Trials and Tribulations of Triple Citizenship
As I’m getting ready to acquire US citizenship, a coworker of mine made a comment in passing about how I will now be able to travel anywhere in the world without issues or visas. My instant reaction was to just say ‘yeah, that’d be great’, but it got me thinking. How many proverbial doors will open to me when I acquire US citizenship?
As anyone who has dual citizenship, I get to enjoy the benefits of swapping my passport when entering other countries to avoid having to apply for visas (or in some cases, a lower priced visa cost). I (and by marriage, Jon) get to enjoy skipping the lengthy non-EU line whenever we visit Europe, just like we both get to go through the Mercosur lines when visiting many countries in South America. When I get back home, I get to use Global Entry as I’ve been a resident in the US for over 5 years.
Passport and Visa Pages
Bot now, as I’m getting closer to taking my US citizenship tests, I’ll join a somewhat more select group of people who get to have triple citizenship. It’s not a very usual occurrence since some countries do not allow for dual citizenship, let alone triple. But the more I kept thinking about its benefits – beyond being able to vote in US elections – the more I realized there aren’t a lot of places I can’t currently access visa-free that I’ll be able to visit after.
According to Passport Index, as an Italian I am able to access 119 countries visa-free, which is more than the 112 countries American passport holders can visit without a visa. As an Argentine, I have access to 105 countries visa-free, which is still just seven fewer than with an American passport. So if we add all the countries I’m allowed to visit visa-free as an Italian plus the delta of those I get to visit as an Argentine, the Italo-Argentine tally goes up to 123.
Once I become American (or Italo-Argentine-American…), I’ll only be adding Canada, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea to this list for a total of 126 countries without ever having to apply for a tourist visa. As for the countries that offer visa on arrival, eVisa, or eTA, my count goes from 45 countries for Italy, 52 countries for Argentina to… 53 countries for United States. That’s not bad at all, but also certainly isn’t as life altering as everyone keeps telling me.
Unione Europea – Repubblica Italiana
On the other hand, when Jon gets his Italian citizenship via marriage to me, he will add Bolivia, Brazil, Gambia, Paraguay, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Venezuela and Vietnam to the list of countries he can visit as an Italian-American.
Pros
Having said that, I do understand the fringe benefits of multiple citizenships when visiting other countries. It would never in a million years occur to me to use an American passport to check into a hotel in Russia, or to use my Argentinian passport when traveling to the Falkland Islands. Nationalities have a way of projecting an image that invokes certain feelings in other people, and if given the chance, I’d like to avoid awkward circumstances.
Another great benefit is the ability to visit countries and get stamped on different passports. Say I wanted to go to both Israel and Iran. It would probably save me a lot of heartburn if I were to keep those stamps in different passports.
Same goes for losing your passport or having it stolen when you’re abroad. I always travel with both my passports and keep them separate so that if something happens to one, I’m not stuck somewhere else waiting for an Embassy to issue an emergency passport on a weekend or some other nightmare scenario.
Cons
As for downsides of holding multiple citizenships, one of them has to be being detained by US Customs and Immigration a few times while coming back home to explain why I’m holding multiple passports with mismatching names – something CBP agents should at this point not be surprised with at all (yes, you can have different names in different countries). And I have even had to explain in my very rustic Italian why my Italian is very rustic when visiting Italy (no, not all Italians speak Italian).
In other cases, having multiple citizenships might imply having to pay taxes in more than one jurisdiction, or being conscripted by more than one country’s military. In my particular case this is of no concern to me mostly because none of these countries have mandatory service and I’m no longer in a draft age.
Conclusion
While I’m looking forward to my citizenship ceremony, and albeit with a somewhat bittersweet feeling given the current state of affairs, I am a bit disappointed that the travel related benefits I will get out of this will be rather marginal. At least I paid the $725 application fee with my credit card and got some miles out of it…
September 12, 2018
As a US citizen, you have to file and pay taxes regardless of where you live in the world, forever. That means double taxation in some cases, and it makes it impossible to plan for deductions, retirement, etc. In addition, all international financial institutions are required to provide a full report of all of your accounts annually to the US government or face a massive fine. And so instead of doing this, they just don’t service US citizens, regardless if you are a citizen of their country. Which means you might not be able to get a house loan, or even a bank account, in another country. It’s called FATCA. That is why a record number of dual US Citizens are renouncing their citizenship.
