# Ever wish you held another nationality? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 3, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375 "2010-11-03T20:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/1 "2010-11-03T20:56:20Z")
And if so, why? Me, I sorely wish I’d been born an Englishman. Plentiful cheap curries, interesting history (Roman ruins!), and really interesting educational opportunities. (Lectures by brilliant people at Gresham College, free and open to the public? Why, yes, don’t mind if I do …). Plus, parliamentary democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/2 "2010-11-03T21:04:29Z")
You mean like born and raised as a foreign person from another country? :eek::eek::eek: As an American, I can’t say that thought ever crossed my mind. I have thought about moving somewhere else for a while (for weather, women, and raw cash, not political reasons) but not being raised somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/3 "2010-11-03T21:08:49Z")
I was raised in another country (born in Australia, and lived from age 2 to age 9 in England), so I’d be very happy to be a dual Australian/UK citizen, like my younger brother. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/4 "2010-11-03T21:20:13Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You mean like born and raised as a foreign person from another country? :eek::eek::eek: As an American, I can’t say that thought ever crossed my mind. I’m American and this thought has crossed my mind often. Of course, that’s probably because my father is German. I’ve never been able to speak German and have visited the country only a few times, but since childhood I’ve often wished to be binational, bilingual, and bicultural. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/5 "2010-11-03T22:24:59Z")
Over the years, when our politicians do something to make us look ridiculous in the eyes of the world, or one of our stupid celebrities does something of the sort, I’ve wished I was Canadian. Most people seem to like them, or at least not find them offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/6 "2010-11-03T22:30:16Z")
Several times I have been in a situation where being American was a huge disadvantage and would not mind having the citizenship of New Zealand, Canada or being from a small, out of the way place like Bermuda, Singapore or Brunei. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/7 "2010-11-04T10:40:01Z")
Having dual Spanish/American nationality would have come handy at several points, I’ve worked in the US twice (once for 4 years, once for 1) and it would have simplified things ranging from “renewing my US SS card” (as a foreigner, I could only do it within the US and in person, whereas US citizens/nationals could do it by mail at an embassy) to “getting a new job” (I had offers from the US which I was “not allowed to accept” because “the immigration lawyer says updating your worker’s Visa for a different position within the same company will be a very complex process” - the actual process was extremely simple, but if I’d been American the question wouldn’t have come up). I say dual because, well, the Spanish nationality simplifies other things and the “being from Navarra” is such a huge part of my identity that it’s hard for me to think of me being me if I was from someplace else. I’d be a different me. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/8 "2010-11-04T10:56:34Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > Several times I have been in a situation where being American was a huge disadvantage and would not mind having the citizenship of New Zealand, Canada or being from a small, out of the way place like Bermuda, Singapore or Brunei. Try having an American passport and then, at one of those inopportune moments, discovering that it’s still **preferable** to the \*\*other \*\*passport you have… :eek: (Israeli) ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/9 "2010-11-04T12:09:49Z")
For most of my life I’ve desperately wanted a US passport. My mother had me in Korea while my father was a student in Detroit. She took me over to the US when I was 6 months old, and we lived there until I was 13. Culturally I’m more American than anything else, so it’s very frustrating to be treated as a foreigner and constantly have to justify my presence there. I blame my parents - they were very short sighted about the whole thing. My mother wanted to be with her family for her first child. Meanwhile, other families were doing everything they could to have their kids on American soil. Korea is such a tiny country. Drives me nuts living here, and I’d happily trade in my passport for an American one, or an EU country passport. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/10 "2010-11-04T13:57:49Z")
