Digital Nomads who have Gotten 2nd Citizenship or Renounced

Digital Nomads who have Gotten Second Citizenship or even Renounced.

I asked digital nomads on Reddit who among them have gotten second citizenships, and which citizenships. Read through these answers and imagine the possibilities. Get a notebook and jot down your follow-up questions to send to me. Has the thought of leaving ever crossed your mind? Where have you thought about going? Have you visited a country and said, I can see myself living here? Where was it?

Here was my question: “Has anyone living the digital nomad lifestyle gotten a second passport, and if so, which passport was it? How has it broadened your travel options, if at all? Anyone renounce their 🇺🇸 citizenship? If so, how was the process? Are you glad? Where did you do it? Anyone have multiple valid residences that they’re keeping in their back pocket (in other words, not actually living there?)”

Here were some very enlightening answers: 

1. I have passports for both US🇺🇸 and Poland🇵🇱, but I’m eligible for two more thanks to ancestry…so far it’s opened up a lot more opportunities to live elsewhere that align more so with my priorities and values in life.

2. I renounced my US🇺🇸 citizenship. I have a Chinese🇨🇳 passport now.

3. I have an Argentinian🇦🇷 and a St. Kitts🇰🇳 passport. I went through legal firms to do both. I advise against doing it on your own, especially in 🇦🇷. The money one pays is well worth it. I did little but show up to sign things. You do need to speak Spanish but the test is very, very easy. I’ve renounced my US citizenship but I’m still waiting for the final Certificate of Loss of Nationality. Process not too onerous but getting the CLN seems to be taking forever. Basically you do a phone interview at an American 🇺🇸 embassy (they quiz you on why you are renouncing and tell you all the ‘bad’ things that can happen if you renounce - like you can’t call on the American 🇺🇸 embassy for help - then you show up again to pay the fee and they ask you again why you are renouncing (Can't say ‘taxes’). My immigration lawyer has told me they cannot actually deny you a renunciation if you want it. And, you have to file a final tax return for the year that you renounce. I’m waiting for the CLN to do that. Traveling mainly in Asia, South America and Europe🇪🇺 I haven’t noticed any restrictions in travel. In one odd case Argentina 🇦🇷 requires a visa for Taiwan 🇹🇼 but St. Kitts🇰🇳 doesn’t so I just used that passport. Worked flawlessly. Broaden my travel options. Can’t say that. I did find out that as an Argentinian 🇦🇷, I’m eligible for accelerated (2 year) Spanish 🇪🇸citizenship. I’m still thinking about that. 

   1. A couple of notes on this: first I’m not sure he’s not actually eligible for that accelerated Spanish 🇪🇸 citizenship; I think you have to be LatAm born, not naturalized, to be eligible for that program. Anyone know differently? Kindly let me know by replying directly to this newsletter.

   2. Note how he simply used his other passport to travel to Taiwan? Baller move, dude. Two passports are always better than one.

   3. Note he said “can’t say taxes” as the reason for renouncing…that’s really important for any of you Many Flags subscribers who may be planning on eventually renouncing. It can be a very costly thing to say. For more on this I refer you to Alexander Marino with Moody’s Private Client (I’m not affiliated, nor have I hired him; if anyone has, I’d like to know how it went).

   4. Note that this fella didn’t allow the language barrier to be a barrier. I encourage anyone with a language hangup to get over it already. 60% of the entire human species knows 2 or more languages. There’s nothing in the water in 🇺🇸 that short-circuits your language learning ability.

   5. For those who are interested, would you like for me to try to find out what firms he used to help him obtain those citizenships?

   6. Lastly, regarding this fella, even if he’s a modest low-six-figure earner, what must be the spread between what he spent to obtain those citizenships, and what he’s saving, not only by renouncing, but also by geo-arbitrage? Even if it took a couple of years, say five, to break even, he wrested back control of a greater percentage of his earnings.

