How It Works

Acquiring dual citizenship depends on the rules of the particular countries that are involved. Some people are born with dual citizenship, and others may acquire it through an application process. For the most part, however, the general process for any country will probably look something like this:

1. Determine eligibility – Find out whether you’re eligible for citizenship. The most common ways of eligibility are citizenship by descent, marriage, or naturalization.
2. Gather supporting documents – You will have to collect the requisite documents to support your application. Typically, you will need your birth certificate, marriage certificate, government-issued ID, proof of address. If applying for citizenship by descent, you may also need to collect the birth, marriage, and death certificates of every relevant family member through whom you are claiming citizenship.
3. Complete forms – You will have to fill out the appropriate form for your citizenship application.
4. Submit to appropriate authority – Some authorities may require you to mail in your papers to the local consulate, and others may require you to present your application in-person at a live interview.

To learn more about a specific country, visit the by by country page.