Questions about dual citizenship

[spicer650 0]

Okay to sum it up here is our situation. My fiancee and I have filed and been approved for our K1 but now we're facing the citizenship problems. If she comes here and we're married (with her being Belgian) she has to give up her citizenship there? :/ What if things were to not work out, what comes then? Would she not be able to return to her country? We were wanting to both keep citizenship though and possibly myself get citizenship there also so that we could be free to live in either area depending on what we saw fit with our families etc. How would I be able to get citizenship there, and I can keep mine along with having theirs, correct? Any input is appreciated, thanks a lot.

[GaryC 7]

Okay to sum it up here is our situation. My fiancee and I have filed and been approved for our K1 but now we're facing the citizenship problems. If she comes here and we're married (with her being Belgian) she has to give up her citizenship there? :/ What if things were to not work out, what comes then? Would she not be able to return to her country? We were wanting to both keep citizenship though and possibly myself get citizenship there also so that we could be free to live in either area depending on what we saw fit with our families etc. How would I be able to get citizenship there, and I can keep mine along with having theirs, correct? Any input is appreciated, thanks a lot.

Your SO will not become a US citizen just because she comes in on a K1 visa. To become a US citizen she must naturalize. That is something entirely different. When she gets her K1 approved she will get a visa to the US for the purpose of marrying you. After that she must file to adjust her status if she wants to stay. At that point she will get her "green card". That is the legal permanently residence status. She will still be a citizen of her home country. For that entire time she will still be a Belgian citizen and the only way that will change is if she files and is approved for naturalization.

[spicer650 0]

Okay to sum it up here is our situation. My fiancee and I have filed and been approved for our K1 but now we're facing the citizenship problems. If she comes here and we're married (with her being Belgian) she has to give up her citizenship there? :/ What if things were to not work out, what comes then? Would she not be able to return to her country? We were wanting to both keep citizenship though and possibly myself get citizenship there also so that we could be free to live in either area depending on what we saw fit with our families etc. How would I be able to get citizenship there, and I can keep mine along with having theirs, correct? Any input is appreciated, thanks a lot.

Your SO will not become a US citizen just because she comes in on a K1 visa. To become a US citizen she must naturalize. That is something entirely different. When she gets her K1 approved she will get a visa to the US for the purpose of marrying you. After that she must file to adjust her status if she wants to stay. At that point she will get her "green card". That is the legal permanently residence status. She will still be a citizen of her home country. For that entire time she will still be a Belgian citizen and the only way that will change is if she files and is approved for naturalization.

Oh wow okay, thats great news then. In the meantime we were still curious about myself getting Belgian citizenship possibly. My entire family and myself are all going over there to visit and stay for a bit here at the end of March. After a couple weeks they are going back but I was wanting to stay until her paperwork and everything is finished up there but we were also hoping to maybe just stay a little longer to spend more time with her family too. I can only be there for 3 months though just like when she comes here I believe, but also just for the future in case we decide that we would like to go stay with her family for 6 months or something sometime over there it would be nice to at least have the option ya know? Is there any possible way for us to go about this or do you know by chance? lol thank god for VisaJourney though, its answered ohhhhh so many questions for us younger couples that really have absolutely no clue how this all works when coming into it.

[GaryC 7]

Okay to sum it up here is our situation. My fiancee and I have filed and been approved for our K1 but now we're facing the citizenship problems. If she comes here and we're married (with her being Belgian) she has to give up her citizenship there? :/ What if things were to not work out, what comes then? Would she not be able to return to her country? We were wanting to both keep citizenship though and possibly myself get citizenship there also so that we could be free to live in either area depending on what we saw fit with our families etc. How would I be able to get citizenship there, and I can keep mine along with having theirs, correct? Any input is appreciated, thanks a lot.

Your SO will not become a US citizen just because she comes in on a K1 visa. To become a US citizen she must naturalize. That is something entirely different. When she gets her K1 approved she will get a visa to the US for the purpose of marrying you. After that she must file to adjust her status if she wants to stay. At that point she will get her "green card". That is the legal permanently residence status. She will still be a citizen of her home country. For that entire time she will still be a Belgian citizen and the only way that will change is if she files and is approved for naturalization.

Oh wow okay, thats great news then. In the meantime we were still curious about myself getting Belgian citizenship possibly. My entire family and myself are all going over there to visit and stay for a bit here at the end of March. After a couple weeks they are going back but I was wanting to stay until her paperwork and everything is finished up there but we were also hoping to maybe just stay a little longer to spend more time with her family too. I can only be there for 3 months though just like when she comes here I believe, but also just for the future in case we decide that we would like to go stay with her family for 6 months or something sometime over there it would be nice to at least have the option ya know? Is there any possible way for us to go about this or do you know by chance? lol thank god for VisaJourney though, its answered ohhhhh so many questions for us younger couples that really have absolutely no clue how this all works when coming into it.

Gaining citizenship in any country isn't a snap decision to make. It usually takes years and most of the time it involves giving up your citizenship of your birth country. Although dual citizenship is possible is some instances it isn't easy to do. If you want to stay in Belgium for an extended time just get a visa. You can't change citizenships like you would change socks.

[Ban Hammer 12,863]

Okay to sum it up here is our situation. My fiancee and I have filed and been approved for our K1 but now we're facing the citizenship problems. If she comes here and we're married (with her being Belgian) she has to give up her citizenship there? :/ What if things were to not work out, what comes then? Would she not be able to return to her country? We were wanting to both keep citizenship though and possibly myself get citizenship there also so that we could be free to live in either area depending on what we saw fit with our families etc. How would I be able to get citizenship there, and I can keep mine along with having theirs, correct? Any input is appreciated, thanks a lot.

you're about 6 years off from that time to make that decision.

here is a link on dual citizenship btw.

link

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

you're about 6 years off from that time to make that decision.

