Easiest European Country to obtain Citizenship?? (transfer, live, military)

[WentAway]

Hello to all,

Does anyone have any knowledge and/or experience concerning which European Country would be the best bet for a U.S. Citizen to attempt to obtain citizenship for the sole purpose of being able to move about in the EU?

I would like to move to France, but do not want to be hiding out playing the expired visa game.


Much thanks to anyone willing to offer advice.

[Bob-666]

For the UK, obtaining citizenship takes 3 years if you marry a British citizen or 6 years if you have a work permit. Each European country has it's own unique rules and they change frequently - could take a lot of research to find the quickest !

[lndigo]

If you're an American or from a Commonwealth country, perhaps the U.K. is more lenient. I know that I can get citizenship in Spain much faster than most as a Mexican national (two years as opposed to ten).

[Chava61]

I think it is hard to obtain citizenship for an EU country for an American.

[jja100]

Originally Posted by Chava61

I think it is hard to obtain citizenship for an EU country for an American.

It depends... if you don't have European blood they are all difficult. My father is Italian so I have automatic citizenship but I never applied for their passport because I never wanted to do their military service. Europe is not like the US. It has nothing to do with where you are born, only who your born from.

Do you have any relatives up to grandfather or great grandfather that are European?

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by jja100

It depends... if you don't have European blood they are all difficult. My father is Italian so I have automatic citizenship but I never applied for their passport because I never wanted to do their military service. Europe is not like the US. It has nothing to do with where you are born, only who your born from.

Do you have any relatives up to grandfather or great grandfather that are European?

Even if you have a European grandfather, you don't always automatically get citizenship. My grandfather was born in Belgium but I am not eligible for citizenship as this was mother's father and people born before a certain year (like me) are only eligible for citizenship if it on the father's side of the family (meaning this was the situation before they changed the law to include both sexes but change in law only permits daughters to transfer citizenship to people born after a certain year!)

[MarcNZ]

Originally Posted by jja100

It depends... if you don't have European blood they are all difficult. My father is Italian so I have automatic citizenship but I never applied for their passport because I never wanted to do their military service.

My Grandfather is Italian so I have been looking into this recently myself. You might want to rethink applying for your Italian passport. Italy stopped compulsory military service in 2005.

Originally Posted by jja100

Europe is not like the US. It has nothing to do with where you are born, only who your born from.

Most European countries actually do consider place of birth to be more important than bloodline. Most will allow somebody to claim the citizenship of their parent (but even then, not always) but rarely further back and almost never beyond a Grandparent. Italy is quite unique in that it has no limit to the number of generations through which the claim can be made (provided it's the paternal line. There is a limit through the maternal line just like Chava61 mentioned about Belgium).

[Eduardo983]

The EU nationality or citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having an ancestor who is a national or citizen of any of the European countries. (Right of Euroblood)

Jus sanguinis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you are a U.S. American whose parents or grandparents are European, you may qualify to obtain the citizenship of your European ancestors.

There is no birthright citizenship in Europe. If you are born in Europe to non-European parents you can´t acquire the citizenship.

[MarcNZ]

Originally Posted by Eduardo983

The EU nationality or citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having an ancestor who is a national or citizen of any of the European countries. (Right of Euroblood)

Jus sanguinis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you are a U.S. American whose parents or grandparents are European, you may qualify to obtain the citizenship of your European ancestors.

There is no birthright citizenship in Europe. If you are born in Europe to non-European parents you can´t acquire the citizenship.

Those are some very broad claims. Europe is made up of many countries, each of which has their own set of laws regarding citizenship. You shouldn't generalise across all of Europe like that.

Just because somebodies parents are not European, does not automatically mean they can't acquire citizenship.

The UK for example requires that one of the parents be settled in the UK at the time of birth (i.e. right of abode, indefinite leave to remain...). That does not mean they have to be European citizens, just legally allowed to be there indefinitely (equivalent to US legal permanent residency).

A person born in Belgium whose parents have lived there for at least 10 years by the childs 12 birthday can request the child be registered as a Belgian citizen.

France is similar, except it's age 13 if requested by the parents and 16 if requested by the person themselves.

I'm sure there are many other examples we could find, but those are the one's I know about right now which show that the child of non-European parents CAN acquire citizenship based on their place of birth in certain circumstances.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by WentAway

Hello to all,

Does anyone have any knowledge and/or experience concerning which European Country would be the best bet for a U.S. Citizen to attempt to obtain citizenship for the sole purpose of being able to move about in the EU?

I would like to move to France, but do not want to be hiding out playing the expired visa game.


Much thanks to anyone willing to offer advice.

I'll tell ya what the easiest way is if you’re single!

I have a EU citizenship and I rot in the US (seemed like a good idea at the time... ). You and I get married and you get it, too. However, you'll have to take care of me in France. Hurry up ‘cause rumor has it I might have to give up one citizenship and at this point I don’t know which one!

Joke aside, unless you have a job offer, I don't quite see this happening... Isn't life grand.?! Evidently, you can make it in Europe, but can't go... I have the citizenship, but can't make it there...