4. EU 🇪🇺passport on top of the US 🇺🇸 one. Found out I qualified when I was a grown-ass adult trying to find a way to stay in the EU 🇪🇺 longer than 90-in/90-out. Absolutely changed my life - unlimited travel in the Shengen, can arrive on one-way flights, fast line at EU 🇪🇺borders (lol), total private healthcare for $100/mo. The EU 🇪🇺 became a sort of second home base and that’s a nice feeling to have on a different continent. It gave me more travel/life options and changed where I went, who I met, who I ended up with. I never would have stayed abroad for 13 years without it - to the entire trajectory of my life was altered. Meanwhile my only sibling sits in the old US 🇺🇸 hometown and never even bothered to file for EU 🇪🇺citizenship - it’s literally a form since I did all the legwork already lol.

   1. Note on this guy: I would refrain from dogging my friends and family who are sitting in the “old US hometown”; different strokes for different folks. We don’t want them shaming us for leaving; let’s not shame them for staying. Let’s all just try to keep a spare room for them if they ever change their minds!

5. Swiss🇨🇭/German🇩🇪 dual citizen. The only advantage is having redundancy if I happen to lose a passport while traveling. 

   1. I haven’t scrutinized them, but yeah, the Swiss and German passports are almost identical as far as how many countries you can enter visa-free. The German one is ever so slightly better, but both are miles better than a US 🇺🇸 passport.

6. Dual 🇺🇸 /Swedish🇸🇪. Makes getting around the EU quite easy. It took 6 years working here full time but no language requirements. 

7. I’m an American 🇺🇸 citizen with Spanish 🇪🇸 permanent residency. 

8. I’ll just say that the Armenian🇦🇲 passport, while still weak as a first passport (we’re currently negotiating with the EU🇪🇺 for Shengen visa-free status), it is probably the #1 passport a western passport holder could hope to add to their collection since it gets you visa-free access to the exact large countries that can be a pain/expensive for westerners to get visas for. China 🇨🇳 (90 days visa-free, only 4 countries in the world get this), Iran 🇮🇷 and Russia 🇷🇺 . Only country in the world with this trifecta, though I’m not sure how desirable they are for most digital nomads these days.

   1. (I guess it could happen, but they’ve been in these talks for what, 7 years now?)

9. 🇺🇸 , currently in the process of getting dual citizenship by recognition of Italian🇮🇹 citizenship by descent. Just wanted to post about this to raise awareness for anyone who might not know about it. The rules surrounding it are a bit complex. But if you have a direct Italian🇮🇹 ancestor that left Italy 🇮🇹 and your next in line ancestor was born before their parent naturalized in their new country, you may be eligible. Getting citizenship recognized this way isn’t the easiest thing to do, but it’s much easier than if you’re trying to get EU 🇪🇺 citizenship from scratch. For me, with the route that I will take, I estimate that it will take about a year and US$8,000-10,000 to complete. But for some people it might take as little as US$1,000 to complete. Totally worth it IMO if you want to open a lot of doors for traveling and otherwise. I think there may be similar things for other European countries. So if you have European🇪🇺 ancestry it’s something to look into.

   1. The world is changing fast, and they are not magically going to start presenting better choices. If you are eligible, get the ball rolling on that Italian by Ancestry citizenship!

10. I was going to do it but I’ll just stay a resident forever because I ended up realizing that I can’t trust the government. Ecuador 🇪🇨 did a wealth tax during Covid. The expats around me would have multiple passports if they could afford them. The conspiracy minded crowd believes the US 🇺🇸 is in decline.

    1. Here’s a gal who’s happy with her residency status. Nothing wrong with that. Not as strong as a second citizenship, but hey, she doesn’t have all her eggs in one basket, does she?

These are just a handful of respondents to my query. Mind you these aren’t necessarily intentional flag planters, just digital nomads. It seems to me there’s a strong bias towards EU 🇪🇺 access. I understand; there are so many more places in Europe 🇪🇺 we want to explore.

Please reply telling me what passports and residencies you have, and be sure to clarify if I can mention your story in a future issue, and whether I can use your first name, initials, or a made-up name. Remember your reply to this newsletter will come directly to me. And if you’re not a subscriber, the best way to reach me is to subscribe, wait for the first issue to come to you, and reply to that issue.

And if you have Polish ancestry, I am researching two firms that help folks get their citizenship: Hexon and Polaron. If anyone has used either of these services, please let me know how it went and whether you endorse them.

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Gene Basler

Many Flags Newsletter and Cooperative