Countries that Allow Dual Citizenship Around the World
Countries that allow dual citizenship.
Being a citizen of more than one country is something many people aspire to. Such status don’t only grant tremendous freedom to the person concerned but also opens up a whole new world of opportunities. You probably may not see through the huge benefits of having dual citizenship until you are rich enough to explore life further. But billionaire investors that invest in different countries of the world know this too well. They know that dual citizenship is important both to grow and to safeguard their wealth.
So today we shall attempt to give a better understanding of the term dual citizenship. We will also find out the pros and cons of dual citizenship. And finally, we shall look at countries that allow or recognize dual citizenship across various continents.
What is Dual Citizenship?
Dual citizenship is holding two passports and citizenship rights of two different nations at the same time. Dual citizens are nationals of two countries, and have rights bestowed upon citizens in each of those countries. Some nations do not permit dual citizenship though. But the vast majority of nations in the world permit their citizens to apply and hold citizenship of a foreign nation. And I think that should be good news to a lot of us especially if you feel that your country is such that limits you in one way or the other.
Some countries like China, Myanmar, India, Saudi Arabia are among those that do not permit any form of dual citizenship at all. In those countries acquiring the citizenship of another country will result in automatically revoking the national citizenship of the person in question. In fact, China and Saudi Arabia have even taken it a step further. For them, it is a criminal offense to obtain another citizenship without first renouncing the original one a person holds. And they are not taking it lightly at all.
Advantages of Dual Citizenship
The following are advantages of dual citizenship:
- The ability to work and live in both countries.
- The ability to own property without restriction in both countries.
- Voting rights in both countries.
- Ability to stand for election in both countries (where the law permits)
- Benefiting from unrestricted social programs and health care from both countries.
- Global mobility of the person and family members
- Better economic opportunities for the person
Disadvantages of Dual Citizenship
The old cliche that everything that has advantage also has disadvantage equally holds true here, and here are the disadvantages of dual citizenship:
- The possibility of imposing exit bans on you.
- Double taxation.
- Double obligation
- Barrier to some forms of employment
- It can involve some extensive and complicated process
Countries that Allow Dual Citizenship
There are many countries around the world that permit dual citizenship. Some of the countries make total provisions for it and make it available to anyone interested. But some other ones grant it under certain conditions, and also limit it to citizens of a few other countries. In every continent of interest you are likely to see multiple countries that offer the chance of dual citizenship. So whether it is Africa, Asia, America, Oceania or Europe you will always get some countries willing to offer you citizenship while still retaining your country of birth.
Countries that Allow Dual Citizenship in Africa
Africa has a couple of countries that allow dual citizenship. Precisely there are 6 African countries that are known for permitting dual citizenship. They are; Angola, Benin Republic, Egypt, Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa.
Countries that Allow Dual Citizenship in Asia
Asia as we know is the home of the most countries that don’t give room for dual citizenship. However, there are still some few countries in Asia that make provision for dual citizenship. From my research from the various consulates of Asia countries I discovered that the following 5 countries permit dual citizenship. They are Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea and Syria.
Countries that Allow Dual Citizenship in Europe
Europe as a continent has the highest number of countries that permit dual citizenship. So if you want to become a citizen of any of the prestigious members of the European Union it is possible as long as you are willing to go through the process. And some of them are very easy to get their citizenship, while others might be a bit more difficult. In total, 32 European countries allow dual citizenship. It might interest you to know that UK, France, Portugal, Italy, Israel to mention but a few are among the top European countries that allow dual citizenship.
Countries that Allow Dual Citizenship in North America
It is a well known fact that one of the choicest countries of the world, The United States of America allows dual citizenship. But it is not just US that allows dual citizenship in North America. There are still other countries too. Precisely, we have 9 North American countries that permit dual citizenship. Apart from USA, the other ones are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and Panama.
Countries that Allow Dual Citizenship in South America
South America is also another very generous country when it comes to allowing dual citizenship. In fact, from my extensive research, I am yet to find a single country in South America that opposes the idea of dual citizenship. So if you are looking for a country to take up citizenship without having to renounce your country of birth you may want to consider any of the countries in South America such as Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.
Countries that Allow Dual Citizenship in Oceania
In the Oceania continent we all know that the biggest and most popular country Australia allows dual citizenship. But so does also Vanuatu and New Zealand.
Conclusion
As you can see there are many countries that allow dual citizenship across the globe. If you are such a person that want to enjoy dual nationality the first step should be to find a legal way of migrating to those countries first. From there you can understudy their dual citizenship policy and work towards meeting them.
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