Over the last couple months, my poor unsuspecting relatives back home have been pelted with requests about my family ancestry. This isn't because I'm feeling a wave of nostalgia or have the urge to check out my roots; it's all about trying to get a job in Europe (freelancing is great, but it's feast-or-famine). Without going into laborious detail, let me say that as a citizen from anywheres outside the 27-member European Union (EU), in terms of finding legitimate employment easily, the deck is pretty stacked. One possible way to combat this is to gain EU citizenship, and that's what I've been researching on-and-off for the last couple months, specifically the concept of dual citizenship-- a citizen of both the USA and an EU country. Believe me, our appreciation for the freedoms, rewards and opportunities America affords has only grown during our time here, so this is not a knock on the good ol' USA-- it is, however all about keeping my retirement accounts fully funded.
Anyway, dual citizenship requires that you have ancestors and roots in the specific country you're applying to, and some countries' citizenship requirements are more restrictive than others. Because my family tree is a definite Heinz 57 smörgåsbord, I did have some options to track down and pursue. I found that Ireland and Italy (2 countries where I have some ancestry) seem to have the most liberal citizenship rules, so I've been working on those. Ireland was my first choice-- between my familiarity with both the language and the excellent beer, Irish citizenship also offers some astoundingly great benefits (like a college education for €2500/year)... but I was one generation off, ancestry wise. Bugger. I may end up in a similar fate with the Italians, but as anyone who's been to the Rome airport knows firsthand, dealing with those guys is a test of one's patience. There is an Italian consulate here in town, and they are open for exactly 3.5 hours a day, and seem to enjoy dodging any work whatsoever. My requests have been fobbed off to nearly everyone in the office, passed on to the Frankfurt office only to have it sent back to Nuremberg, and it's been over a month since my last email received a reply. This is compounded with the not-terribly-amusing realization that they don't speak English, I don't speak Italian, and our collective German is, as they say in Italy,
schifezza. I've also been advised that the Italian citizenship paperwork process is laborious and expensive, and the actual timeline to receive citizenship after the papers have been filed is about 18 months. Hmmm, that pretty much hits the limit of our maximum allowable stay-time in Germany. Time to re-read the header of this post.
LATE EDIT: I received an email from the Italians this very afternoon. The reply (once translated) details the requirements for the non-native "Juri sanguinis" citizenship and finishes with the statement "the practice is long and complex," which I take as their shot across the bow signaling their reluctance and distaste for helping me out. Um, I'm the one doing the research guys.
