Upon greater reflection, I’ve determined that freedom of movement is actually not the answer.
Multiple citizenship presents too much of a risk to our societal cohesion and nation-state security.
One should pick their loyalty and remain a dutiful citizen and resident of a single country, for life. Thank you.
#dualcitizenship #freedomomovement
A legal claim for something is worth as much as the thing itself.
#justice
If you’re an American with a criminal record looking to pursue second citizenship, there’s still hope.
Here are 3 tools I use to help people in this situation.
I’ll publish a much longer article explaining the step by step process to screen eligibility for a particular country, utilize the tools (mentioned above) and pull the trigger with an application.
Obviously applying with a criminal record makes the process much costlier, but hey if you can’t pay the price, don’t roll the dice.
#dualcitizenship #multiplecitizenship #crimmigration
The biggest thing newbies to the world of flag theory/dual citizenship underestimate is how critical their vital documents are and how long and difficult they can be to get sometimes.
If you have any kind of “prepper” tendencies, get your vital documents now (3 certified copies of each). Save them in a black or brown faux leather binder with plastic document sleeves. They look handsome and can be bought on amazon for $30.
Vital documents include:
1. Your birth certificate;
2. Your marriage certificate
3. Divorce decree (if applicable)
4. Valid passport & passport card
5. Social security card
6. Birth certificates of your children (if applicable)
Get and apostille for one of each of your set of 3.
(Apostilles for vital documents are required for citizenship or residency in the majority of European and Latin American countries)
This is your vital document archive.
Starting from scratch, this could possibly take you MONTHS to gather, going as fast as you can.
Latent, extremely difficult vulnerability for anyone who may need to move in any kind of hurry.
#freedomofmovement #documentarchive #multiplecitizenship
4 Immigration Benefits of an Expunged California Conviction:
1. Americans Pursuing 2nd Citizenship
2. DACA Recipients
3. U.S. Naturalization Applicants
4. I-601A Unlawful Presence Waiver
#freedomofmovement #california #dualcitizenship
https://www.malakoutilaw.com/4-immigration-benefits-of-an-expunged-california-conviction
8 European Citizenships by Descent You May Qualify For [Updated for 2023]
https://www.malakoutilaw.com/8-european-citizenships-by-descent-you-may-qualify-for-in-2023
Freedom of movement
Freedom of speech
Freedom of information
Freedom of money
When talking about getting a 2nd citizenship, newbies tend to focus on visa-free travel.
But visa-free travel is just one of the multiple kinds of “springboarding” opportunities a 2nd citizenship or residency can have.
Springboarding is getting or using a mobility asset (citizenship, residency, or visa) in one country, in order to gain increased access to another country.
Besides visa-free springboarding, there is also 2) residence springboarding and 3) friendlier consulate springboarding, as well as other, less common types of springboarding.
#dualcitizenship #freedomofmovement #countryspringboarding
https://www.malakoutilaw.com/country-springboarding-for-freedom-of-movement
When you have a criminal record, options for 2nd citizenship narrow greatly but usually don’t foreclose the possibility.
A few strategies/tools that we use:
1. Post conviction relief to dismiss the conviction.
For U.S. immigration, ONLY “due process” related dismissals “remove” the conviction for immigration purposes. In other words, a scenario in which you were wrongfully convicted. But in many other countries, especially, European, even “rehabilitative” post-conviction dismissals are not considered disqualifying for immigration/natz purposes.
2. Legal opinion letters.
Written by an expert in the jurisdiction of conviction to a) explain what the conviction means IN TERMS OF THE LAW OF OF THE RECEIVING COUNTRY and b) advocate on behalf of the applicant, weaving in sympathetic factors. Legal opinion letters work best in scenarios where receiving country has discretion to approve or deny the residency or natz application based on the conviction. I write these for American applicants with CA convictions seeking citizenship abroad.
3. Seeking residency or citizenship in a country that doesn’t about or for evidence of any previous convictions.
Yes, there are still such countries. Eventually if enough applicants with criminal record seek the benefit that country, other sovereigns (especially the U.S., UK and EU) take notice and do things like restrict visa free access or pressure the country to change the eligibility criteria. For ex. this is what happened in 2022 with Hungary’s simplified natz program which requires NO evidence of home country police report from applicants. As a result, naturalized citizens can no longer travel visa on ESTA to the U.S. For this reason, I don’t list these countries publicly.