To clarify, if someone is LPR based on marriage to a USC, they are eligible to naturalize 3 years (not 5 years) from the date they received their LPR status.

They can file their N-400 90 days prior to their third anniversary of LPR status.

[Ban Hammer 12,863]

you're about 6 years off from that time to make that decision.

To clarify, if someone is LPR based on marriage to a USC, they are eligible to naturalize 3 years (not 5 years) from the date they received their LPR status.

They can file their N-400 90 days prior to their third anniversary of LPR status.

der me, i thought it was 5 years. but still they get to nail you for the 10 year green card fees

[Imua 0]

I think the rules depend on the country. I was told that it is very easy to become a Nepali citizen and I would not have to give up my American citizenship - it would be worth it just to go someplace like a museum and have them automatically charge the extortionate 'foreigner price' and then whip out my citizenship card and gently correct their perceptions...

[Carlawarla 1]

Okay to sum it up here is our situation. My fiancee and I have filed and been approved for our K1 but now we're facing the citizenship problems. If she comes here and we're married (with her being Belgian) she has to give up her citizenship there? :/ What if things were to not work out, what comes then? Would she not be able to return to her country? We were wanting to both keep citizenship though and possibly myself get citizenship there also so that we could be free to live in either area depending on what we saw fit with our families etc. How would I be able to get citizenship there, and I can keep mine along with having theirs, correct? Any input is appreciated, thanks a lot.

Just an aside. After coming here on the K-1, and later getting her greencard, and then a ten year greencard...she's under no obligation then, or ever to become a citizen if she doesn't want to.

[Ban Hammer 12,863]

Okay to sum it up here is our situation. My fiancee and I have filed and been approved for our K1 but now we're facing the citizenship problems. If she comes here and we're married (with her being Belgian) she has to give up her citizenship there? :/ What if things were to not work out, what comes then? Would she not be able to return to her country? We were wanting to both keep citizenship though and possibly myself get citizenship there also so that we could be free to live in either area depending on what we saw fit with our families etc. How would I be able to get citizenship there, and I can keep mine along with having theirs, correct? Any input is appreciated, thanks a lot.

Just an aside. After coming here on the K-1, and later getting her greencard, and then a ten year greencard...she's under no obligation then, or ever to become a citizen if she doesn't want to.

yay carla is back i'm off to the canadian ot for carlacoffee

[DeadPoolX 9]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this already in this thread, but if you have dual-citizenship, you are only regarded as a citizen of the country in which you are residing.

Let's use me as an example. I am a U.S. citizen by birth and if I were to get Canadian citizenship, I'd have dual-citizenship. While in the U.S., I'd be considered an American citizen only; my Canadian citizenship wouldn't mean squat. Conversely, if I was in Canada, my newly created Canadian citizenship would take over and my American citizenship would now be meaningless.

I can legally hold both citizenships, but I can only be considered a citizen of one country or the other at a time -- and this depends on which country I am in, the United States or Canada.

This also accounts for the reason why the U.S. frowns on dual-citizenship, since if I held Canadian citizenship and got into legal trouble in Canada, the American Embassy would be powerless to assist me. I'd be Canada's problem. In addition, having more than one citizenship can make for conflicts if war occurs between the two nations in which you hold citizenship with at the time.

While it's extremely unlikely that the U.S. and Canada would ever go to war against each other, if I was in Canada, holding Canadian citizenship at the time, I could theoretically be called into service for Canada against the United States, my birth country. Although I somehow doubt the any government would fully trust a naturalized citizen when their opponent is that citizen's home nation; they'd have no way of knowing if he or she could be fully loyal to them. The fact, remains, however, that such a scenario could take place.

[jundp 191]

While it's extremely unlikely that the U.S. and Canada would ever go to war against each other, if I was in Canada, holding Canadian citizenship at the time, I could theoretically be called into service for Canada against the United States, my birth country. Although I somehow doubt the any government would fully trust a naturalized citizen when their opponent is that citizen's home nation; they'd have no way of knowing if he or she could be fully loyal to them. The fact, remains, however, that such a scenario could take place.

I may be wrong, but I believe in that instance you automatically forfeit your American citizenship.

[DeadPoolX 9]

While it's extremely unlikely that the U.S. and Canada would ever go to war against each other, if I was in Canada, holding Canadian citizenship at the time, I could theoretically be called into service for Canada against the United States, my birth country. Although I somehow doubt the any government would fully trust a naturalized citizen when their opponent is that citizen's home nation; they'd have no way of knowing if he or she could be fully loyal to them. The fact, remains, however, that such a scenario could take place.

I may be wrong, but I believe in that instance you automatically forfeit your American citizenship.

I think you're correct. But once again, that's probably why the U.S. doesn't care for dual-citizenship.

[spicer650 0]

Ooops took me a little while to respond to this. To clarify things, apparently it only takes 5-6 months to gain citizenship to Belgium, threw a marriage. We were going to go about doing this but I'm still worried about how it would affect my US citizenship. Does anyone know if it will in any way?

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Are you sure that is citizenship and not permanent residency? That seems like a very short time. According to Wikipedia, which you may take as you like, it says that:

Where a person is married to a Belgian citizen for over three years, and has held a permit allowing settlement in Belgium for that period, the residence period for naturalisation may be reduced to 6 months.

So you have to be married for 3 years and only then is it expedited to 6 months of residence and not 3 years.

You should look up if Belgium allows you to have dual citizenship, meaning that you do not have to renounce your US citizenship to take up Belgian.