September 12, 2018
Absolutely. I just didn’t include this “benefit” because I’ll be a US citizen living in the US – at least for now, but it is a great point to mention for anyone not in my circumstances.
September 12, 2018
@ Ben — Don’t let the current state of affairs dampen your enthusiasm. The jerks in charge won’t last forever. At least you will be able to vote and help boot them out of office!
September 12, 2018
Agreed, that’s what I keep reminding myself every day, Gene!
September 12, 2018
Hi Ben, congrats on your blog and all the great info. Keep it up!
I am currently in a very similar situation as you, Latino Jus-solis, German Jus-sanguinis with U.S residency, but I am refrained from acquiring the U.S citizenship as I will loose my EU (German) Citizenship for doing so. I was wondering, how did you bypass this issue?
Best Regards!
September 12, 2018
Thanks Oscar! I’m not entirely sure how German citizenship works, but I was under the impression that both countries allowed for dual citizenship (I have a few acquaintances that are German-Americans). You should reach out to your German consulate to get more info and then let me know because I’m curious now
September 13, 2018
Every European country is different. Germany indeed does not allow you to keep your German citizenship if you are naturalized in another country (as I recall).
September 13, 2018
Ben, I believe German and Italian laws are very similar if not the same regarding loss of citizenship from naturalisation. I was told once, that there might be a special permission you can request from the government (based on certain criteria) in order to maintain the EU passport while naturalising in another country. You should look into this before you finalise your process. Let us know if everything went well. Would help a lot of people I know in the same situation.
December 7, 2019
Hi Ben and Oscar,
For a long time Germany did not allow dual citizenship at all. My children were born in the US where we live and are American. They are also German by their father who kept his green card status to not loose his German citizenship.
Back then they would have had to choose between US or German citizenship by the age of 18. But the German law changed when they were little allowing them to keep the German citizenship because they were born with it (thru their father). To my knowledge the birth right is the only way.
I am French and France allows dual citizenship. So our children are also French by birth and thus holds the 3 nationalities: US, German, and French
December 8, 2019
Gotta love having that EU Citizenship! Congrats 🙂
September 12, 2018
I have US and Malaysian citizenship — the latter ranks as the most powerful non-Western aligned country, so I enjoy visa and reciprocity free travel to much of South America, eastern Africa, and Central Asia.
Until a few years ago, North Korea, Syria, and Libya were visa free; Cuba, Sudan, Yemen, and Iran still are, though.
September 12, 2018
Nice! That’s a nice combo you have going on!
September 12, 2018
I thought Malaysia didn’t recognise dual citizenship? So if they find out you also hold US citizenship they’ll require you to renounce either your Malaysian or US citizenship.
September 13, 2018
Due to the pain of FATCA compliance there are many financial institutions outside the US that wont do business with American citizens. I have American friends who have had a lot of trouble even just trying to open a checking account in Europe and Asia.
September 13, 2018
The question is, if and when you need diplomatic help abroad, whom would you trust to be more effective, your U.S. embassy or the Italian one? It is my understanding that U.S. does not look kindly on dual citizens entering the country on another passport and then needing help. I believe that while not forbidden, U.S. does not recognize such a thing as dual citizenship
September 13, 2018
I would trust any embassy that could provide me with assistance, and if I have many to resort to, all the better. I have had nothing but excellent experiences with my current consulates while in the US, and I’ve been lucky enough not to need urgent assistance when abroad. I wouldn’t think it made any difference what passport you enter a country when you present yourself at an embassy, especially if countries have dual citizenship agreements.
September 16, 2018
The Italian passport is NOT red covered
September 16, 2018
It’s burgundy, it shows different in pictures depending on the lighting 🤷🏻♂️
December 25, 2018
Congrats on getting your US Citizenship! I didn’t know you were from Argentina. I lived in Argentina for 8 years and have my permanent residency there. Like you, I could get a passport there and full citizenship but I didn’t see any reasons or benefits so far to get it. Maybe in the future I will. My kids were born in Buenos Aires so they have full citizenship there and passports from Argentina and they got US Citizenship as I’m American.
Their Argentine passport is good to visit Mercosur countries easily. But beyond that not much benefit. The US passport is much more valuable. But I think an EU passport is the best one to have and the strongest out there.
