Devon and I received our Israeli passports today. For me it is passport number 4. I am now a Canadian, American, British, Israeli. Truly a global citizen. 😊
What's amazing is that I actually have a passport for every single country I hold citizenship. And, I'd be hard pressed to actually choose ONE of them as being my homeland.
Each country is a part of who I am.
I was born in Canada to a family of Brits. Both my parents and my two sisters were all born in London, England. This was a big deal, because despite living in Canada... their British customs formed how I was raised.
My family did not adopt many of the Canadian traditions. Instead I grew up drinking tea, having Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding for Sunday dinner, and having a water bottle to keep me warm at night.
As an adult, I moved to the United States, and after 10+ years, became a United States citizen. I was delighted to discover that becoming an American would not cause me to lose my Canadian citizenship. And I later found, that I was able to pass on my citizenship to my American children.
Both my sons, are considered dual citizens. When they were young adults I did all the paperwork needed to get their Canadian documents and helped them obtain their Canadian Passport and Social Insurance Number (allowing them to seek employment one day).
While I was in the process of completing the documentation for my kids to be recognized as born abroad Canadians, I discovered I was a born abroad British Citizenship. With the United Kingdom, there wasn't even any requirement to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship. Instead, all I needed to do was simply apply for a British Passport. Which I did.
And now, here I am living in Israel. Devon and I made Aliyah in November 2019. Because I am Jewish, I was entitled to full and automatic citizenship in Israel. As my spouse, Devon was granted the same privilege.
To qualify for a passport, all that we needed to do was wait until 90 days after our Aliyah date. On the 92nd day, we had an appointment to get our Israeli Passports. I think they were delivered to us within about 1-2 weeks. We thought that was pretty darn fast.
While I don't know what the Guiness World Record is for the number of citizenships, I do know I hold the highest record in my family.
It's amazing that I happen to be a citizen of 4 countries that all play nice together and do not require allegiance to their country only.
