top of page
Leslie Ryan

Is Dual Citizenship for You?



A friend of mine just asked me what there was to know about being a citizen of both the US and Ireland, after seeing some ads on Facebook. Now, that's a great question I thought to myself!


There are several countries that allow dual citizenship for US citizens:

Armenia Australia Barbados Belgium Bangladesh Canada

Czech Republic Cyprus Denmark Egypt France Finland Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Iraq Israel Italy Kenya Lebanon Malta Mexico Pakistan Philippines Poland Portugal Serbia Sierra Leone Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Syria Thailand Tonga Turkey United Kingdom


passport covers

Why would you want dual citizenship? If you travel between two countries often, it would ease your passage between those two countries. It might be a source of pride for you and your family as well. There may be some taxation complications where you might have to pay taxes in two countries. Should your other country go to war, you may be required to renounce your US citizenship or even enlist in the armed forces! You should check with an attorney and/or a CPA before diving in too deep.


Ireland is on the list for dual citizenship, so what do we need to be granted Irish citizenship? There is a list of all of the complicated ways you can obtain Irish citizenship depending on your parents' births and your grandparents' births that you can see here: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/irish_citizenship/foreign_births_register.html#l552c3


Map of Ireland

My friend had an Irish grandparent so she should be in! We just need to prove it!


She gave me her grandparents' names and where the family was told they were born. I knew that they had immigrated to New York City, but I did not have their exact dates. The research took a little longer to get those basics, but I had great luck with this family!


Citizenship declaration 1941


I found Grandpa's Declaration of Intention to become a US Citizen on Ancestry. You should be able to click on it and expand the image.


We learn he was born in Cork, Ireland and his wife was born in Scotland. Turns out Grandma always said she was Irish, born in Ireland and moved to Scotland as a child. Interesting!


We learn where they are living, when they arrived in the US, and that they had two children at this time.



Declaration of Intent

Then I was able to find Grandma's Declaration of Intention, and it had her picture on it! Bonus! She says she was born in Glasgow, Scotland, she arrived in New York in April 1930, and then married Grandpa in January 1931.


Further examination of documents available on Ancestry reveal Grandpa was really born in Birr, Ireland which is in County Offaly, and not in Cork. Maybe it was just easier to say "Cork" than explain where the little bitty town of Birr was?



When Grandma got off the ship Cameronia, she told the Ellis Island people she was born in the village of Coatbridge, Glasgow County. Her mother was her nearest relative back home, Isabella Kane. Immediate question, why is her mom using her maiden name? Another mystery to explore. Her relative she is meeting in the US is her HALF-SISTER? This is who she moves in with before she gets married the next January. Another mystery to look into!


This was great treasure trove of documents that were easily found on Ancestry. My friend needs to get a copy of her mom's birth certificate from New York to prove she is the direct descendant of Grandpa, the Irishman, and she can pursue her dual citizenship. I feel a trip to Ireland and Scotland coming on for her!


This was a lot of fun to look up, and I have built her a great beginning tree in Ancestry for her to add the rest of her aunts, uncles, great-grandparents, etc. She had started her research at FamilySearch.org but I had better and faster luck finding documents at Ancestry in this case. MyHeritage had a few matching surname trees, but they were full of red herrings and illogical dates.


Can I look someone up for you? This just took a couple of hours to get her started, and I would be happy to get you started too! Drop me an email, let me know!

Thanks for sharing some time with me again this week. I look forward to hearing from you soon!


Respectfully,

Leslie Ryan

Not compensated for any links or references, and no copyright infringement is intended.


For additional research on this topic, a good place to start is: https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/dual-citizenship/






bottom of page