Being a duel citizen...

[Truestar8]

Is being a dual citizen a position or a negative. For example, holding a British passport and a American passport? I'm thinking being a dual citizen would give more opportunities and choices in life.

What are your thoughts?

I’m a dual citizen. I don’t necessarily see it as a positive or negative. I’d happily give up my US citizenship but dc are also dual citizens so makes sense to keep it in case they decide to go travelling or go to uni there.

You don’t have to pay US taxes unless earning over the threshold, but you are still meant to file every year, which is pain and costs like £500 unless you have quite straightforward finances. I personally haven’t filed US taxes in probably 10 years. I just can’t be asked.

My kids are duel and it's been nothing but good for them.

I take the point a pp made about which country you are talking about - my kids have Australian passports.

In general it's a positive thing but for example if you have US citizenship you have to file a tax return to the US every year. If you earn below a certain amount and have paid tax in the UK, you may not have to actually pay US taxes, bit you still have to file the return which can be a real pain.

Fucking autocorrect. My kids are not at Hogwarts. They do not duel, as far as I am aware.

I'm very grateful for mine after the Conservtive government passed a law allowing them to strip British people of their Citizenship without notice.

Re the dual USA/UK situation. You do not pay double tax as there is a reciprocal agreement in place. It does mean filing a tax return, though. (AFAIK, Boris was not doing the paperwork as required which is what tripped him up.). You need to be careful to enter each country on "their" passport, eg don’t nip over to the USA for a holiday and come back to the UK where you reside permanently on an American passport for both legs of the journey.

I wouldn't want US citizenship due to the crazy tax laws.

If you have an opportunity to become a citizen of an EU country without giving up your UK citizenship, I would grab it with both hands.

Er, they can only do that to you because you have another citizenship! If you didn't, they wouldn't be able to.

I think it's useful having an EU and a UK passport (living in the UK) as long as the EU country doesn't operate national service and there aren't exemptions you can take advantage of! If it did, you'd have to take a view on whether losing a year of your life to military or other service was worth it for the advantages of EU citizenship.

But for the countries that don't have national service or some other odd rules like the US tax ones, it would a no-brainer for me.

Mine (UK/EU) has been very helpful. It's allowed my husband (UK passport only) and I to both move to the EU. As the spouse of an EU-citizen DH can live here without having to meet any other conditions/immigration rules, and after 5 years he can also apply for an EU passport.

I'm originally from the EU, but having applied for a UK passport after the Brexit vote also means that we can move back to the UK at any point without difficulty if we wish.

Depends on where you are actually.

Some countries in the EU have recently tightened up on allowing dual citizenship (or not allowing it) so you need to check which country and what is required. I don't rent my property (inherited) from another EU country but I think if I did I would have to pay tax in UK; the US one is well known. In general, it's a 'good thing' but it does depend on country and tax obligations.

Take a look at the US tax reason why Boris Johnson and many others renounced their dual US citizenship.

That's not true. They can do it if they suspect you may be entitled to dual citizenship. You don't have to have dual citizenship or even actually be entitled to it. As long as the British government thinks you might be, they can leave you stateless in a foreign country.

I have Canadian and EU, and live in the UK as a permanent resident (no pension/tax/any advantages to getting my citizenship in the UK, so I won't do it).

Both are useful, but I would never give up my Canadian citizenship. All are good for travel. My DD has all three.

It also makes a difference how you get the nationality, so if you get it through birth, marriage or residency, so for example Spain does not allow dual citizenship if you get Spanish nationality through residency, you would have to renounce your British passport, I have a feeling Germany might be the same, you need to check depending on the status of the person and how they obtain it.

I have three (UK/Australia/Germany) and it's very useful.

I think UK and US passports are same thing now. It's better to have UK or US and EU.

I’m both us/Uk. You only pay tax to the us if you earn over £110k (which I don’t) it something and it’s very low. Sometimes selling property can cause issues due
toctue capital gains tax I think - Boris had this issue recently. But my house would never reach the threshold heh.
It helped me study abroad in the states and get u.s. student loan schemes. Downside is I have to fill taxes every year (to say I don’t pay anything) to keep it valid and 0 amount due - I live in Uk so it’s a pain but easy to do. Other than that, the only benefit is I don’t need and esta to enter the country when visiting. There are countries I’m scared to go (like Russia pre- Ukraine invasion to do transiberian railway) inxcase I taken as a political hostage - even if entering on Uk visa, or accused of being a spy 😂 I’m scared I wouldn’t declare the citizenship right or something and go to jail. Far fetched but stuff like that has happened 😂 especially if those other countries don’t have a dual citizenship system. Equally though, if I’m abroad and needed consular assistance somehow I could use the us embassy. Unless you spend significant time in the us though or the rest of your family are I wouldn’t bother.
I’ve had mine since childhood due to a parent being from the states. I’d pick UK if I had to pick and view my U.S. passport as nice extra due to birth. I don’t view myself as from there or that sentimental about it and if was too much trouble to keep up Ill let it go. But I loves the states, mostly and like I have that heritage. But it doesn’t particularly benefit me or my daughter/DH. Unless I had to flee in a war situation or something probably!

One downside is that if you have dual nationality with another country and get into trouble, say with the law in that second country, then the British Foreign Office will not come to your aid, apparently.

It depends on the nationalities.

• I would not want dual UK-US nationality due to the tax implications.


• I would want dual UK-EU nationality for the FOM benefits.

DP has dual EU-UK nationalities. It doesn't cause any extra ongoing complications, and whilst it was a lot more complicated and expensive than going the EUSS route after Brexit it does have the benefits of a physical document, voting rights, etc.

Very much depends on the nationality. I'm working on an EU passport for me and the kids at the moment, as that will make our lives much easier in the future.

Only if you are in a country where you hold citizenship. So if you are a dual US/UK citizen and you get in trouble in the US, the UK won't help. If you're in Australia, then they would.

I have dual nationality (Irish/ British) and hold both passports. We are intending to sell up here and move to France and feel very lucky still to be an EU citizen and able to do that. DH also has dual nationality (French/British) but needs to renew his French passport.

UK/USA is not great for tax reasons. I my case, I didn't give my son a few possible ones due to compulsory military service that he would have to undertake e.g. Russia or Israel if he ever went back. So I would say, dual citizenship is sometimes lovely but not always.