Can you update us newbies, why you're getting Italian citizenship?

Good luck with this. I hope your travels are as easy as possible!

You're an international superstar. Good luck!

(Hi Melismata! Welcome to Mecha!)

Basically, I work as an English teacher abroad in Poland, a member of the EU, but as an American that means I need visas (which companies don't often want to pay for) to work here legally. Becoming Italian makes me a European Union citizen, which means I'll have the right to change jobs, work over the summers in other EU countries when my school is closed, and do seemingly simple things like vote for my city council, take classes at local colleges, and, eventually, move somewhere like Spain and marry the man of my dreams!

I'm eligible through Italy's wildly permissive citizenship laws, which allow basically anyone who can prove they have a direct male ancestor who didn't become a citizen of somewhere else before their children were born in that somewhere-else (in my case, that somewhere-else is New York City) to become Italian now.

In a nutshell: it's the most important boost I can give my career for the foreseeable future, AND it lets me put down some real roots.

How awesome for you mdonley!

why you're getting Italian citizenship

For an ESL teacher EU citizenship is like GOLD. I am very jealous, mdonley, enjoy your jaunting about in the promised land.

That's great mdonley. Do you have to give up your American citizenship to become an Italian? I'm so envious of your travels throughout Europe and I like hearing about your adventures.

Do you have to give up your American citizenship to become an Italian?

Nope! Both countries don't care about the passports you carry, really. Presumably when in Europe I'll be (legally) treated as a European and in America like an American.