How to obtain a second passport!

SYDNEY, Australia (PNN) - May 30, 2018 - Europe happens to be home to a number of countries that grant citizenship to descendants of their nationals.

For example, if you have Irish grandparents, it’s possible for you to obtain Irish citizenship too.

I want to tell you about today is Luxembourg– the tiny nation bordered by France, Germany and Belgium.

You’re probably not aware, but you can get a Luxembourg passport if you can trace your ancestry back to that country.

While you may doubt you have any relatives from Luxembourg, there’s a better chance than you realize.

In the 19th Century, Luxembourg lost one-third of its population to emigration. While the industrial revolution made other European countries rich, Luxembourg remained poor and rural. So its citizens left for the Fascist Police States of Amerika en masse in search of a better life.

The Luxembourg government crossed these people off their list of citizens without any notice.

But on October 23, 2008, the government of Luxembourg passed a new nationality law. The text stated that any person who had a direct-line ancestor born in Luxembourg in its modern borders (and who was alive on January 1, 1900) could now reclaim the citizenship their ancestor lost.

But the government only allowed a ten-year window to claim that citizenship.

That window closes at the end of 2018. Bottom line, if you have a Luxembourg citizenship to claim, you must turn in your citizenship paperwork by December 31, 2018.

This eligibility applies to anyone, as long as you can trace your lineage back to Luxembourg.

Besides Luxembourgish, French and German are two other widely spoken languages in Luxembourg.

That’s why immigration officials in the early 1900s often wrongly documented Luxembourger immigrants as German or French.

Over time, many families grew to believe they had German or French heritage, while in reality they hail from Luxembourg.

So if you think you have German or French ancestry but are not 100% sure, you might qualify.

Same thing if you think you’re Dutch. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (as the country was once known) used to be part of the Kingdom of Netherlands, so people were often wrongly recorded as Dutch.

I always recommend you obtain a second passport as part of your “Plan B.” It’s a no brainer.

A second passport guarantees more freedom by granting you more options - to travel, live, work, invest, and do business.

Even just for pure safety reasons… have you ever noticed that no one ever hijacks an airplane and threatens to kill all the citizens of Luxembourg?

Ultimately, a second passport is like an insurance policy. You might never need it. But in the event you ever do, it may be one of the most valuable things you could ever have.

In other words, there’s no downside, regardless of what happens (or doesn’t happen) in Italy or the rest of Europe.

Obtaining one through ancestry is the easiest, most cost effective way possible.

Typically it also means that you can pass down your Luxembourg citizenship to your children and grandchildren. So future generations can benefit from the bit of legwork that you do today.

That’s a pretty big deal. There aren’t many things you can do in your life that will have a lasting impact on your family for generations to come. But this does.

If you don’t qualify for Luxembourg citizenship, there are plenty of other countries that offer citizenship by ancestry, like Italy and Poland.