Huh.

[apocalypsos]

I wonder if I could be eligible for dual citizenship.

Not that I could actually DO anything with it, God knows, since I'm broke and as much as I'd love to go to Germany or pretty much anywhere in Europe I can barely afford to leave my house, much less the country.

But, yeah, my great-grandmother was born in Germany. Come to think of it, I think my other great-grandmother on the other side of my family may have been born in Poland, too. I'm a lot more sure of my grandpa Al's mother, though. He researched his family going back something like two hundred years and it's a metric fuckton of German farmers. (I'd be tempted to check and see if I could get away with it through Italian law, but I'm pretty sure the Italian bits immigrated before the Polish bits and definitely before the German bits and besides, I'm Italian through adoption, not blood.)

It'd be something neat to have, at least, if nothing else.

Comments

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

It's something to look into! Plenty of European countries do seem to offer the opportunity for citizenship by descent, but I think what plays havoc with some Americans is immigrating before their parents homeland became an actual nation. As far as I can tell (a lot of the websites aren't in English), I wouldn't be eligible for Slovenian citizenship because my great-grandparents were subjects of the Austro-Hungarian empire and left way before they could have even been citizens in Yugoslavia.

My mom and I are looking into Italian citizenship, though, and I think I might qualify!

[slashfairy.livejournal.com]

this is relevant to my interests. thanks for posting it.

[doortje.livejournal.com]

A passport of any member state of the EU would make life a lot easier if at any point in the future you could get to Europe.

[meril.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that--the German laws have changed a lot in the last few years regarding dual citizenship (my mother and grandmother became US citizens, but they were both born in Germany) and it's more of a pain in the ass than that article implies. as far as we can figure out, it's a no-go for all three of us.

[laughingrat.livejournal.com]

Oh please, you know you were really born in Kenya. Me and my batshit-crazy cell of protofascists know the real truth!

hola

[karrenia-rune.livejournal.com]

I had not realized that Germany changed its laws regarding dual citizenup, being that my cousins who still live in Ecuador and whose father was born in Germany both have dual German and Ecuadoran citizenship.

My sister and I, however, born in the United States do not have
dual American and Ecudaorian citizenship. We also do not have
our mother's maiden name tacked onto the end of our first, middle and last name as do my cousins.

My grandmother on my dad's side is full German, 2nd generation I believe. She passed away at the age of 95 in November of 2008.

My last name again from my dad's side of the family is French, but somewhere along the way I've got some dollop of English, French and Irish.

Thanks for the thread/topic.l; and good luck, Karrenia

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

I might actually be able to finagle Polish citizenship and that ultra-useful EU passport if I work at it. But I'm already a dual citizen; three seems to be pushing it. :P

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

Interesting. My father was born in Germany but I'm actually not sure of his citizenship status.

[fyrdrakken]

In early November of 2004 I found that the possibility of citizenship for an EU country was suddenly extremely fucking relevant to my interests, so I looked at the requirements for Irish citizenship-by-descent. I had a great-grandfather who was born there, but it turned out that -- though my mother qualified for citizenship, had she bothered to gather all the required birth certificates and marriage licenses and whatnot to prove the relationship and filled out the required forms and paid the fee (all of which I would have done on her behalf if it would have done me any good), I was a generation too far removed from the Old Country.

I should look into Germany, maybe, though. A great-grandmother was born in Frankfurt. (And, as I found out when I was living in London, I have a doppelganger in Dusseldorf. Possibly a distant cousin.)

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

Hmm. You've got me tempted to look into this. I've done a lot of family tree stuff, but most of my ancestors came from Bohemia which doesn't even exist anymore...