The possibility of 2nd citizenship with a criminal conviction depends on:
1. What conviction was for;
2. How long ago it was;
3. Law of the receiving country;
4. How sympathetic the applicant is otherwise (I call this “positive attitude equities”); and
5. The quality of the applicant’s advocate/lawyer
#freedomofmovement #dualcitizenship #crimmigration #mobilitylawyer
In global mobility, if you don't have your docs, you can't pack your socks.
#documentation #visa #residency #citizenship
In my experience with American clients, the importance of vital documents in obtaining citizenship, residencies, and visas is chronically underestimated.
Unfortunately, their accessibility is simultaneously OVERESTIMATED, especially for citizenship by descent cases.
I tell them if freedom of movement (FOM) is a house, vital documents are the foundation.
If FOM is the dinner, vital documents are the ingredients. ✅
If FOM is the path, vital documents are the concrete. ✅
If FOM is the paint, vital documents are the primer. ✅
You get the idea.
I've seen when people (especially Americans), start realizing this, they decide they want their a) original social security card, b) certified birth and c) marriage certificate, and d) certified birth certificates of minor children.
Justifiably so.
Then many decide they want not just one certified copy of each...but 2-3 (which I recommend).
Then many decide it'd be a good idea to have a certified copy of their PARENTS' birth, marriage, death certificates. Immigration records too, if they came from another country.
Some keep going. Their grandparents or great-grandparents' ship manifest records, naturalization petitions, WWI draft cards, etc.
Eventually, many end up with what I call a "personal document archive."
The very few clients I come across who already have a fairly complete personal archive are immediately ready to be thoroughly screened for citizenship by descent eligibility. 🥂
They're also ready to hit the ground running for a foreign residency or citizenship by investment application.
They also inevitably almost all comment how satisfying it is to have these vital documents for themselves (and ancestors) in hand.
For people (especially Americans) who know they want to apply for a foreign residency or citizenship at some point, it's not a bad idea to start building your personal document archive now.
#dualcitizenship #vitaldocuments #freeedomofmovement
Passport attack vectors - threats to the ability of someone to obtain, renew, or possess a valid passport from their country of citizenship.
By my count, there are 9:
1. Your govt cancels/revokes your passport (ex. U.S. & Edward Snowden)
2. Someone steals or confiscates your passport (ex. tourist traveling or human traffickers)
3. You lose your passport (at home or abroad)
4. Your govt is too strained, inept, corrupt or backlogged to timely create or renew your passport (ex. Venezuela)
5. Your passport is with a foreign consulate awaiting a visa stamp while you need to travel urgently
6. You can't renew your passport b/c you're seeking asylum elsewhere and to preserve your claim, you can't avail yourself of the protections or benefits of your home country
7. Someone (possibly a border agent) damages or destroys your passport
8. Your govt. challenges your natz eligibility when you try to renew your passport (ex. Hungarian simplified natz)
9. A court or government agency demands surrender of your passport (ex. as a condition of bail).
So far, I've had clients dealing with six of the nine.
@snowden
#passport #dualcitizenship #freedomofmovement
A residency is not citizenship.
A residency plus future promised natz eligibility is still not the same as citizenship NOW.
Timeline to eligibility to APPLY is not timeline to citizenship.
A passport is not citizenship. They are two totally different, albeit related, things.
It doesn’t take someone with “the right contacts” to apply for a legit citizenship or immigration benefit. Scammers talk that way.
Fake experts and scammers peddle these (and other) misconceptions for clicks, views and leads. It seems they’re faster at propagating them than we are at debunking them.
Unfortunately reality often isn’t as fun as fantasy, when it comes to global mobility.
(but it’s still pretty darn fun!)
Can you GO there? 🛬 (enterability)
Can you STAY there? 🏘 (stayability)
If so, how much "WORK" is it for you to go there or stay there? 🛂 (immediacy of benefit)
Once you've done that work, how RELIABLY can you go there or stay there? 💪 (strength of benefit)
#freedomofmovement #mobilityassets
“Passport strength” is a term with the wrong question baked into it.
#passport #multplecitizenship #freedomofmovement
Happy to be here on nostr where I can let loose all my unfiltered ideas about freedom of movement, #multiplecitizenship and self-protection against despotic states (i.e. all states). 😄
If dual citizenship and freedom of movement is the game, here is the language. 👇
#dualcitizenship
https://www.malakoutilaw.com/the-insider-lingo-of-dual-citizenship