Get EU Citizenship without actually living there?

[Allisgood]

Just google the residency requirements for naturalization.
Pick the ones with the lowest number of years…
You will have to live there, pay taxes, learn the language.

 

[Marshal]

Just google the residency requirements for naturalization.
Pick the ones with the lowest number of years…
You will have to live there, pay taxes, learn the language.

1. Live there - not really. If you travel within the Schengen Area, there are no immigration checks/no borders and no one knows where you really spend most of the year.
2. Pay taxes - not really. You don't have to work, or pay taxes if you register as an EU citizen with sufficient funds (have enough money to support yourself). Amount varies from country to country. For example in Poland you need to show that you have around 1000 PLN per month. And in Norway you must have around 160 000 NOK per year. Recent statement from your bank account is accepted. You will also need private health insurance in most cases.
3. Learn the language - here you are absolutely right.

 

[Allisgood]

From my experience the bottleneck is always the processing time once you are eligible.
So if you want some bureaucrat to approve your application eventually, it would be better to do it by the book.
If they see you pay very little taxes, and somehow realise you are hardly there, not sure this will positively affect your processing time. I have seen people wait for years and years.

 

[banafinfodafuggiano]

From my experience the bottleneck is always the processing time once you are eligible.
So if you want some bureaucrat to approve your application eventually, it would be better to do it by the book.
If they see you pay very little taxes, and somehow realise you are hardly there, not sure this will positively affect your processing time. I have seen people wait for years and years.

this is true, when i got naturalised in Canada they asked me about my tax returns, even tho it wasn't a requirement to apply for Canadian citizenship.

 

[OCT2023]

You can try Italy, to get citizenship by marrying an Italian:

• If you've been living in Italy together: after 2 years from the date of your wedding or civil union (same-sex marriage).
• If you’ve been residing outside Italy: you can only apply for Italian citizenship after 3 years of being married to an Italian citizen.
• The term is shortened by half if you have children under 18 or if you've adopted children together legally.

Don't forget there is a language requirement ... and the processing time can be pretty long

This is an ideal way of getting Italian Citizenship faster than Naturalization if you cannot qualify for Descendency.

I wonder ... if you were to give a value to Italian Citizenship (assuming a non-EU citizen) ... what would be the value? Meaning ... spending those 2-3 years + processing instead of some kind of investment alternative to get EU citizenship ... I guess you can value it at $1 million? Something of similar value and time to Malta Citizenship by Investment.

 

[banafinfodafuggiano]

Don't forget there is a language requirement ... and the processing time can be pretty long

This is an ideal way of getting Italian Citizenship faster than Naturalization if you cannot qualify for Descendency.

I wonder ... if you were to give a value to Italian Citizenship (assuming a non-EU citizen) ... what would be the value? Meaning ... spending those 2-3 years + processing instead of some kind of investment alternative to get EU citizenship ... I guess you can value it at $1 million? Something of similar value and time to Malta Citizenship by Investment.

Italian citizenship is something I would value at $5 to $10m USD. The Italian passport is one of the strongest in the world, hard to get (10+ years) and they do not have any citizenship by investment Scheme. Nothing like Malta.