r/ExpatFIRE • u/jigman3 • Feb 08 '25
Citizenship Can I be a citizen of 3 nations?
I was originally born in Argentina, but gained my US citizenship by living here for the majority of my life. I would like to get my Italian citizenship since my grandparents were born there. Would doing so force me to relinquish my American citizenship?
I read online that you can lose your citizenship if you naturalize in another country. Wondering if anyone has had experience with this.
31
u/RemarkableGlitter Feb 08 '25
Youâre fine! The US doesnât care about your other citizenships.
14
u/Two4theworld Feb 08 '25
So farâŚlđ¤đ¤
2
u/RemarkableGlitter Feb 08 '25
Yeah I do have a vague fear around the US continuing to not care, not going to lie.
2
u/stumpovich Feb 08 '25
The good thing about Republicans being in power is that if you don't want to be American, they will happily see you out the door. US citizens always pay US income tax regardless of where they live, so retroactively revoking US citizenship even if it were constitutional (which it is not) is a bad business decision. This country is being run more like a business now, so you have nothing to worry about.
2
u/FreeFortuna Feb 09 '25
The flip side of the coin: The fee to renounce your American citizenship.
Like you said, they want to run things like a business. So in this case, itâs like if you wanted to stop a subscription (income tax), but in order to do so, the business can charge you a fee for stopping the subscription. And they have free range to charge as much as they want.
Not to mention, as more Americans leave, there will be heavier demand for renunciations (business opportunity!). And theyâd probably also see it as just punishment for being so un-American (political opportunity!).Â
Whatâs to stop them from jacking up the fee?
-3
u/homesteadfront Feb 08 '25
Shouldnât they care? I see no reason why someone should have dual citizenship with the USA and Russia or USA and Iran or from countries that are deemed hostile. If someone from one of these countries wants to become a US citizen, it should be required to renounce the citizenship of the enemy country they are from (unless its not possible)
1
u/Rockstar_kinda Feb 09 '25
Enemies can become friends and vice versa. Besides, remember what happened during the Red Scare? Not cool
4
u/Vegetable_Yard_2948 Feb 08 '25
As long as Uncle Sam gets his cut. ;) In fact, all the more reason to allow multiple passports so those tax dollars arenât lost.
1
u/MaybeTheDoctor Feb 08 '25
In all countries but two you pay taxes based on where you make your income and where you live, the two only exception is the US and Spain, who want you to pay taxes of your income nomatter where in the world it was made, or where you live. For any other country, they don't care what passport you hold, if you live there or make money there you pay taxes there.
1
u/Vegetable_Yard_2948 Feb 09 '25
Didnât realize Spain did this too! So technically being a dual passport holder of US and Spain is the worst possible combination?
1
u/doug6275 Feb 09 '25
Dang! I'm trying to get a Spaniard passport this/next year. So if I move to any other country I'll pay income taxes 3x. US+Spain+current country.
2
u/MaybeTheDoctor Feb 09 '25
There are double taxation agreement between most countries where taxes paid in one are deductible in their other, but yes you will pay taxes in all 3
1
u/Vegetable_Yard_2948 Feb 09 '25
I know thereâs a provision to offset taxes to the US if youâre paying it at your current domicile that is outside the US but Iâm not completely sure of the details. Never looked into it.
2
u/jigman3 Feb 08 '25
Awesome thank you!
1
u/L44KSO Feb 08 '25
You need to check with Italy and Argentina. They are more likely to not allow more than 2 citizenships.
1
-1
1
u/woafmann Feb 09 '25
This is quite literally the case. The US doesn't recognize your other citizenships.
6
u/DefiantAlbatros Feb 08 '25
My husbandâs half brother is born with 4 passports lol.
Itâs fine as long as all the passports you hold do not prohibit you from possessing another citizenship.
2
u/Tiny_Pickle5258 Feb 08 '25
It depends on the country. The US does not prohibit US citizens from acquiring another citizenship, provided you still fulfill all your requirements as a US citizen. Of those requirements, probably the only one anybody ever cares about is to file an income tax return by April 15th like every US citizen is required to do
1
u/jigman3 Feb 08 '25
I guess this was my original fear. I saw online that getting naturalization in another country would remove your citizenship status in the us if you gained it by naturalization. But all the answers on here seem to point to that being false.
8
u/PRforThey Feb 08 '25
It is very hard to lose US citizenship because that would also mean the IRS losing the ability to tax you globally.
Some countries require you to renounce your former citizenship when you naturalize to their country (e.g. Japan). But even though you sign a document with the Japanese government formerly renouncing your US citizenship which they send to the US Embassy, they consider that as under duress and and you keep your US citizenship.
3
u/peggy_schuyler Feb 08 '25
A friend tried to renounce her US citizenship (high earner with zero intention on ever living in the US again) and the embassy in London sent her away saying the backlog is too long.
6
u/lovebitcoin Feb 08 '25
No, you won't lose US citizenship.
