Moving to a new country can give you a fresh start and you may find that you love your new lifestyle. When you have been living somewhere for a while, you might be wondering about whether you should apply for citizenship.
This is a tough question to answer because it all depends on the country you are living in and your own personal situation. In order to make a decision, you need to weigh up all of the different factors. These are the key questions to ask yourself when trying to decide whether to apply for citizenship or not.
Are You Planning To Stay?
Moving abroad is always a big risk and even if you have visited the country many times before, you don’t know what it will be like to live there permanently. There are some amazing countries that are worth moving your life for and when you arrive, you’ll fall in love with the place. But sometimes, after the initial excitement settles down and you have done all of the tourist stuff, you might find that the lifestyle isn’t what you thought it would be. Other life circumstances, like changes to your career or plans to start a family might cause you to want to move home too.
If you are thinking about deciding whether to apply for citizenship, be honest with yourself about how long you are planning to stay. If you think you might stay for another year or two before you make plans to move home, it might not be worth going through the citizenship process.
How Difficult Is The Process?
The process for getting citizenship varies from country to country, so consider how difficult it is. If you’re in Ireland, for example, you need to live there permanently for 5 years before applying, and it’s a fairly simple process. If you consult an immigration lawyer, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting citizenship. But in some countries, it’s much harder. If you are living in a non-English-speaking country, for example, you may have to pass a language test and that makes things more difficult. There may also be requirements about your earnings etc, which makes it tough as well. Other countries run citizenship schemes with more unusual rules in order to earn citizenship, you can read about the Grenada Citizenship By Investment Program online for example, as there are a few countries which offer a scheme like this, which can make it easier if you have capital to invest. Ultimately however, consider how likely you are to be able to meet the requirements to get citizenship and whether it’s worth going through the process or not.
What Are The Benefits?
Finally, think about the benefits of getting citizenship in your chosen country. If you are living in an EU country, becoming a citizen means that you get unrestricted travel to the rest of the EU and, in some cases, you don’t even need a passport. Being a citizen also means that you don’t have to worry about renewing your visa, which can be very beneficial if the visa process is quite lengthy. However, if you don’t get any other travel benefits and it’s easy to keep extending your work visa, you may decide that you don’t need to bother applying for citizenship.
At the end of the day, you need to consider your own situation and the laws in the country that you live in. If you answer these 3 questions, you should be able to make the right decision.
