I Hold both a U.S. and an E.U. passports. The U.S. passport entitles you to the many advantages which I am sure you are aware of. While the E.U. passprt entiltles you approx the same in the 27 European countries. So not only does it not hurt at all as Vertigo said but opens your opportunities to you and your family. Not to mention the ease in travelling.
First time heard the words "dual citizens" from a border official!!!
- Thread starter Triple Citizen
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Triple Citizen
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Totally agree. My younger brother like me holds triple citizenship, Canada, UK and Pakistan. He potentially can work/reside permanently in 29 countries when added up 
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
Totally agree. My younger brother like me holds triple citizenship, Canada, UK and Pakistan. He potentially can work/reside permanently in 29 countries when added up
Don't forget the the EEA countries and Switzerland.
Totally agree.
My wife, a USC, just applied for Italian citizenship through marriage. We sent out applications (mine for USC and hers for Italian citizenship) on the same day.
And I might get transferred to the Paris office soon so it would not hurt a bit for my wife to be an EU citizen as well.
Triple Citizen
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They must have changed that.
I used to live less than 20 miles from the Swiss border and many Italians worked in Switzerland (and lived in Italy). They needed a specific work permit.
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
Hmm, that is still the case, I think, but getting it is not a problem because with the equalised employment regulations, non-Swiss EU/EEA applicants have to be evaluated on the same level as Swiss ones, and the work-permit is just a guaranteed formality that doesn't put-off employers.
By the way, how easy is it to apply for Italian citizenship? I assume your wife has had to learn Italian, but do they test it? I have a friend who's considering marrying an Italian. And, is it true that if you marry an Italian in Italy, you can apply for citizenship after 6 months? What's the bureaucracy like? Thanks for the info.
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It's not difficult but it generally takes much longer than obtaining US citizenship.
They changed the 6-month (marriage and legal residence at the same time, marriage alone is not sufficient, just like it is in the US, marriage and having held a green card) rule into a 2-year (1-year if you had children together).
It is 3-year if you reside abroad.
Burocracy is horrible. We had to gather many documents (all with apostille and translation), including certificate of good conduct for each single country, state and city where my wife lived after turning 14 (thank god she came to NYC when she was 9 and never lived anywhere else).
Birth certificate wasn't good because it was issued by USSR, which of course is no more and we needed to gather one from Ukraine (my wife was born in Kiev in the USSR era), with apostille, translation, legalization.
We just needed to be at the Consulate in person and submitted the documents. Then they said we just need to wait. The fastest they saw was 10 months, but by law the Italian Govt has to give you a decision (approval or denial) within 2 years.
Once that is obtained, then my wife will need to learn a simple sentence in Italian (which is literally 6 words) and take the oath. The day after she took the oath she becomes an Italian citizen and can apply for a passport.
We applied the same day (US citizenship for me and Italian citizenship for her). Most likely, I'll be a dual citizen several months before her. But on the other hand, there's no residence requirement if you're married over 3 years (that's why she's able to apply even though we don't live there).
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
I see. Thanks, sarrebal. It's good to know. Good luck to you both.