Downsides to dual nationality?

[Useryuseryuser]

My kids have the chance to apply for dual nationality, the second country (other than the UK) being an EU country where a grandparent was born.

I can see that doing this might be really useful in giving them the chance to live, work and study in the EU.

Just wondering if there are any downsides or potential problems that we need to consider? They don't have to pay tax unless they live in the country for more than 50% of the time.

My kids have dual citizenship, (uk & Canada). I cant see any downsides. We had cause to need assistance recently and the British Consulate were fantastic.

Aww, that’s lovely to hear, @MrsTerryPratchett 🌿

@SparklingLime

Aww, that’s lovely to hear, *@MrsTerryPratchett* 🌿

I will always have a soft spot.

Kids and I have EU country/Aus, DH has UK/Aus. Kids would also be entitled to UK as born there but there is a limit to how many passports you need 😊 Have only ever seen the upsides.

Most Aussies are quite happy with our "stupidly draconian Covid lockdown laws" btw. Might have something to do with our National death rate still being well under 1000.

The consulates fighting thing. I have have two nationalities and when I actually needed one, the Kiwis, who are neither of my nationalities actually helped me when mine wouldn't.

Hooray - keep waving that fern

@Very - that’s not a problem with having dual citizenship though is it?
You can’t get back home because the airlines are charging a fortune, incoming numbers are capped and mandatory quarantine costs are about $2800.

Very I'm guessing your post is from personal experience and I'm sorry to hear of your family situation. I do hope you can get to see your parent soon.

Thank you to everyone who replied, a few things to check but it sounds like those with experience of dual nationality have found it to be a positive.

Surely you'll get more relevant answers if you are specific with regards to the country

As long as there’s no requirement to pay tax or do national service, it’s a good idea. No visas required for EU, jump the queue at Customs, get free healthcare in the EU, work and study in the EU if they want to.

@BinkyBoinky

I've heard that if you're in an international situation (ie arrested abroad) then your two countries can fight over who's responsible for getting you out. That could be a downside, but I guess it depends on the countries and their relationship with each other (and possibly the nature of your crime).

I'm not sure that's true. You can only enter a country using one passport, so surely if you were arrested abroad you'd apply for consular assistance from the country whose passport you were currently using? The other country of which you are a citizen wouldn't even need to know.

@Sarahpaula

I just read Michaella Mccollum's (the peru two drug smuggler's book), she has dual nationality, British and Irish, but only had an Irish passport at the time of her arrest, because it was easier to get an Irish passport.

She said that when she was arrested, the British embassy flew over to help Melissa Reid, but refused to help michaella because Michaella had an Irish passport.

A very unlikely scenario that you will need an embassy's help, but dual nationality can affect an embassy helping you

That's not so much the fact that she was a dual national, as that she had entered Peru on an Irish passport, presumably her choice. If she'd entered Peru using a British passport, I'm sure she would have received consular assistance from the British embassy regardless of the fact that she held another nationality.

@IcedPurple it is very difficult to get a british passport if you live in Ireland. I am the same as her.

I was born in England and then moved to Ireland as a child. I have an English father and an Irish mother. I have dual nationality and I am entitled to a British passport.

I tried to get a British passport while living in Ireland when I was 22, and it was absolutely impossible. They just asked for so many impossible things. Not only did they want proof of address for every stage of my life, they wanted letters from my doctor at every stage of my life to say that my doctor confirmed that I was living there.

I would have been registered with my family doctor in one area, but I went to college in a different area far away. So my doctor said that she couldn't confirm that I was there, because even though I was registered there, I never attended.

It was so impossible, and the passport process had so many other requests. I tried for six months to get a Uk passport, and then I gave up.

I applied for my Irish passport, and it just asked for my birth certificate, my parent's birth certificate, and my parent's marriage certificate. I got the Irish passport within three weeks.

Michaella Mccollul also said that she got the Irish passport, because it was so difficult yo get the UK one.

I literally think that it would take me years to get a UK passport - and I was born in England!

How does that make sense?

So I use my Irish passport. It was so much easier to get. You will hear that alot in Northern Ireland. Alot of people get the Irish passport, not for any reason other than it is much easier and quicker to get than the UK passport, and people need a passport to travel.

Michaella Mccollul also said that she got the Irish passport, because it was so difficult yo get the UK one.

But that's irrelevant to the point we're discussing.

The reason she didn't get British consular assistance was not because she was a dual national, as claimed above, but because she had entered Peru on an Irish passport.

