Re: US/UK dual citizenship - passport misery
Many reasons encouraged me to take the citizenship plunge:
The other four members of my family are US citizens
I dont have to go through the relative hassel of renewing my Greencard
I can work on military contracts (I'm an engineer) requiring security clearance
I can vote in everything from our local schoolboard elections to trying to keep out GWB - sorry, one extra vote couldn't swing it....
I have no less feelings for the UK - love the place, just couldnt live there again.
Does it must mean I'm a little more "international" than my ex-countrymen who fly to spain for two weeks every year and demand HP sauce on my English sausages while swilling some wood alcohol disguised as lager?? Can't say really. Tourons from most countries should be avoided like the plague.
Am I disloyal to the UK? My Mum would say yes but I don't think so. I had to come here to earn a decent living as an engineer - something that was not available to me back in the mid eighties in the UK.
A fellow ex-pat friend of mine went home to visit and went back to his old local pub. One old boy there said he was nuts for leaving England blah blah blah etc. Turns out he had never been outside of Hartlepool and he was in his seventies!!
Ahh, I feel better now. This thread does get the juices going eh? (Bit of Canadian speak there)