fjord

I hold dual citizenship (EU & US) and I was wondering if there are people out there with 3 or more?

If that is the case do you have 3+ passports?

eyezon

Hrmmmm... I'm not sure what the point of holding more than one national identity would. Which country do you hold you allegiance to? 50% EU and 50% US?

Other than being married to consular staff, I would think it difficult to attain more than 2 nationalities.

pvdecastro

I'm my personal case I�m Portuguese and my wife is Brazilian, so our daughters have dual citizenship. My wife can also apply for Italian citizenship if she wants, what would mean that the little ones can have three passports.

There�s not a point to it, it�s somethig that just happened.

Having different passports ( one or a couple from the EU and a Brazilian ) means more future opportunities for my daughters in terms where they want to study or work and makes travelling easier ( easier to get into Brazil, no visa for the US and a lot of countries with a EU passport, and so on... ).

Maluku_Flyer

A passport is just a passport. I don't see how that has anything to do with "national loyalties". Whatever that may be. FWIW, even the US allows its citizens to serve in foreign armed forces.

STBCypriot

As a US citizen living in Europe, An EU passport would be quite useful. Having EU citizenship makes it MUCH easier to work in the EU. I will be applying for Cypriot citizenship once I have lived here in Cyprus for 8 years (only 6+ years to go).

I don't see why a person could not show allegiance to more than one country.

I have moved to Cyprus and will spend the rest of my life here. That is why I will be applying for Cypriot citizenship. Cyprus does not require that I give up my US citizenship, though I would if they required it because this is my home now.

BTW, it now costs $450 to renounce your US citizenship. I don't want to get into a patriotic vs unpatriotic discussion, but I do find it very strange that a country can force you to remain a citizen by charging a fee.

ajax

There are several FTers with three or more citizenships. I can think of one with four. I have also come across the odd individual with one American and one British parent who was born in Canada (three times actually this very combination).

Someone once claimed to have six but disappeared and never answered my questions about it.

I personally have two citizenships (US and UK) and am equally allegiant to each. Thankfully neither country much cares. It is very common in this country to meet people with multiple citizenships, normally children of Britons (or other Europeans) who have emigrated, or immigrants who have been naturalised.

ajax

Added: all individuals from Northern Ireland are automatically dual-nationals of Ireland and the UK. Most claim one or the other predominantly, but all are entitled to claim both.

Maluku_Flyer

I agree. But I'm pretty sure that lots of people disagree with this attitude.

The US doesn't require this either.

Some countries think that you cannot become a non-citizen at all. Which seems to be a quasi-religious attitude towards citizenship. The US gummint doesn't really care if you never renew your passport.

But the IRS still cares. IANAL, but escaping US tax liabilities isn't all that easy.

emma69

A good friend of mine has 4 - one by virtue of where she was born and lived as a small child, one from each of her parents, and one from where she lives now. She only bothers with 2 passports now I believe (now EU is all so free and easy to move between), but has had all 4 at some points.

Aviatrix

It IS quite a steep fee... but at least they do let you renounce your citizenship. There are some countries which don't - where the law says "Once a citizen, always a citizen".

I have friends in Canada who have dual citizenships for no other reason than the fact that their birth country won't let them renounce their original citizenship... and they have to go to the hassle and expense of renewing both sets of passports all the time because they can't travel to their birth country on their Canadian passports.

alanR

Which begs the question - what's the most citizenships anyone can have by right of birth as opposed to naturalisation / marriage.

For example someone born in NI to a British parent and a non-British parent can claim British, Irish, any other citizenship the British parent holds & the citizenship(s) of the other parent

alanR

Well in the case of EU & US they'd gain the right to live and work anywhere in the EU & US on a permanent basis. The other good reason is that it can reduce the need for pre-arranging visas or at least significantly reduce their cost.

As for attaining more than 2 nationalities - it's quite simple especially when the US allows citizenship by virtue of birth - so a couple with different nationalities who give birth in the US would automatically give their child 3 citizenships. Then you have parents who themselves have multiple citizenships and it becomes easy to have 5 or more separate citizenships

chgoeditor

I know someone who had 3 citizenships: Born in the US (1) to a British (2) mother and a French (3) father. He didn't hold current passports for each country, which caused some problems when he tried to fly to the US on a British passport. (The airline wouldn't let him board, requiring a hasty visit to the US embassy in London.( I mistakenly said he had dual citizenship when I posted about it several years ago.

ajax

You can get as many as you want, provided you follow the immigration and naturalisation laws in the country of which you wish to become a citizen. It's not easy, but it's possible.

For instance, I am entitled to Israeli citizenship but have zero interest in claiming it.

I seem to remember we discussed this a few months back. Provided that all four of your grandparents are citizens of different countries, all of which allow them to pass citizenship along to their grandchildren (e.g., Ireland, Italy) and that both of your parents are citizens of two further, different countries by virtue of their birth, both of which allow them to pass citizenship along to their children, and provided that you are born in a country different from all of these that allows you to claim citizenship by virture of having been born there, then I would imagine the maximum number of citizenships you could be born with is seven. I cannot see how it could practically be any more than this.

ajax

Yes - I know a Greek/Spanish couple and a British/Finnish couple, both of which had a child in the US. These two children are both automatically triple-nationals at birth. I imagine this is far from rare.