How We Gave 3 Citizenships to Our Son (🇳🇱, 🇭🇺, 🇲🇰)

--- by D. Petkovski ---

We’re proud to have guaranteed the status of a world citizen to our son before he was even born.

We did this by granting him 3 citizenships: Dutch, Hungarian, and Macedonian.

Besides emotional and financial stability, we consider multiple citizenships the biggest gift for a newborn.

With all the being said, here is how we acquired all our nationalities:

Table of Contents

Macedonian Citizenship by Birth

Both my wife and myself were born in…

Ah, this gets complicated.

Based on our birth certificates, we’re born in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Shortly after our births, the Republic of Macedonia gained independence, which made us Macedonian citizens.

Thirty years later, Macedonia changed its name to North Macedonia due to disputes with Greece.

There’s your history lesson.

In summary: we’re both Macedonian based on our parents’ nationalities.

My Wife Acquiring Hungarian Citizenship by Ancestry

Hungary has a diverse set of naturalization laws and not all of them require residency.

More specifically, “ethnic Hungarians” can apply for simplified naturalization if they can prove their ancestral lineage.

To come to the point: based on my wife’s grandma’s origins, my wife acquired Hungarian citizenship without ever living in the country.

My Naturalization – Acquiring Dutch Citizenship

After finishing my studies and gaining competences on the job market, we decided to move to the Netherlands for better opportunities.

Long story short, we live in the Netherlands for almost a decade.

The Dutch naturalization law is simple:

Reside in the Netherlands for at least 5 consequitive years
Pass an easy integration exam
Pay €1000+
Renounce any previous nationalities

Everything is easy-peasy until that last condition.

However, as an expat on a highly-skilled work visa, I saw great value in the ability to settle hassle-free in any EU country. Thus, getting a Dutch nationality was a must and I applied immediately after my fifth year of residency.

I became a citizen of the kingdom of the Netherlands within 6 months.

Renouncing My Macedonian Citizenship

As a consequence of becoming Dutch, I had to renounce my Macedonian citizenship.

Practically, it wasn’t a big deal, but at one moment, I felt an identity shift… I became no different than any foreigner to the country I was born in.

This feeling lasted for around 1-2 seconds and life went on.

My Wife’s Naturalization in the Netherlands

My wife (then girlfriend) didn’t really need the Dutch nationality because she was already an EU citizen.

Plus, it wasn’t a good deal for her – she’d need to renounce two hard-to-get citizenships to acquire a single one.

Well, there’s an exception to this rule:

If you’re married to a Dutch person and you naturalize, you don’t have to renounce your other citizenships.

So this was a no-brainer.

Getting Married

Here we are on our wedding day in front of the beautiful Town Hall of Delft:

And shortly after, my wife acquired the Dutch nationality without obligations to renounce anything.

The Birth of Our Son with 3 Citizenships

Our son was born in 2023 and inherited all our nationalities:

Macedonian 🇲🇰, Hungarian 🇭🇺, and Dutch 🇳🇱.

Knowing what I’ve been through due to the hand I was dealt, I consider this the greatest gift to my son, besides Bitcoin.

And it goes far beyond maximizing visa-free travel. It gives a person the power of optionality:

He can settle, study, and work in most countries on the continent.
He can choose the lifestyle and labor laws that are most advantageous to him.
Either HU or NL becomes too conservative for the European Union? He still has EU citizenship.
He wants to be a tax slave taken care of by the liberal west? Pick a country and settle.
He prefers to live around rich cultural heritage but more conservative values? Go central.
The EU falls apart in 20 years? He can reside and work freely in 3 totally different countries.
He doesn’t like living under EU law? Just move to North Macedonia.
Any of the countries decide to tax non-resident citizens? He gives it the middle finger and renounces the citizenship.

I can go on and on!

The benefits are endless.

My Future Plans

Regaining My Macedonian Nationality

North Macedonian naturalization law says that one can reapply for Macedonian citizenship 3 years after they’ve lost it.

This timer is currently ticking and I plan to regain my nationality.

I was never a patriot, so my motivation is not nostalgia-fueled. I just feel vulnerable being a single-citizen.

But won’t I lose my Dutch citizenship if I acquire another one?

There’s an exception to that rule – if a Dutch national obtains the citizenship of his spouse, the revocation procedure doesn’t apply.

Our marriage did wonders for our passport portfolio.

Getting Hungarian Citizenship

Hungarian naturalization law says that spouses of Hungarian citizens are also eligible to acquire it if they:

Are married for 10 years, or 5 with a kid
Are able to apply by themselves (i.e. speak Hungarian to the officer)

The best part?

As with the naturalization by ancestry, there’s no residency requirement.

Next Steps

With this set of citizenships, we feel that we’re sufficiently diversified on a global scale.

If the world continues as we know it, there aren’t many things that aren’t achievable with our current nationalities.

The life is not over though, so based on our future circumstances, we might decide to increase our passport portfolio.

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Cheers!

Author

D. Petkovski

📓 Author Husband & Father
Software Engineer StrengthCentric
Bitcoin Hodler DeFi Veteran
🌍 Everything Enthusiast 🔥 Optimist

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