You have to page way down for the list of countries in Europe – there are many: Citizenship by Descent: How to Get an Ancestral Passport (globalcitizensolutions.com)
Most countries on the list grant citizenship if at least one of your parents was a citizen of their country, at the time of your birth. Some extend this back another generation if at least one or both grandparents, and some like Spain go even further: “A citizen of a Latin American country who has at least one grandparent born in Spain”. Poland extends to great grandparents, Ireland to Grandparents, Romania back to grandparents and some great grandparents, Italy is based on the date of citizenship of ancestors, going back over 100 years, and Bulgaria goes back to great-grand parents. Canada’s amended Citizenship Act of 1946, now extends citizenship to children of Canadians or former Canadians who under old laws, had to give up their Canadian citizenship after moving out of Canada. (My wife’s Dad immigrated to the U.S. and became a U.S. citizen and had to give up his Canadian citizenship – the law now retroactively restores that lost citizenship and extends a right of descent citizenship to their first generation children – my wife – and if she were to apply and live in Canada for 3 years, that Canadian citizenship right would then extend to our own now adult “children”. It would not extend to me, however.)
For most Americans, this creates a class-based society – those that have immigration privileges and those who do not. Even if Americans are not planning to move abroad, dual citizenship can offer other benefits
- Can automatically stay more than the usual 90-day visa limit, in fact, you can stay as long as you want.
- Can work in the other country, or in the case of a citizenship in an EU country, can work anywhere in the EU. I have friends with dual citizenship in the US and EU and they work as consultants – there is no need to apply for a work visa when they work in the US or the EU. (I have half a dozen past work colleagues he went on to work in consulting – each had dual US/EU citizenship so no visas were required to work in either location – giving them a significant benefit in work opportunities.)
- May be eligible to participate in the non-US countries health insurance programs.
- May be eligible for free tuition at undergrad or graduate levels at universities in the non-U.S. country.
There are about 50 countries – there is an even longer list of countries here – Citizenship by Descent: Maximizing Your Heritage [2023 Update] (retirementrovers.com) – that have citizenship by descent programs. That list does not include countries in Africa that are offering citizenship to Black Americans who can demonstrate any ancestral link to the country.
If you have the wrong ancestors (like me) you are ineligible for obtaining citizenship or residency elsewhere (with some exceptions in perhaps up to two dozen countries, mostly in Central and South America or the Carribbean islands).
Immigration privilege – which some have and many do not have – is creating a divisive dual-class of privileged elite versus the rest of us peons.