Students in our school are living much more than the American dream; they are living the dream in two different countries. Several students in our school are dual citizens, meaning, a person is a citizen in two countries while not necessarily living in both countries. This means that when you visit these countries, you have the same rights and restrictions as any other citizen in that country. A dual citizenship is often acquired due to family ties and or history to a country.

Obtaining a dual citizenship is not usually an easy process. It often involves hours of paperwork and many signatures. Two students at EGR, Elliot Jung ‘18 and Kate Mackeigan ‘19 have dual citizenship to the US and Canada. They had to go through similar processes in order to gain their citizenship.

“My mom decided to get it for me because she is Canadian. She filled out all the paperwork that I needed when I was born,” Jung said.

“My dad was born in Canada so it was an easy process. We had to submit paperwork on his citizenship and sign a lot of paperwork. I feel like getting a citizenship from Canada is easier than the process for American citizenship,” MacKeigan said.

Depending on which countries are involved, dual citizenship can come with many benefits. This includes being able to travel on either countries’s passport and less difficulty traveling back and forth between countries. But most importantly, a dual citizenship can keep you connected to your home country, while living in another one.

“I have some more opportunities for studying abroad due to my citizenship.” said Elliot Jung ‘18.

While Jung is interested in traveling the world, Mackeigan values the opportunity to be able to live in a different country.

“I would be able to live in Canada, have health care, and many other benefits if I ever decided to move there.” said Kate MacKeigan ‘19.

Unlike MacKeigan and Jung who are dual citizens to our neighboring country, Anton Ludwig ‘19 is a citizen in the European country, Germany. Ludwig gained his citizenship through family connections as well. His mom was already a citizen in Germany, which made the process for Ludwig easier.

“The benefits are that I can legally live in Germany and any other country in the EU, and can vote in Germany. I also have two passports, which makes traveling in Europe a lot faster,” Ludwig said.

Securing a dual citizenship also means following the laws of that country, whether they require you to pay taxes or do military time. These regulations often make or break a decision on obtaining a dual citizenship.

“When I was born, Germany had a law that said that every 18 year old guy had to do either military or community service for some time, and I would have had to do that or give up my German citizenship. But a while ago they changed that law, so I don’t have to anymore,” Ludwig said.

Dual Citizenship may not be the norm for the majority of Americans, but for these students they get to experience the “best of both worlds.”