My wife and I got married a few years back and the plan was always to get her residency in the US and then citizenship and then move back to her home country. The more I think about it though, the more I don’t want to spend 3-5 years back there. For those who have spouses with citizenship, why did you do it? For those with spouses without citizenship, are there any benefits you’re missing out on based on them not having it?
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I am a dual national American/Italian, and my wife is German. She has her greencard but not her US citizenship. We probably will be moving to Europe in a few years so I am not encouraging her to get her US citizenship.
At times I have thought about giving up my US citizenship, because it does not really afford me that much and is almost a stigma these days given the US’s horrific foreign policy blunders of the last 50 years. Hard to tell all of these different rogue countries apart these days.
If it were me, I wouldn’t explore US citizenship for my wife. The US is a capitalist hellscape, that’s barely affordable to simply survive in, especially if you have any health conditions. If you have children, don’t tell the US, otherwise it’s another tax burden for them to deal with when they get older.
Quit playing Cyberpunk and go outside for a bit.
The main benefit of your wife getting US citizenship is that you don’t have to start the immigration paperwork all over if plans change in the future and you decide you want to move back to the US later on.
You should definitely get the citizenship of your wife’s first IMO if you actually want a second citizenship. You never know what could happen in the future. You can get a divorce and you have lost the access to that country. The way the world is going, it’s good to have a citizenship in south america.to escape nuclear war.
big YES. green card only good for 6 months or 1 year out of the country. if something ever happen in your new country, you want to be sure that your wife and yourself to move back to US promptly. and if you want to go anywhere with your wife, her american passport would give her mobility to go anywhere with you. it’s a pain to get visa, really.
unless your wife is made of gold and earn 7 figures. might be best for her to get US citizenship then US passport.
What’s your timeline? Citizenship, I think, takes about 18-24 months. I’m not sure if that’s a deciding factor or not, or if you care about throwing more money at Uncle Sam even though you’re not planning on living here long term.
My husband and I are in a similar situation, we’re relocating to the US (my home country) and the plan is to get him citizenship then leave again. I’ve done extensive research and from what I understand your wife may or may not be eligible to return to the US if she abandons her permanent residency. To keep permanent residency she’ll need to be in the US for a certain amount of time each year or risk losing it and being denied entry back into the US. If immigration even suspects that she is not a true permanent resident then you risk all sorts of issues. https://shorelineimmigration.com/how-long-can-you-live-outside-the-us-without-losing-your-green-card/#
For me it was simple, the US is always there to fall back on if we are both citizens with the job market, family, etc and it’s worth him getting citizenship so we don’t lose that access even if I intend to become a dual citizen in his home country afterwards.
Honestly if she’s not going to get citizenship then why not just move to her home country and skip the US step? She’ll have dealt with a ton of bureaucracy and paid a good amount of money for her green card just to abandon it a few years later but that’s just my two cents.
We’re in the same position. I’m currently living in Ecuador and she is Ecuadorian. For us, the reason we’re considering it is because she needs a visa for just about anywhere we go. I need to stay in Ecuador for at least a couple years for my Ecuadorian residency but it may take nearly that long to get her the visa anyway. We’ve got an appointment in a few months for a tourist visa since we sincerely don’t have plans to move to the US. The lawyer told me that I should expect they will deny her a tourist visa but at least with that we can travel to the US and a number of other countries. It’s really strange that with a US tourist visa you automatically have access to like a dozen more without needing to apply individually.
The real problem with applying for US permanent residency or citizenship is you now have to file US taxes forever. Not much of a concern for her low Ecuadorian salary but certainly something to consider for others that may have more assets or income.
Another option is move to Spain for 2 years and then she’d be eligible for Spanish citizenship. Then you and her could legally live in the EU, which is a nice bonus to have.
I really love this idea. So happens her bother lives in the UK. Even though they’re not part of the EU anymore she hasn’t been able to spend much time with him and his family in recent years. Bonus the Spanish passport is even stronger than the US.
YES. You should do it. She will be only a permanement resident and not a citizen and if she moves back and spends too much time out of US she can lose her residency. Encourage her to become a citizen as soon as she is able so she can have ease of travel and stay out of the country as long as she needs. Also, you don’t know when you’d need to be back in the US and you’d want her to be able to come back and forth as she needs. You also want her to have ease when managing your affairs if something happens to you. Or if something happens in the country you are living in, you want her to be able to take refuge with you in th3 US.
She can always get citizenship if she is the mother of your children. She may want to do it. Depending on the time you have been married you may not need to move back to America. She may be eligible because you have been together for so long.
Can you elaborate on that? I’ve never heard of mother’s getting citizenship without going through the whole process as everyone else
Also I was wrong by writing citizenship- the main issue is that your wife hasn’t t been caught over staying a visa in America. You can apply for a visa for her in the country you got married another option.
I can’t comment as I am American by birth. I have read a variety of visas options for people married to American citizens. options
Can she have dual citizenship between these two countries, or would her getting US citizenship mean renouncing her original citizenship?
Really? I’ve never heard of that, how does that work?
Money. And strong passport are the only reasons to get your wife a U.S. citizenship. After that 5 years of living in the US making comparatively more money, she will have a U.S. passport and will make traveling much easier. They’ve gotten much stricter at the borders of every country even if you are legally allowed to enter visa free. The fact that my wife was traveling with me and my passport has made it easier. She was pulled to the side from the border line multiple times
Does it change your mind at all if I say I have dual citizenship in Italy and thus she can also get citizenship there?
How about you just do nothing and let her make her own decisions regarding citizenship? “should I get her citizenship?” no, it’s not something for you to give like a toy to a child. She is presumably a grown woman right?
If you are thinking about if you would like her to get herself citizenship how about asking her how she feels
I just gave up my citizenship it’s such a pain in the ass with the double taxation. Even just filing all the time is way too much work for a place where I don’t ever want to live
If you are currently both in the US, it makes a ton of sense to stay a bit longer and get her citizenship then relocate. If you’re in her home country and this requires you both uprooting your lives and moving to the US for 3-5 years just to get her a passport, I feel like that’s a bit much. Everyone seems to be assuming you’re still in the US and can just stay because otherwise it would not be a clear cut “yes do it” to literally move countries knowing in 3-5 years you’d move back JUST for a passport. But you use here/there in different sentences so I’m not entirely sure which country you’re currently in and that could make a difference.