comune in Sicily suffered various natural disasters and as a result the record books of some of my records were destroyed. I had to hire various italian researchers to help get letters and stuff explaining this. I also combed through microfilm on familysearch.org to find unoffical second copies of the records
--I attempted to correct all name discrepancies before my appointment. Hilarity ensued.

I can't stress enough how helpful the facebook group is if you are attempting to do this. If you've got the cash, there are services that will do this for you, but after having done it myself I am not sure a service would have gone as far as I did to solve all my issues. When I presented my stuff at my appointment I was accepted "without homework," so the years of hard work paid off (finger's crossed).

As long as the final review of my application does not get flagged for anything, in about 2.5 years I will have citizenship as well as my two small children. If my DH wants it he needs to pass a language exam and then apply through marriage after I am fully recognized. We discuss the concept of moving there all the time. When I started my records search I had no children and it was just a fun side hobby to see if I could complete the daunting task (I like research). Now, we both think it is incredibly useful and seriously think about a future where we move there permanently to get our kids out of here.

Interesting.
Did you and kids take a language test (that's required for DH)?

DH has applied for Ireland but I haven't yet seen a hook for the kids (or me - I'm think my ancestors are one too many generations in US).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t transfer to spouses

That is not always true. I am on the registry of foreign births for Ireland so I have citizenship. About 15 years ago, before a vote to expand the EU, Ireland wanted to up their population and allowed spouses to apply for citizenship. My DH did it in their timeframe and is now a citizen also though he is 0% Irish by heritage.

For Italy the hurdle is a B1 language certification exam. Then it's just paperwork and waiting. If you were married before 1983, you don't even need the language exam.

[Anonymous]

RE: ITALY

The main thing to be aware of is whether or not your ancestor naturalized or became a citizen of the US or another country BEFORE the next generation was born.

What documents show naturalization? Trying to figure out what to search for...

[Anonymous]

What is the benefit of applying for these EU citizenships? Are most people doing this for EU universal healthcare benefits? Would their be any disadvantages of holding the dual citizenships?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people do this? To move to the EU?

Because the US is becoming an oppressive oligarchy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtkPacTl64I

Agree with your statement (although haven’t clicked on your YouTube), but the idea that the EU isn’t an oppressive oligarchy is laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whites returning to Europe is beneficial and important to achieving land-back goals.

If you are white, you are living on stolen land.

How old are you? 😂

[Anonymous]

If FIL is eligible for Irish citizenship as a grandson of someone born in Ireland, can that make it easier for DH or DS to get it? FIL's grandmother was born in N Ireland, does that allow for any UK citizenship? (Given their current issues, not as interesting right now, but just curious).

Are there tax or other negative impacts of getting this type of dual citizenship?

[Anonymous]

What about the non-European immigrants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whites returning to Europe is beneficial and important to achieving land-back goals.

If you are white, you are living on stolen land.

Only white people? Explain that.

Sigh.

Start here, boomer:

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/10/1127837659/native-land-map-ancestral-tribal-lands-worldwide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me more about Italy? My understanding was that I wasn’t eligible because my grandmother immigrated before Italian women had rights so there were no rights to transfer to me. If she’s been a boy, it would have worked. Am I wrong?

I second a PP and highly recommend joining the Facebook group "Dual US-Italian Citizenship." Just as an example of how many people are seeking Italian citizenship, this group has grown to over 40,000 members in the past several years. They have very extensive guides on all paths to Italian citizenship.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/23386646249/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=10160019539171250

The main thing to be aware of is whether or not your ancestor naturalized or became a citizen of the US or another country BEFORE the next generation was born. So if your line is through your grandmother, she must not have become a US citizen before your mother or father was born. Now, you are correct that before 1948, Italian women could not pass citizenship down to their children, only men passed down citizenship. However, the new Constitution of 1948, oveturned that sexist law. But you still can't go through your consulate, you must hire a lawyer in Italy, gather all your documents, and then file a case in court in Italy to haver your citizenship recognized. That is known as a "1948 Case" and you can read more details on the Facebook group.

I am currently pursuing a 1948 case and will be ready to file my case in the Court of Bologna within the next six months. All cases used to be filed in Rome, but the backlog was huge and the Italian government just de-centralized citizenship cases, so you now file in the regional court of your ancestor's home comune. This should speed the process up and I hope to be recognized in the next two years.

The document gathering can take a couple of years. You must have originals of all vital docs: birth, marriage, divorces, death, etc. of your direct line, and sometimes non-line spouses too. Depends on what your lawyer requests. Then they must be translated into Italian and apostilled. This can take a very long time, and sometimes it's difficult to find docs. To the PP who said they couldn't get docs because of a fire in Italy, I thought the same thing about my father, who was born in Italy. However, the service provider I'm using to help gather docs in Italy found my father's birth certificate very quickly. Sometimes those "fire" stories are family lore that is not true. Also, churches will have extensive records of births/baptisms, marriages etc. I would look into hiring someone in Italy to help locate Italian documents. There are a lot of service providers listed on the Dual Citizenship Facebook group.

Why do it? I feel a very strong connection to Italy. All four of my grandparents and my father were from Italy and I've been traveling there regularly since I was 8 years old, so it's just personally important to me. DH and I plan to spend 4-6 months per year there after we retire. I am also getting citizenship for my DC and a few nieces/nephews too. They are all college-aged and it gives them the opportunity to live and work in any EU country. My DC is very interested in living in Europe after college.

Good luck - it is a long and sometimes difficult experience, however, very rewarding. As you search for documents, you learn a lot about your family and your heritage. I highly recommend it!

My husband did this. Fist they obtained Italian citizenship for his dad. Once that was done, all of the kids applied. It took years and you will get to know Mr. Valleta at the consulate well. The good news is that we are now in the process of registering all the kids, which is the first step for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whites returning to Europe is beneficial and important to achieving land-back goals.

If you are white, you are living on stolen land.

Only white people? Explain that.

Sigh.

Start here, boomer:

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/10/1127837659/native-land-map-ancestral-tribal-lands-worldwide

I think PP was saying all POC are living on stolen land, except for the POC indigenous folks. Not white people. Everyone.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know anything about Greece?

My understanding is that it can be passed down through generations, as long as each prior generation was a Greek citizen OR is the decedent of a Greek citizen and is now deceased (e.g., if your great grandparents were Greek citizens, but your grandmother was not, you can still qualify if your grandmother is deceased and your parent is either also deceased or first gets citizenship).