27 European Countries That Offer Citizenship by Descent

With dual citizenship it’s easier to buy foreign investment properties and to feel like James Bond with your multiple passports.

For some, dual citizenship is a dream. The power of holding a second passport opens up new travel opportunities, not to mention you feel like a secret agent flipping through your various passports on the way to an international airport (best to leave the duffel bag of cash at home).

The thing is, obtaining that secondary citizenship isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. If you are looking to obtain citizenship in a European country, many mandate you to live in the nation full-time for years, and even then there’s paperwork, tests (including language tests), and all kinds of add-on requirements that are enough to turn you off from the idea.

But short of marrying someone within the desired country to fast-track citizenship, what other options do you have?

Well, depending on your ancestry, you might have an easier time than you think. This is because a large number of European nations offer up something known as Citizenship by Descent.

This means if one of your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were citizens of the nation, you can skip over (most of) the red tape and apply. Yes, you’ll need documented proof of your ancestry, but outside of that, if you qualify, it might well be worth obtaining dual citizenship.

Having citizenship in another country makes it dramatically easier to purchase property in a given nation. And, with a European passport, it often opens the rest of the continent up for such property investments. There’s far less hassle buying that dream summer home in the South of France or on the coast in Spain if you hold a European passport.

Besides, even if you don’t currently plan on moving, you can at least feel like James Bond or Jason Bourne when traveling.

First-Generation Citizenship by Descent

This is the most limited citizenship by descent, and it is only available for individuals with a parent who was formerly a citizen of the country.

Thankfully, it is also the easiest to prove, as your parents likely still have documentation of their past citizenship (or, at the very least, can obtain birth certificates and other paperwork without too much hassle).

Nations offering this form of citizenship include:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Cyprus
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Sweden
• The Netherlands

To apply there are slightly different requirements for each nation. Some will ask for you to obtain a blood test to prove you are a biological child.

Second-Generation Citizenship by Descent

A number of the second-generation citizenship by descent countries offer several citizenship opportunities, with many having some of the best digital nomad visas and visas by investments in Europe.

So even if you don’t have a grandparent from one of these countries, there are secondary options available to you (it’ll just take a bit longer to qualify for citizenship).

Countries offering citizenship if your grandparents were citizens include:

• Czech Republic
• Malta
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovenia
• Spain

Some of these countries, such as Romania, allow adopted children and grandchildren to apply. It is important to go over each country’s requirements though, as there are often language and cultural mandates. These are designed to help improve “social integration.”

Trust me. Living in a country with inferior language skills brings about feelings of isolation and it is difficult to make friends. So, if you’re considering a move abroad, either with citizenship by descent or through another means, do what you can to learn the language.

If I were to do it over again, I’d hire a local language teacher from the country you’re considering, as the local dialect can be far different from other countries with the same language.

Third-Generation Citizenship By Descent

In reality, third-generation citizenship helps the largest percentage of individuals. Thanks to the influx of immigrants coming from Europe between the turn of the 20th century and post-World War 2, millions of Americans can qualify for these forms of dual citizenship. European immigration to the United States has slowed, and more U.S. citizens are moving to Europe than ever before (Forbes).

It is also important to point out that these countries do not require you to renounced your U.S. citizenship, which is something some other nations do insist upon.

Of course, if you really want out of the U.S., don’t mind renouncing your citizenship, and are out of options, you can always enlist in the French Foreign Legion.

Countries offering citizenship if your great-grandparents were citizens include:

• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Poland
• Slovakia

For countries like Luxembourg, citizenship by descent is one of the few ways you can become a citizen (it’s a pain to organically do so in Luxembourg). Other countries like Latvia, even if you don’t have a great-grandparent from the nation, you can qualify for residency and eventually citizenship after living there for just two years (something you can do with the nation’s digital nomad visa).

Italy has been promising a digital nomad visa for ages, but the country isn’t exactly known for snappy bureaucratic paperwork. In fact, Italy makes the United States look like Speedy Gonzalez. Thankfully, if your great-grandparents were Italian citizens, you can skip to the head of the citizenship line.

Here’s the problem you might run into with great-grandparent citizenship though. Paperwork can be tricky to come by. You need to obtain documentation proving great-grandparents were citizens of the given country, and you need paperwork showing they legally became citizens in the United States (or whatever country they moved to).

Paperwork isn’t always easy to track down during this time period, and many nations destroyed paperwork pre- and post-World War 2.

I know more than a few locals in Argentina with grandparents or great-grandparents from Italy and Argentina has zero record of their immigration. This is due to Argentina destroying rooms of such paperwork (mostly to make it impossible to track the movement of some of the higher-up axis-powered military members that entered the country through forged documents, help from the Vatican, and Red Cross visas, but that’s a different story entirely).

If you can secure the paperwork, it’s well worth applying for dual citizenship, even if you don’t have any desire to move or purchase property currently. After all, you know how some people threaten to move out of the U.S. if such-and-such wins an election? Well, with dual citizenship, this actually is an option.

If you do have a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent from one of these nations, it’s worth to at least look up the requirements. You never know when it might come in handy.

Enjoy what you’ve read, are interested in moving overseas, and don’t know where to begin? No problem! I wrote “7 Steps To Move Out of the U.S.,” to help.

Have your sights set on Europe? My “7 Steps to Move to Europe” can help as well!