How to bag a powerful passport – and fly past airport queues
After a long flight, there is scarcely a better feeling than swanning past the queue for customs and slipping easily through immigration.
For most British citizens, this feeling is now limited to arriving in Britain — unless you can bag yourself dual citizenship.
Over the past decade or so, many have made this move. In 2021, 1.26 million residents across England and Wales held multiple passports, according to the Office for National Statistics, up from 612,000 in 2011.
So, how do you join them? Here’s the ins and outs of applying for dual citizenship.
How does dual citizenship work?
The rules around dual citizenship vary from country to country, but effectively, if the two countries you wish to be a citizen of both allow dual citizenship, then it is possible to become a “dual citizen” of those countries.
Around 60 to 70 countries worldwide, including the UK, allow dual citizenship – most countries in North, Central and South America do, as do Australia and New Zealand. However, this arrangement is less common in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Some countries also have stricter rules than others. For example, the Netherlands currently has some of the strictest rules around dual citizenship in Europe, often forcing people to denounce their original country of citizenship when they apply for Dutch citizenship, or taking Dutch citizenship away when Dutch nationals wish to take on another nationality.
There are reportedly plans to loosen the rules, but currently dual citizenship is only allowed if you have prior ancestral connections to the country, are married to someone with a Dutch passport, or your country of origin does not allow you to renounce your citizenship.
Elsewhere, citizens of India and China will automatically lose their birth citizenship if they choose to acquire American citizenship.
Before you make a decision, it’s a good idea to read as much as you can about the country you want to get a dual citizenship for, just in case there are any inconvenient rules.
What are the benefits?
Once you have dual citizenship, you can live and work in either country indefinitely.
It can open up extra doors for you, too. If you secured Italian citizenship, for instance, you would then have the right to live, work and study in any of the European Union countries without needing a visa.
“It can give you the freedom to travel to countries which might require visas otherwise, bypassing lengthy, expensive and cumbersome visa processes,” said Tahmina Watson, an immigration lawyer in the United States.
“And of course, who doesn’t want to beat the lines at the airport at immigration clearance? Citizens often fly through these checkpoints.”
As a citizen, you can also access the country’s health services, attend public education, own property there and even hold public office in either country (but typically not both).
Dual citizenship can benefit your family members, too. In many countries, your citizenship can be passed down to future generations. In others, like America, you might be able to sponsor immediate family members in their efforts to move there.
Are there any downsides to dual citizenship?
It’s not simply a case of “double the citizenship, double the benefit”. Dual citizenship means that you need to abide by the laws and rules of two countries, including tax – which means things can get complicated.
While many countries will have double taxation agreements (for example, Britain and Australia), which aim to prevent you having to pay tax twice on the same money, there are some burdens.
If you managed to gain citizenship in America, for example, you would need to pay US taxes – even if you actually lived in Britain. Ms Watson said that many American citizens had renounced their citizenship due to this rule.
And if you own assets in the other country where you have citizenship, it is likely that the system of how this asset is taxed and handled on your death will fall under the law of the country where the asset is, and where you were based – all of which can complicate succession planning.
Several countries in Europe, for instance, operate forced heirship rules, where biological children and spouses are automatically entitled to equal shares of an estate when a parent dies – this is regardless of whether alternative wishes are stipulated in a will.
Citizenship also often comes with duties, as well as rights. This could include military service or jury duty.
“Italy does not have mandatory military service at the moment, for example, but this could change in the future,” said Adamo Petrucci Horn from the Italian Citizenship Assistance Program. “Dual citizens might be subject to conscription if it were reinstated.”
It can also limit the support you might get from the British government while overseas.
Claire Nilson, immigration lawyer at Faegre Drinker, said that in the case of an emergency, you were unlikely to get diplomatic help from the British government if you were physically located in the other country where you held citizenship.
She added: “In some countries, this could, at certain times, include not permitting their citizens to leave that country to travel internationally.” Such rules were seen during the Covid pandemic.
How to apply for dual citizenship
There are three main ways you can get citizenship in another country.
The first is family. Some countries will allow you to qualify for citizenship if one of your parents – or possibly your grandparents – was or is a citizen of that country.
If you marry someone from this country, you may automatically get citizenship or be put on a fast track route to apply for it. British citizens often have dual citizenship arrangements with Ireland, Poland, Pakistan, Nigeria and Italy this way.
Another option is through work. This is where you might be able to move to another country and work thanks to a sponsoring employer. After a number of years of living and working there, some countries will allow you to apply for permanent residency and, later on, citizenship.
It is common for Britons to use this path to secure dual citizenship in countries such as America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The third route is called “citizenship by investment”. This isn’t an option for those trying to get citizenship in Britain, but other countries – such as Malta and Cyprus – allow you to obtain citizenship by making a significant investment into that country’s economy and infrastructure.
It’s predominantly limited to those with ultra-high net worths, however. Ms Nilson said: “Such investment is typically in the hundreds of thousands of pounds – and for some countries, in excess of £1m.”
The Irish path
Post-Brexit, many Britons looked to their closest neighbour as a way to maintain easier access to the EU.
From 2011 to 2021, the number of UK residents holding an Irish passport increased six-fold, with 64,000 British citizens applying for an Irish passport in the year after the Brexit referendum.
There are two main ways to get Irish citizenship: descent or naturalisation.
To claim Irish dual citizenship by descent, one of your grandparents has to have been born on the island of Ireland, or one of your parents needs to have been an Irish citizen at the time of your birth.
If this is the case, you will first need to register your birth in the Foreign Births Register. This requires documenting your descent from either an Irish-born grandparent or a parent who is an Irish citizen.
It is likely that you will also need to provide your birth certificate, as well as the birth certificates and passports of your grandparents or parents.
If you wish to become an Irish dual citizen through naturalisation, you need to spend at least four years living there, with one year being immediately before you apply. If you marry an Irish citizen, this requirement drops to needing to live there for at least three of the past five years.
You also need to be 18 or over, and be of “good character”.
There’s no hard and fast rules about what qualifies here, but the Garda Síochána (Ireland’s national police) have to provide a report detailing your criminal record, any driving offences, ongoing investigations or pending criminal cases, and any cautions or civil cases you may be involved with.
This is all taken into account as part of your citizenship application.
Looking across the pond
Some 56,200 British citizens were also American citizens in 2021 – the most common country with which to have a joint passport, according to the ONS – despite the fact that securing a dual citizenship is usually a long and drawn-out process.
“British citizens have to follow the complex and archaic US immigration system,” said Ms Watson. “Acquiring US citizenship is not a quick, easy or one-step process.”
First, you need to obtain legal permanent residence status, otherwise known as a “green card”.
The most common way to do this is through a temporary work visa, although British citizens are also eligible for the Treaty Investor visa, which allows you to start a business in America.
Once you have held a green card for five years – or three years if you’re married to an American citizen – you are eligible to apply for US citizenship.
As well as all of the above, you also need to be at least 18 years old, have paid US taxes while you were a green card holder, demonstrate that you were in the US for at least 30 months before filing the application, have good “moral character” (this is based on the period you hold a green card, where assessors will check whether you have any serious criminal charges), and pass a written and verbal English test.
