Advantages of Citizenship

I'm an American living in Ireland since 2006. I married an Irish gal in 2010. I currently have a Stamp 4 on my U.S. passport until 2016. I was talking to a friend over the weekend and he suggested I become an Irish citizen. I asked him what the advantages were and he gave me a few reasons (i.e. unemployment benefits, voting rights, hassle free travel in the EU). I was just doing some research and it seems straight forward to fill out the form and get the required documentation together. The only thing really putting me off is the amount of money it costs (1125eur !!!!!)

I don't mind going to the garda station every 5 years and getting a stamp and a new GNIB card, so can you guys convince me or tell me what major advantages I would have by becoming an Irish citizen ??

Cheers,

Eddie

To me, as a graduate, some jobs I would like to apply for and do, you need to be an Irish citizen. 2ndly.... I get to save on visa fees & stress of applying etc. (Uk- €100+ for 6 months visa. Gnib 350 per 2years!. All in all...peace of mind! As for social benefits, u are entitled to it whilst on stamp 4 ...etc

You don't necessarily need to get Irish citizenship to avail of all those benefits. As the spouse of an EU national you're still entitled to unemployment benefit. If you also apply for Residence card you will have easy travel in the EU.

_eddie_ wrote:I'm an American living in Ireland since 2006. I married an Irish gal in 2010. I currently have a Stamp 4 on my U.S. passport until 2016. I was talking to a friend over the weekend and he suggested I become an Irish citizen. I asked him what the advantages were and he gave me a few reasons (i.e. unemployment benefits, voting rights, hassle free travel in the EU). I was just doing some research and it seems straight forward to fill out the form and get the required documentation together. The only thing really putting me off is the amount of money it costs (1125eur !!!!!)

I don't mind going to the garda station every 5 years and getting a stamp and a new GNIB card, so can you guys convince me or tell me what major advantages I would have by becoming an Irish citizen ??

Cheers,

Eddie

Stability, stability is a huge benefit of multiple citizenships, and there really are no disadvantages to most citizenships (U.S. citizenship has major paperwork and taxation burdens and thus shouldn't be held unless you need it, and some countries have mandatory military service, so same thing).

If your country of origin allows dual citizenship I think you will be better off. but if not? I will say guard your US citizenship very well.

Good Luck!

Yes, if your country allows dual citizenship it is an easy choice. Take the Irish citizenship, as to have two passports is better than one.

The only situations where you do not want two passports is when you are male, of age for military service and entitled to hold the passport of a country which does conscription, because if you are hold dual citizenship and are on the land of the country where you hold citizenship, they can conscript you into the army. Unpleasant.

Also bad if the country taxes its citizens no matter where they live, but this is only an issue if you have income or assets, so it is not a problem for most people.

The issue regarding military service has caught some people who were not aware of it, as it is for rich and poor, and it can be very difficult to get out of some armies, especially if a war starts, you can be kept in the army for a looong time. (It happened to Irish citizens in Britain during world war two, and a lot of them were not happy about it).

Ireland does not conscript into army, nor is there any major tax issue that I am aware of.

The big issue is health care and elder care. Some countries provide a very good level of care to the poor, and lots of EU countries provide very good free health and elder care to the poor. US does not provide the same level of health/elder care as EU welfare states, so this is the reason I would get EU or Irish citizenship, it is for long term reasons, not needed in short term, but big advantage in long term. Basically when you are 65 and at age for health and elder care, you can choose the best country in terms of providing care for you, USA, Ireland, UK, France, any EU country. Big issue and EU much better than USA for this reason.