BootsnAll Travel Community

Those I met on my travels and envied the most were those lucky individuals who had two or three citizenships. Depending on which combination of passports they had in hand, they could take advantage of benefits I may never have access to with merely US citizenship.

If you're one of the lucky ones, have you ever come across any disadvantages to being the citizen of more than one country or carrying more than one passport.

The way I see it, I could be giving my future children one of the biggest advantages of all (and hardest to achieve on their own accord) by enabling them to be born into two or three citizenships, giving them more travelling freedom and choices for finding the home that suits them best. I've got the NZ husband; now, I just have to give birth in yet a third country and voila! ...triple citizenship.

But are there any drawbacks to sharing citizenship?? I know my mum gave up my little brother's birthright to German citizenship before he was given the chance to argue for her fear of him being able to be called to serve another country's army in time of war.

I'm looking for the inside scoop from those of you who carry around more than one passport...

quote:

If you're one of the lucky ones, have you ever come across any disadvantages to being the citizen of more than one country or carrying more than one passport.

I have US/UK citizenship, and although I cannot prove this, I have heard of a "glass ceiling" for dual citizens when working for the US State Department. Only so far they are going to let a "foreign citizen" advance in an organization representing the US.

Furthermore, the rules of military service is ALWAYS something you have to deal with. Many nations have manditory service and many more have a history of instituting a draft.