EU citizenship vs EU passport

[jimb]

Hi guys,

I am currently a Canadian working in Canada but intend to work in Europe, specifically the UK in the next couple of years.

Was wondering if citizenship in an EU country would be enough for living and working in Europe indefinitely or would i be required to have an EU based passport?

thanks for the help

[sakura]

Hi guys,

I am currently a Canadian working in Canada but intend to work in Europe, specifically the UK in the next couple of years.

Was wondering if citizenship in an EU country would be enough for living and working in Europe indefinitely or would i be required to have an EU based passport?

thanks for the help

There's no such things as an "EU based passport", or for that matter "EU citizenship". Once you become a citizen of an European Union member state (or a member state of the European Economic Area), then you are effectively a European Union (or European Economic Area) citizen.

So, for example, you become a citizen of the United Kingdom, then you enjoy the rights of European Union membership, such as free right of movement, etc.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Were any of your direct ancesters from Europe? If so you may have citizenship by decent.

[jimb]

thanks sakura that is what i basically meant. my terminology was wrong.

I was born and raised in Greece for 14yrs and my mothers family is greek. geeting a greek citizenship and passport is not a problem for me.

my question however is, would a Greek citizenship alone enable me to work throughout the EU indefinitely or would i be required to get a Greek passport?

I would prefer not getting the passport at the moment, due to potential military service requirements.


thanks for the help

[Wanderer]

thanks sakura that is what i basically meant. my terminology was wrong.

I was born and raised in Greece for 14yrs and my mothers family is greek. geeting a greek citizenship and passport is not a problem for me.

my question however is, would a Greek citizenship alone enable me to work throughout the EU indefinitely or would i be required to get a Greek passport?

I would prefer not getting the passport at the moment, due to potential military service requirements.


thanks for the help

Surely a passport is merely a travel document, it would be citizenship that would confer the requirement for national service...

[sakura]

It would be hard to travel to other countries without the relevant travel document. I don't know if EU countries will allow entry if you don't have a passport or other travel document (e.g. national ID card).

If you are a citizen, then it doesn't matter whether or not you have a passport - millions of people around the world (and in the EU) are citizens but just don't have the passport. If you inherited Greek citizenship through your mother, then you might well be called to military service if it is a requirement. How they will find out if you're in the UK is another matter, but you have to contact the Greek authorties for a travel document/ID card/passport to enter other EU countries.

[jimb]

Talked to someone in the consulate today and it appears I would need both citizenship and passport. Also, i would need to have a certificate from the government stating I am a Greek foriegn perminant resident. This would allow me to skip military duty as long as i do not remain in Greece for more than 6 months.

Thanks for all the input guys.

[sakura]

Talked to someone in the consulate today and it appears I would need both citizenship and passport. Also, i would need to have a certificate from the government stating I am a Greek foriegn perminant resident. This would allow me to skip military duty as long as i do not remain in Greece for more than 6 months.

Thanks for all the input guys.

Certificate from which government? If you are trying to bypass military service and don't obtain a passport or national ID card, you won't be able to live in the UK without a visa. The foreign permanent residency stamp is not enough.

[jimb]

The certificate would be from the Greek government stating that I am allowed to bypass military service as long as I do not remain in the country for more than 6 months.

I was told they offer it only to Greeks who have not resided in the country for more than 11yrs or to those who are bribed haha. luckily i have been out of Greece for 12yrs.

The certificate would still enable me to get the Greek Passport and Citizenship.

[sakura]

The certificate would be from the Greek government stating that I am allowed to bypass military service as long as I do not remain in the country for more than 6 months.

I was told they offer it only to Greeks who have not resided in the country for more than 11yrs or to those who are bribed haha. luckily i have been out of Greece for 12yrs.

The certificate would still enable me to get the Greek Passport and Citizenship.

Ok. As long as you have proof of your Greek citizenship, that's all.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Once you have a greek passport or national id card, you can then move to the UK. If you want to live in the Uk for more than 3 months, you will need to work or study or be self sufficient.