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Thread: Pros and Cons to citizenship

  1. #1
    Unregistered
    Guest

    Default Pros and Cons to citizenship

    Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer my questions.

    I'm an American citizen (USA) married to a Spaniard and I have legal Spanish residence. I'm not planning to move back to the US, but I'm not sure of the advantages and disadvantages of getting Spanish citizenship...
    We've been married for 6 years and live in Spain full time.
    I currently go back to the US for one month every year to visit my family, and I have a bank account, some investments (stocks and bonds) but no real estate there.
    I don't have any retirement income in the USA.
    I own part of a small farm, with my husband here in Spain, and a car, etc...Although his portion of the property falls under Catalan marriage law, so it would go mostly to his family when he dies, unless he has a will directing otherwise.
    I don't have any political reasons to want to be either Spanish OR American...
    Thanks again for your consideration of these questions.
    Sincerely, J. Ruoss

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    311

    Default

    The rights of a foreign resident in Spain are very similar to those of a Spanish citizen. The main differences are that a foreign resident ( this excludes all EU members who now hold a special status after the Maastricht Treaty), will not be able to access any job related to the Spanish civil service. Examples are those working at the post office, in the national teaching sector, national investigation schemes, and other posts in the public sector.

    Foreign residents are now able to vote in local elections if their country of origin holds a Reciprocity Agreement with Spain.

    Apart from this, being a foreign resident will mean that you will need to renew your residence card every five years. As a Spanish national you simply forget about this!

    As you can see there are a few advantages. I am not sure of the rights you would lose by renouncing to your US citizenship. Acquiring Spanish citizenship could possibly mean that you lose it. You would need to look into it by seeing if there any dual-citizenship agreements between Spain and the US.

    I hope this helps!
    Marta Flores
    Legal Assistant at Lawbird
    Check My Profile

  3. #3
    Unregistered
    Guest

    Default Thanks

    Thanks you very much for the clear and helpful reply.

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