Another \* nationality \* ? I have on occasion wished I was a different \*ethnicity \* (read: white) but I suppose that’s not what you asked. On occasion I have thought what it would have been like for me to grow up actually Indian. When I was adopted, it was decided one of the married siblings would take me. So that was either my aunt, who did end up taking me, already living in the States, or my uncle, who lived in India. I wonder what that would have been like? I’d probably be married with three kids. As to being born English? I love England and want to visit and love the history and everything about it…but if I was born there I’d probably think it were mundane, no? It’s the exotic that appeals to me like everyone else. So no, I guess not. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/11 "2010-11-04T14:01:27Z")
I’m an American, and I could easily see myself living in the UK, Canada, or France. Give the choice, it’d be France: great food, beautiful country, lots of history. ---
**Author:** ![ramel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ramel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/12 "2010-11-04T14:08:20Z")
The Netherlands. And no not for that reason. Every Dutch person I’ve ever spoken with has been a really nice, decent person. The country it’s self seems pretty cool too. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/13 "2010-11-04T15:19:36Z")
I could see enjoying being Swiss, or northern Italian, or Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/14 "2010-11-04T15:31:10Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Another \* nationality \* ? I have on occasion wished I was a different \*ethnicity \* (read: white) but I suppose that’s not what you asked. Never wish that!!! Ladies from the Indian Subcontinent ethnicities are (in my opinion) the most beautiful in the world! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/15 "2010-11-04T15:36:41Z")
I think for a lot of Americans, myself included, we lack a sense of cultural history and unity that people from the old world have. Our country is quite young, and American culture is really nothing more than a bunch of mishmash we lifted from the home lands. Historically we have a lot of politics and wars without developing a great deal of universal unique cultural elements. Increasingly it is becoming a media driven glurge of inoffensive pap. So I wouldn’t mind having been raised in another country with a deeper history or one with a stronger cultural tradition or language. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/16 "2010-11-04T15:40:30Z")
I was born in England but came to Australia as a child. No-one would think that I am English but I kind of always felt that I was. In my early twenties I went to live in London for a few years. I started off feeling as though I was re-attaching to my English roots, after all my grandparents were still alive in Yorkshire. However when I started talking to the locals it became apparent that they were bitter and jealous about Australians. They whined endlessly about their own situations but took great pleasure in making idiotic assertions about what they thought Australians thought, felt or believed. I soon stopped telling people that I was an Englishman, come home to find his roots, and just accepted that I was an Aussie and that these people were the most depressing assholes I had ever met. So, although I travel on a British passport, I once wished to hold another nationality but now the thought is ridiculous - I am an Aussie. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/17 "2010-11-04T16:04:10Z")
> [@ColdPhoenix](#): > > Never wish that!!! Ladies from the Indian Subcontinent ethnicities are (in my opinion) the most beautiful in the world! 🙂 Thank you, how very nice. 🙂 But I bet most minorities have had a flash-in-the-pan thought about how nice it would be to be the majority. There is a great Berkley Breathed comic about it. The little black girl, Ronald-Ann, is sitting in front of the TV. She says, “Sometimes I wish I had long, flowing, golden hair like Christie Brink-” _cut to next panel, where she slaps herself_ I laughed so hard when I saw that panel because it is so true. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/18 "2010-11-04T16:15:07Z")
Oh heck yeah. I’d dearly love to move home to Ireland. Unfortunately, my Father won’t cooperate, so I can’t get dual citizenship. Also unfortunate: The part of Ireland my family is from is now part of the UK, so it gets very complicated. I just seem to fit there better than in the US. I have an Irish personality, if there is such a thing. It’s hard to explain. Very social, but quietly so, not in the American sense at all. . . ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/19 "2010-11-04T16:25:17Z")
I qualify for EU citizenship, since I was born in the UK (Scotland). But, like **don’t ask** above, I came to Canada as a child and am pretty much as Canadian [these guys](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Bob_and_Doug.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/20 "2010-11-04T16:34:09Z")
I am eligible for Irish citizenship (my grandmother was born there) and seriously considered pursuing it back when Ireland was booming and the US wasn’t. I decided not to when I found out it was essentially impossible to own land in Ireland. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375.md?page=2)