The Best Second Passport in the World…and How to Get It

I’m pretty sure we’re all familiar with the various potato famines that decimated Ireland in the 19th century. Millions died. Millions fled…mainly to the U.S. and U.K. 

Now, as the aftermath of Brexit overruns the U.K. economy (only those politicos dumber than a buttered spud did not see this coming!), British citizens who can trace their ancestry back as far as great-grandparents in Ireland are racing to reclaim Irish citizenship and an Irish passport. 

A stat I saw from this summer shows that the number of Brits granted Irish citizenship in the post-Brexit years has surged more than 1,200%! 

It turns out, as well, that for the first time, more Irish than British passports have been issued to Northern Ireland citizens. (Northern Ireland is officially part of the U.K., though citizens are also entitled to a passport from Ireland if they wish.) The popularity of Irish passports has even been growing in Unionist post codes, meaning communities that consider themselves more British than Irish.  

I note all of this not because of any particular Irish story, but because it’s another quintessential anecdote highlighting the exploding demand globally these days for second passports.   

This demand, I am convinced, is tied to the fact that a great preponderance of the world’s population recognizes we are in the most fragile global situation we’ve faced in my lifetime (that goes back to 1966, for those with a scorecard). 

Britain is in trouble because of the impact of nationalist ideology that pulled the country out of the EU, weakening the entire economy and the political system.  

Russia’s war in Ukraine has destabilized the entire global economy, driving the price of oil and natural gas higher. It has also created food-supply shocks and food instability in various emerging countries. India is now locking down rice and wheat exports, adding to food chaos and food inflation globally. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. has statistically devolved into emerging-nation status politically, per a new U.N. report that ranks the U.S. as a “flawed democracy,” wedged between Cuba (above us) and Bulgaria (just below). And, of course, the Federal Reserve’s rush to vaporize inflation at all costs is driving America and the global economy towards a 1930s, Depression-era catastrophe. 

Cherry on top: Increasing concern that China moves on Taiwan, creating a military crisis for the world. Any military attack on Taiwan would also have vast economic implications in the U.S. and globally, since the island makes 65% of the world’s computer chips and almost 90% of the most advanced chips. 

None of us have any control over any of that.  

The only thing we can control is how we individually prepare for whatever challenges lie ahead. 

Which is where those Brits chasing Irish heritage return to our story… 

They’re making a wise investment in their future by pursuing a second passport. It gives them options as Brexit unfolds and quite likely worsens the economic landscape of the U.K. for a generation or two. (A new study released today found that British trade to the EU is now 16% lower than it would have been without Brexit.) 

Ireland is part of the EU, so with an Irish passport, you have the option to live and work anywhere in the EU. And of course, there’s Ireland itself. 

Ireland is quite possibly the only Western nation on the planet that doesn’t piss anyone off with stupid, invasive, empirical policies. They just supply the world with Guinness and whiskey and call it a day. Ireland is also beautiful, safe, welcoming, and prosperous. As such, an Irish passport is quite likely to remain one of the best passports in the world to own, if not the very best. 

For anyone who can prove Irish heritage back to a great-grandparent, it’s easy to obtain a second passport from Ireland. Just show proof that an appropriate ancestor was in fact born in Ireland, and prove your relationship to that ancestor, and—boom!—you’re Irish, as though a leprechaun waived a magical shillelagh over you. 

OK, it’s not quite that simple. There are some processing fees, the wait time is lengthy, and you’ll need to research your ancestry on your own dime. But other than that, there is no big cost for Irish citizenship because you’re proving it through bloodline. 

Of course, I’m using Ireland as my example here because the Irish diaspora is so large that many millions of Americans and Canadians (and Brits) qualify for Irish citizenship and an Irish passport. Truth is, though, that citizenship through bloodline is an option in a number of countries, including Poland, Italy, the Philippines, and many others. 

Perhaps the most interesting possibility is proving Austrian or Hungarian ancestry by way of those country’s past empires. Both Austria and Hungary today have laws in place that award citizenship and a passport to anyone who can prove an ancestor lived within those empires’ territory going back through their entire history. For Hungary, that’s back to about the year 1,000 A.D. 

The footprint for those empires today covers all or part of 13 modern counties stretching from western Ukraine to northern Italy, and from the Czech Republic to parts of the Adriatic coast. 

What I’m ultimately getting at is that for millions of Americans and Canadians, a second passport is just waiting to be snatched up. 

Finding all the documents might be a bit challenging, particularly if you’re chasing ghosts from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Or maybe it’s easy because you have all the family records at your fingertips, but you just never thought about it. 

Either way, now’s the time to give the idea of a second passport some serious thought. 

Maybe all those concerns I noted above never materialize (and I hope they don’t). 

Then again, best to prepare when the preparation is easy.  

As with insurance, you don’t want to try to buy it after you need it. At that point, you’re out of luck.