Good luck on the test Ben!
December 26, 2018
Thanks, Mike! I do see the value of my AR passport mostly in that it would allow me to visit certain countries that either the US or other countries frown upon (think Iran, Russia, Syria). Beyond that, it saves me from having to apply for Mercosur countries’ visas. As for the US passport, I haven’t used it much since I got it as I have mostly visited Europe, in which case I enter with my EU passport. It never hurts to have options!
August 11, 2019
Hola Ben! Mi situación es similar a la tuya: aunque viví casi mi vida en Argentina, tengo un pasaporte de Estados Unidos por haber nacido ahí y otro de Italia por mis abuelos. Este año finalmente me decidí a pedir la nacionalidad argentina (lo que es muy fácil porque mi familia es aquí y, como decía, llevo toda mi vida en este país), con lo que voy a tener tres pasaportes.
Según tengo entendido, y me lo reafirman tus comentarios, esto no supondría ningún problema. Sé que para Estados Unidos da lo mismo cuantas nacionalidades tengas, para ellos seguirás siendo estadounidense. Y supongo que será lo mismo con los italianos, aunque de esto no estoy cien por ciento seguro. Vos que pensás?
un abrazo!
August 11, 2019
Sinceramente no estoy muy seguro, ya que vos te estarías naturalizando argentino. No sé si al ser así funciona diferente, pero es algo que ambos consulados italiano y estadounidense seguro van a poder decirte. Contame cuando sepas porque me intriga mucho. Saludos!
August 11, 2019
Bueno, creo que en estos casos el secreto es no preguntar en los consulados. Los burócratas tienen el no fácil. 🙂
Te cuento cuando haya novedades. Saludos!
October 25, 2019
Hi Ben,
I have Cuban citizenship by birth, Canadian by naturalization and in about 1 year I could become an American citizen. I’ve heard some stories of people saying USCIS has asked them to renounce one of the two previous citizenships when naturalizing as a US citizen and I’ve also heard it’s totally fine to have all 3.
Have you heard anything about it?
Thanks in advance.
October 25, 2019
Hey Leo. I have heard of this, but my understanding is that it’s dependent on your specific citizenships as countries have different agreements between one another. You should check with your consulates to find out if they’re ok with double citizenship with the other countries
October 25, 2019
Thanks!
January 22, 2020
Can somebody help me? I was born in Colombia and have US citizenship as well, my grandma was Italian, so now I have the chance to apply for an Italian Passport. Does US government allow triple nationality? Thanks!
January 23, 2020
You’ll have to consult with an immigration lawyer, Sebastian. Compatibility depends on what citizenships you hold and whether those countries have bilateral agreements to allow other concurrent citizenships. I do have triple citizenship so it is allowed, but it will depend on your particular combination of countries.
July 29, 2020
What’s funny is I am a triple citizen (born in the UK, naturalized in Canada, by marriage in America). My children are also triples since they get it by birth. BUT, I don’t use my passports to enter other countries for any reason other than shortened lines. I like having VISAs in my passport to remind me of places I’ve visited. It is a hard sell to get other countries to stamp a passport that doesn’t need to be stamped but I can usually get them to do it. I have been detained by US Customs and Immigration in Dallas before, but now I have a Global Entry card I don’t get bothered at all and just breeze through. The only issue I’ve had in years is that the Czech Republic refused to let me in without showing my UK passport (and luckily I had it on me). They somehow had a record that I was a triple citizen (without me ever having been there before) and demanded to see that passport upon entry at the Prague airport (Jan 2020). I was quite surprised having never had that happen before.
What I really enjoy is that I can return to any of my ‘home’ countries and immediately take up life as though I’d never left. I appreciate that feeling of being accepted.
Now I just need France to grant me citizenship as I spend so much time there! (Of course it’ll never happen since I don’t live there full time and it is notoriously hard to get citizenship in France!)
September 28, 2020
Thanks for the post. Very useful information for me. I am born in Canada of an American mother and British father, currently living in the US and hold my US and UK passports. I let my Canadian passport expire, thinking it would be the easiest to get back and as I was concerned of holding three passports – mostly in fear of US Customers. But it sounds likes its fine to have all three passports if those three countries allow.
I’m curious, however. When you travel, you leave and enter countries on different passports? That’s allowed? I just assumed that you had to start and finish a trip on the same passport.