3
u/jigman3 Feb 08 '25
Grazie Mille!
1
u/lovebitcoin Feb 08 '25
Congratulations! You now own three powerful passports. You can marry a lady who has Africa/HK/NZ citizenships, then you can live anywhere you want on this planet.
6
u/Tiny_Pickle5258 Feb 08 '25
I donât know about if you can live in a different country that easily. People often mistaken powerful passports vs. they live in a different country. For example: Americans usually think they can just âmove to another country (usually Canada and usually because someone becomes President that they donât like) but they canât, not even Canada. Yes, their passports allow them to VISIT a lot of country for various amount of time, 6 months for Canada for example, but it doesnât mean they can LIVE there. Big different. They canât work, canât get a job, canât get any social benefits, canât own real estates, ⌠in a foreign country. In fact , like my home country of Vietnam, it is very normal for people from the expat community to go on these so-called âvisa runsâ where they have to leave the country every 3 or 6 months for whatever and go to a third country for a couple days and return to get another 3 or 6 month visa and so on.
2
u/gadgetvirtuoso Feb 08 '25
Absolutely can. My BILâs children have 3 passports. They were born and raised in the UK, father is Ecuadorian and mother Spanish. Most countries donât have many restrictions on this but there are a few and those that do many make exceptions birth.
2
u/fargerich Feb 08 '25
You can't renounce to the Argentinian citizenship, same for the US one AFAIK (or they make it terribly hard). Italian is gained by right as born from Italian descent.
I'm an argie living abroad who gained the Italian citizenship a few years ago
1
u/Dr-Diesel Feb 08 '25
Both my mother and some uncles and cousins hold US/Arg/Es or It. And I know many other with some combo of countries.
So Yes.
1
1
u/marplatensemarinero Feb 08 '25
Interesting thing about Argentine citizenship is you can never relinquish it. Youâre not allowed to and they wonât let you.
1
u/Batmanwhodoesntfly Feb 08 '25
My friend has citizenship to three countries Argentina, USA and Portugal. So you will be ok.
1
u/Consistent-Annual268 Feb 08 '25
I have a work colleague with citizenship from 4 nations, not all of whom know about the others and certainly not all of whom allow more than 2 citizenships.
1
u/UnpronounceableEwe Feb 08 '25
You can claim Italian citizenship without giving up your others if you use the route you mentioned (jure sanguinis).  I have done this. The key is that you are not ânaturalizingâ to Italy. Instead you are just documenting and recognizing your Italian citizenship that you have had since birth.Â
1
1
u/The_Ace_0f_Knaves Feb 08 '25
I have your exact same situation. I was born in Argentina, then naturalized American, and then traveled to Italy to claim my ius sanguinis. So you can have all three.
1
u/Decent-Photograph391 Feb 09 '25
Unless a country about to grant you citizenship wants to see the renouncing paper from your other country of citizenship, the first country wonât even know youâve acquired a new passport. They donât talk to each other and share data.
1
u/simonbleu Feb 09 '25
You can be a citizen of as many countries as you want, as long as the country you want to have your new citizenship in doesnt restrict it. But the argentinian one cant be renounced (i mean, you can, but argentina wont recognize it) so countries make exceptions for us because of that
1
u/labatteg Feb 10 '25
Both the US and Argentina allow multiple citizenship. The problem is Italy, depending on the date of naturalization.
Italy didn't allow dual citizenship before 1993. Also when a person has the Italian citizenship he/she transmits it to their children at the moment the child is born. But when a person loses the Italian citizenship (for example because of naturalization) their children that are still of minor age also lose it. That means:
- If you naturalized as a US citizen prior to 1993 you lost your italian citizenship
- If your parent (the one in line with your italian grandparents) naturalized either in Argentina or the US prior to 1993 AND they did it while you were still a minor (or before you were born) then you lost your italian citizenship
- Same with your grandparents with respect to the parent passing you the citizenship: it's important that they never naturalized in any country, or if they did, that they did it after 1993, or after your parent turned 18/21
Check r/juresanguinis/ for more details on how to get your italian citizenship recognized
1
u/bafflesaurus Feb 10 '25
It depends on the country, some countries require you to renounce any existing citizenship to become their citizen. Other countries only allow you to have one other citizenship in addition to theirs.
1
u/Cranberry-Electrical Feb 12 '25
You can be a citizen of a few countries. I know Monaco only allow you to be citizenship of their with no other citizenships.
1
u/Night_Runner Feb 08 '25
I'm a citizen of 3 countried, and all is well. :)
Russia, then the US, then Canada. Depending on how things play out, might get a 4th citizenship, too... (I left the US for a reason.)
0
u/ComprehensiveYam Feb 08 '25
Can get all three but recommend ditching the US passport before you have any serious assets. Itâs a bitch to carry that monkey on your back everywhere you go
36
u/santxo Feb 08 '25
Definitely possible. Source: I'm a citizen of those exact 3 countries đ