Securing dual citizenship can open up a wide variety of travel possibilities, including unlocking new visa-free destinations and the potential to live and work abroad with ease. If you’re researching how to get dual citizenship, maybe you’re dreaming of moving to a new country, retiring abroad, or traveling extensively around the world.
But the process for scoring that second passport can feel less than straightforward, with confusing requirements, heaps of paperwork, and expensive application fees. However, there are several easy-to-understand options for pursuing dual citizenship, whether you have family ties to a specific country or are interested in participating in a nation’s golden passport program.
Travelers who put in the time, effort, and money to acquire dual citizenship will see major payoffs. Chief among them: unlimited access to some of the most sought-after destinations on earth, like cultural capitals in Europe, havens of natural beauty in the Caribbean, and historic gems of the Middle East.
Here’s your guide on how to get dual citizenship around the world through three different pathways.
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Your family lineage might be the key to unlocking access to dual citizenship. Several nations around the globe offer citizenship by descent, or ancestral passports, to individuals with a family connection to their country. The nations that participate in these programs view a descendant’s citizenship as a birthright that can be activated by filing a few forms to prove their lineage.
Popular destinations in Europe and North America operate ancestral passport programs, including Ireland, Italy, Canada, Austria, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and the UK. You likely qualify for a passport by descent in one of these countries if your parents were citizens or passport-holders of the nation at the time of your birth, or if your grandparents (or even great-grandparents, depending on the program) were born in the nation. Germany and Austria have unique programs that offer citizenship to the descendants of anyone who was persecuted or feared persecution by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. Ghana also has a special program in development called the Homeland Return Act, which would grant a pathway to citizenship for individuals of African descent without ancestral ties to Ghana.
‘Golden passport’ schemes
If you don’t have recent ancestors who were born in another nation, then you might consider pursuing dual citizenship by investment. At least 11 nations currently operate citizenship-by-investment programs, also called “golden passports,” according to residency and citizenship firm Henley & Partners. These initiatives offer citizenship in exchange for significant investments into certain economic sectors. Investment thresholds usually start at about $200,000 and up. The application process also entails a background check, but once applicants pass inspection they will have lifelong citizenship for themselves and possibly their immediate family as well, depending on the program.