Jabch, yes the immigration laws appear unsound, so much so, that if it were my father becoming a Spanish citizen now, my age wouldn't matter and I wouldn't have to live in Spain for a year to get a passport---the nearest consulate would provide this. A BIT of gender discrimination! Does it appear like this will ever legally change, because I am over 21 yrs. old? I mean, has there been some complaints regarding this inequality?

PS: I am female

Hi ColinK. This is another thing that I can't understand, why is it that other EU countries give citizenship to those with grandparents born there without a hassle...Ireland, Britain, Italy, etc. No one-year stays, just a flat out passport provided from the nearest consulate in the U.S. I don't know why Spain doesn't provide the same??

Hi again Jabch. Just visited Spain. One important thing to add is that having a Spanish passport doesn't restrict a person just to Spain...but opens the door to living and working throughout the EU. Previously someone mentioned the financial/economic reason of being American...for years the dollar has been weak against some European currencies (like UK pounds going as far back as 1997)...and the Euro now is over our heads.

Ceb- I believe Ireland did this a few years ago to try and lure young professionals back to Ireland. I don't think the deal is still available. I did it around eight years ago.

CEB,

You ask:
Why do you feel you have to give up your citizenship? There are many Americans with dual nationalities.

Hi Booklady. The only way I'll be able to immigrate to Spain will be on the grandparent ammendment of 09-Jan-03. I was told by some local Spanish consulates that after living one year in Spain and giving up my U.S. citizenship I'd get Spanish/EU citizenship. This seems so unreal to me (doesn't make sense really), the being asked to drop my current citizenship bit. What is the point?!

Precisely! There are many U.s. citizens that become spanish citizens through marriage and they get to keep their U.S. citizenship. This I know because there have been threads and many members of this board have said so.

Now, if you are like me, a naturalized U.s. citizen, we would lose our citizenship automatically if we change citizenship. My parents were both born in Spain, and I would have little trouble obtaining a Spanish citizenship, but it would come at the expense of losing my U.S. citizenship, and I value that too much to do so.

But, after I retire I hope to go and live in my Father's village in Galicia, at least for awhile until I have grandkids!

Booklady wrote:
While I'm not 100% certain, I think what they gained through marriage was NOT citizenship but rather RESIDENCY. These are two very different things. It's my understanding that we US Citizens CAN have duel-citizenship but Spain does NOT allow duel citizenship so the only way we could have this Spanish citizenship is to denounce our US Citizenship. Maybe this'll change someday on the side of Spanish government.

While, again, not certain, I don't think any of those who married Spanish citizens gained citizenship but rather they gained residency.

As for me, should the opportunity arise, I would most definitely NOT drop/denouce my USA Citzenship in order to become a Spanish citizen. What's the point? Spanish RESIDENCY offers nearly the same rights and benefits (I think) as Spanish CITIZENSHIP.

Saludos, MadridMan

I got married to a Spaniard in the late 1980s and was able to get residency in Spain. (Spain had just entered the EU.) At that time, I could have gotten Spanish citizenship but was told that I would have to give up my US citizenship. The only thing (in my opinion) that I "missed out" on by not being a citizen of Spain was the right to vote. Even after I divorced, I was still able to renew my residency and continue to work and live in Spain without being married to a Spaniard.

Since moving back to the U.S., my residency card has long expired but I'm still a U.S. citizen.

I don't know how much things have changed since then - about 10 years ago - but I don't think it's that "easy" to get dual citizenship.

marilisa

As MadridMan and Marilisa said, there is a difference as far as Spain is concerned between residency and citizenship. While the U.S. government allows (but doesn't encourage) dual citizenship, according to Spain you do need to renounce your previous citizenship to become a Spanish citizen.

On the other hand, a friend of mine became a Spanish citizen, and after the judge administered the oath renouncing his previous citizenship, the judge himself told him, "don't worry, the countries don't really talk to each other." In other words, there's the law as written in the books, and then there's what happens in the real world.

That's one of my favorite examples to help explain to people why "Spain is different."

Well said ggladman.It reminds me of a song by Joaquin Sabina that says "Mi Atleti,mi Espana y yo semos diferentes".Wow how nice it would be to be able to have both citizenships.But my humble opinion is that no matter how much we love Spain it is a HUMONGOUS price to pay for any american to renounce U.S citizenship.To be a citizen of this great good old USA is ,like the Mastercard commercial says,priceless.Let me put it to you this way.There are millions of people out there in the world who are dreaming of living here because the conditions in their countries are awful.

Bueno, I stand corrected MadridMan. As the great Gilda Radner used to say: " Never Mind!