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

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:

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 origins, she 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 job 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.

What’s Next?

Sacrifices definitely needed to be made. Acquiring and renouncing nationalities is never easy.

But with the set of citizenships our son got for his birthday, we feel that he’s sufficiently diversified on a global scale.

Especially if the world continues to exist as we know it.

The life is not over though, so based on our circumstances, we might decide to increase our passport portfolio. We’ll see what the future holds!

And with this post coming to an end, I recommend reading these posts next:

• 7 Reasons to Acquire Multiple Citizenships
• Real Diversification – Banks, Passports, Residencies, Driving Licences, Assets

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