Becoming Dual Citizen: American-Swedish

In 2008, I embarked on an adventure that I never knew would impact my life. University was over. The recession was beginning. And my mind was in the clouds.

I had booked a round-trip ticket to stay for 1 month in the Greek Islands. I ended up staying 4 years. Not because I was afraid of going back home, but because I had found adventure and love.

The Greek Islands became my Never Never Land, and I, it’s Wendy; the ocean waves were my secret keepers, and the white walls of the Mykonian labyrinth was my playground.

But Wendy had to eventually go to back home, in the story of Peter Pan and Neverland. The problem with me, is my love could not follow. So I had a choice. Do I stay against the tourist rules in Europe? Do we get married after only long-distance relationship?

This is where Sweden comes galloping into my story like a knight in shining armor. My love is a Swedish citizen, and in Sweden, they have something called a ‘relationship visa’. This allowed us to apply to live together legally in Sweden. My dreams of never feeling the pressure of being forced to fly away from my future was becoming real. We could get real jobs, and have an apartment, and take adventures in the Swedish country side or a next door country. It was all falling into place.

Of course, that dream was quickly smashed when I received a letter that was denying us the visa. But that was quickly fixed with my appeal. And then, I got a residence visa!

If you’re American, did you need the Swedish citizenship?

No, I did not need it. I could have lived my days on my permanent residence visa and kept all my perks that a citizen has (except voting). But you never know what the future holds, and if I decided to leave the country, then I would lose my residence visa (it’s only permanent if you are still living in Sweden).x

The world is such a big place, and the Swedish passport is neck-and-neck with Germany for the World’s #1 passport to have. Now I am able to:

• Come and go to Sweden as I please without an expiration date
• Live in another EU country
• Work in another EU country
• Travel to (a few) places easier and potentially get a cheaper visa (I’m looking at you, Russia.)

Do you feel Swedish?

Yes and no. I am 100% American. My accent is American. My values are American. And so is my attitude and volume of my voice in a restaurant. But I also think there is a bit of Swedish in me – in all of us.

Swedish share some of the same values that I was taught in America. Gender equality, quality of life, word hard, don’t be evil, have fun, freedom of choice, know what is right vs wrong, don’t judge others…So in that aspect, I can proudly take on what it means to be a citizen of Sweden because of what my American values taught me.

Was it easy to get the citizenship?

I wouldn’t say it was hard. I didn’t have to take a test or memorize all the municipalities of the country, or speak Swedish for that matter. But it was a game of time. A person needs to be settled in Sweden for 3-5 years (depending on what visa they have to begin with). This means paying taxes, has a job, and potentially has a Swedish mate. Read more information on the process of becoming a Swedish citizen.

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