Dual nationality

[gildalilly]

I'm thinking about applying for dual nationality for UK and Italy. I was wondering if anybody else has done this and for which countries. Also, any advice on possible pitfalls or irritations in the process would be welcome too.

Both DH and I hold dual nationalities for different countries, so technically our children are eligible for four different passports.

Cost is also a factor as well as time without passports. DH’s ones have a weird quirk of him not being able to run for MP(!) but somehow I don’t think that will be an issue

I have duel Irish British citizenship. I am from NI. DC all have both too. We lived in GB for most of the last 20 years but returned to NI 2 years ago. DH is English but can apply for Irish citizenship and passport once we have lived here 3 years because he is married to an Irish citizen. My application and the applications for the DC were straightforward, but DH’s will be more complicated, lengthy and expensive. Totally worth it though - this is our home. I consider myself more Irish than British and am considering not renewing my British passport when it runs out next year.

Oh my! Autocorrect fail there! DUAL not DUEL! I’m not about to count ten paces and turn!

Following on from what @BalaamsAss said, if your kids are eligible for citizenship it is often much easier and cheaper to sort it while they are under 18.

Also many citizenships are “by descent”. Ireland for example, if you are an irish citizen when your children are born they are eligible for citizenship too. It can’t be applied retrospectively, if you aren’t a citizen before they are born the descent is lost.

So by registering your kids your grandchildren will keep dual citizenship, and so on.

As pp mentioned check national service rules for Italy.
I knew someone with Italian dad/grandad(?)- he did not have Italian citizenship himself. He went to italy on holiday and second night the authorities turned up at the hotel to take him off fir national service. In their eyes he was Italian ( by lineage). He didn't even speak italian. It was all sorted out in the end but worth checking what current rules are that nay affect you/children so you can work around them.

I've got Mexican, British (naturalised) and claim to Israeli. No downsides at all!

National service in Italy is not mandatory any more!

OP I am Irish and have Italian citizenship through marriage. It was a very long, very paperwork heavy process. It took 4 years altogether with many many requests for this paperwork and that paperwork. I applied through the Italian embassy in Dublin and despite that it was through a foreign based embassy everything had to be translated into Italian and notarised. I am Irish so technically didn’t need another European citizenship but I wanted it. Good luck!

Oh and to add, there are strict rules about registering where you live with the AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani all’Estero) foreign registry. It’s the law that you have to register where you live if you are an Italian citizen living outside Italy.

@LongPauseNoAnswer thanks, that's really helpful to know. I noticed all the paperwork was in Italian and I have translated that back to English but it hadn't crossed my mind that I'd need to do it back to Italian, so that's a good tip. Thanks. I think I'll do my sons at the same time as me from what you're saying about timescales. Thanks so much. This is so useful.

Good luck OP. I'm in the process of this for my kids too -- I have UK/ Irish citizenship, but because it never occurred to me to sort out my Irish paperwork before having my DC they're not eligible, as PP said.

Their Italian is on my XH's side, but I'm doing it all as he and his family aren't interested. My 17 year old and I are working on it together: we're currently seeking a birth certificate deep in a village archive. I've ended up getting an agency on board for this part, and they've been great so far. If and when we find it then we're good to go.

Fingers crossed for all of us, and good luck with your application!

Good luck OP! Dual nationality is great, there is always a valid passport in the house even when you've forgotten to renew the other

Agree that it's easier to apply for the children's before they turn 18. One of my nationalities I didn't apply for until I was 17, and good thing I did it then, because a few months later they would've made me take language and cultural knowledge exams and the paperwork would've doubled. That's for the country I did all my schooling in btw, and got 9.5/10 for both local languages' final exams. Why turning 18 would mean I suddenly can't speak the languages is still a mystery to me!

@bluebluezoo thanks, I didn’t realise that. I must have applied for them both at the same time then (from NI, so took my birth certificate with me too) and not realised 😂

thanks, I didn’t realise that. I must have applied for them both at the same time then (from NI, so took my birth certificate with me too) and not realised 😂

It depends 😂. My dad was Irish born and bred, so I am automatically a citizen and don’t need to apply for citizenship. I can rock up at the embassy and apply for my passport at any time.

If you’re resident in NI you may also have citizenship already? Which is why you could get a passport without applying for citizenship.

I was not born in Ireland, so my kids aren’t automatically citizens. Before they can get passports they need citizenship- which basically means they get an Irish birth certificate through the Foreign Births Register, which can only be done by post..

@Ozgirl75

My family are dual citizens of U.K. and Australia. I can’t see any pitfalls really. We just have two passports.

You may find you are forever replacing passports if you have kids with dual nationality. 5 years comes round quickly and you end up with them all finishing at different times. Becomes expensive. And they technically can’t enter Aust as Australian citizens on a British passport.

I'm British and I live in Italy and am going through the process.
I'm doing it through residence (official fiscal residence, not just being here since 1994) and being married to an Italian so some of the stuff I need to do are different but some is still the same.
You definitely need:
Your own birth certificate
Your patents' birth certificates and (possibly) marriage certificates, their identity cards and codice fiscale if they are in Italy.
Same for your grandparents (especially relevant if your parents moved to the UK)

I also have to have a language test but that may not be in the descent via grandparents clause.

Don't ever pay an immigration /nationality agency. They are the immigration version of the ambulance chaser. (I used to work in nationality at the Home Office before I came here)

Our kids are trinationals (UK/Luxembourg/US). Keeping everyone's passports straight and up to date is a ball ache as you must enter the us on your American passport and enter the U.K. on your British passport. It gives the kids lots of options for the future and us frankly. US taxes are a complete nightmare and lots of high earners give up their passport if they don't intend to return.

@FraughtwithGin

I have dual British/German nationality. Various friends have dual British/Italian/German/Irish nationality. We all applied as a result of Brexit. The process was not complicated or overly bureaucratic (which was a surprise), however, I am not sure whether the simplicity will change after the transition period is over.

Hi @FraughtwithGin Can I ask about this? I have a German parent, and looked into dual citizenship many years ago, but gave up; I think due to my age. Did you find there was an age cut off? I haven't ever lived in Germany either, so it could have been that, mind you.

@BSJohnson
Well my application was based on years of living in Germany plus my late husband was German.
There were a few criteria that I met, but one of the most important was belonging to an EU member nation (at the time) and this allowed me to keep both nationalities.
As far as I know there is no age restriction, in fact my age actually meant that I did not need to provide any proof of ability in the German language or do the multiple-choice citizenship test. That was a shame as I am extremely fluent and had been getting 100% in the online practice tests.
Do you know if your German parent registered your birth in Germany?
I believe there are also special rules around "displaced" persons. The parents of a friend were German jews, left the country the the 1930s and became British, but he was able to get dual nationality with minimal difficulty.
The link should clarify.
www.bva.bund.de/SharedDocs/Kurzmeldungen/DE/Buerger/Ausweis-Dokumente-Recht/Staatsangehoerigkeit/Sonstige_Meldungen/DoppelteStaatsbuergerschaft.html

Really helpful - thanks @FraughtwithGin !