Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming election, there will probably be the usual choruses of “I’m moving to Canada!” from those who aren’t on board with the results. And it’s not only voters: one of the two major-party candidates, current president Donald Trump, issued a similar threat/promise earlier this month. But is this even a possibility?
Canada doesn’t even want us to visit right now, let alone move there. But there are some countries around the world with shorter residency requirements for citizenship (and the passport). Here’s where they are and what you need to know about their policies.
How can you get a second passport?
As Jeff Opdyke points out in an article for International Living, most of the resources out there providing information on how to get citizenship in other countries mention two routes: buying your way in (which he says costs a minimum of $100,000) or tracing (and then proving) your ancestry. The $100K isn’t an option for most people, and despite people thinking the genealogy route is easy, that is definitely not the case across the board.
The other way to do it is to move to another country and go through their naturalization process. Again, this isn’t by any means an easy thing to do, but there are some countries where the path to citizenship won’t leave you broke and a decade older before you get your passport. Instead of 10+ years, you’re looking at more like two to five years of living somewhere before you can apply for citizenship (and then get your hands on that passport).
Which countries are we talking about?
Probably more than you think! In his article, Opdyke put together a more comprehensive resource, so check that out for more detailed information. But just to give you an idea of the types of places that have the shortest residency requirements before applying for citizenship, here are some examples, broken down by the number of years.
2 years: Argentina and Peru
3 years: Ecuador, Honduras, Poland, Paraguay
4 years: Brazil
5 years: Australia, Barbados, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, Jamaica, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay
Again, this does not mean it’s easy to get citizenship in these countries—and they will still make you jump through endless hoops and meet their requirements—but it’s nice to know about our options.