@IcedPurple it is relevant, because the point I am making is that if you have dual nationality, you are often treated worse by your original country.

If I only had British nationality, I would have had a British passport by now. Because I am dual nationality, both British and Irish, they make it harder for me to have a British passport, in fact I found it impossible to get one.

Michaella did not get an Irish passport out of choice, she got it because it was too difficult for her to get a British passport.

I have dual nationality, but I might aswell hust have Irish, the UK does not treat me as being from the UK in most matters

I was born in england and I could not get a British passport.

Michaella was born in Northern ireland and ahe could not get a British passport.

They make the process very difficult if you have dual nationality as opposed to only British nationality.

@IcedPurple she didn't enter Peru on an Irish passport out of CHOICE.

Did you read her book? She said that she found it too difficult to get a British passport, so she got an Irish one.

My point is - that the U.K make things very difficult for people who have dual nationality. They do not really treat you as a U.K. Citizen

I have been told that having dual nationality (UK/EU) may hamper them getting some jobs that need really high level security clearances - apparently some are armed forces jobs. I have concluded that being eligible to work in the EU is a higher priority, so will be going ahead with dual citizenship for them.

That's really odd Sarahpaula. How long ago did you apply?

DH applied for British citizenship/passport when he already had two other nationalities. He didn't have to do any of that stuff with addresses or doctors. All he had to prove was that he had a British parent and her place of birth.

8My point is - that the U.K make things very difficult for people who have dual nationality. They do not really treat you as a U.K. Citizen*

I get it. You don't need to write 3 posts to tell me.

I think we're talking at cross purposes here. My point isn't about the alleged difficulty of obtaining a passport. It is that if you are a citizen of country X and Y, and enter country Z on passport X, you can't expect consular assistance from country Y if you get into trouble.

How is it hard to get a brutish passport if you're an NI resident. People I know in NI get a british one because it's cheaper and quicker.

May have to file taxes even if not resident, may have to take part in National Service. Can be pricey to ‘give up’ your citizenship too. Hugely dependent on the country.

You are misinformed @Useryuseryuser about the US. You are still liable for US taxes above certain thresholds. More important, FBARs be filed with the US treasury every year and FATCA applies as well.

Remember the US going after Boris Johnson in the sale of his house? From a US perspective he owed capital gains tax on its sale.

@MrsTerryPratchett

The consulates fighting thing. I have have two nationalities and when I actually needed one, the Kiwis, who are neither of my nationalities actually helped me when mine wouldn't.

a fern around.

Well, Kiwis are the best, obvs. (Am glad you got the help you needed.)

I have dual nationalities and it has never been an issue. Will have three when/if I finally get around to taking British citizenship too.

Definitely check out the benefits and responsibilities associated with their second nationality. My Kiwi one, for example, means I don't have to get a visa to visit Turkey while most other nationalities do.

My uncle was born in France with a French mother and British father, at a time when frenchwomen couldn't pass their nationality on to their children. In addition, his parents didn't register his birth with the British consulate in Paris, only with the mairie in the village. They left France after being offered a stay in a camp by the Germans. He was still a minor, so at 21 took British nationality and still holds a British passport. His parents returned to France on retirement. He feels French but wouldn't return to France as an adult as he saw no reason to do national service. He flew more than 30 missions with Bomber Command so felt he'd done his bit.

Also, as a retired taxi garage owner, having appealed to HMRC every year on principle as he didn't want to pay tax, and to piss off the French HMRC guy who didn't like him because my uncle's been trilingual since birth (English, French and Picard the local patois) and therefore his English was better, and he wouldn't speak French to help him out. He's not keen on paying extortionate French death duties either - up to 80% depending on the relationship to the deceased, paid by the legatees not the deceased as in the UK.

There are some problems with wills in some EU countries. I live in France and, as a British national I can write a will with free choice as to who benefits. A French citizen has, apart from a minimal amount, has to leave it to their children. So if someone has a child who is a violent, alcoholic, with possibly drug addiction they have an automatic legal entitlement to 'their' share. In the next 2 years I lose my right to vote in UK general elections, although my MP has promised the government had planned before Covid to abolish this loss of voting rights. My dd has psychological problems to the extent of thinking she was justified in trying to force me to commit suicide, knowing she was the beneficiary of a substantial life policy since cancelled. If by adopting French nationality I cannot write a will as a British national living in France this could, quite literally put my life in danger when elderly and frail