Americans leaving the US?

[italy50]

I started my quest for Italian citizenship in September 2003, by first doing research. Then, as of February 2004, I started gathering the necesary documents.

I asked the Consulate (Chicago), at the end of 2003, if there were many more applicants ahead of me, or if I would be processed right away, once I submitted my documents. He told me that there were at least 80,000 applicants for dual citizenship since 2002, just in his Consulate alone. I then asked him how many applied in 2001, and was told, maybe 30,000. This sounded like a sudden increase to the official, because he said usually, he may have between 20-25,000 applicants, and so he informed me that there could be a delay.

Anyway, i started to wonder if there was also an increase in applicants in the other Consulates and called New York and Miami consulates. They also told me there was a significant increase in applicants.

Why the sudden increase? The jure sanguinis law has been around since 1992, and certainly many Italian/Americans have taken advantage of dual citizenship, since that time, but why such a large change NOW?

Are Americans or Italian/Americans leaving the US in great numbers?

I asked several Italians who I knew that were going through the process, and two said they were fed up with the US, while the other said she wanted to be able to travel throughout Europe. However, these are but a few people. What about the other thousands?

I did a bit of research and found that over 600,000 to 1 million Americans are looking for citizenship in Canada, but not necessarily Italians. Maybe because the language is still primarily English, and easier to move to?

Does anyone have any idea about this sudden surge in applications? even the LA consulate is reporting a 2 year wait.

Are Americans trying to leave the country in greater numbers because they hate the US now? or is it for retirement benefits, or cultural identity?

One aspect that I personally thought of was that the sudden increase came right after 911 attack, or perhaps that is coincidence? and maybe Italians didn`t want to support the war, or possibly another war? I guess there are all sorts of reasons why people are achieving dual citizenship more so now than say 5 years ago, and it doesn`t necessarily mean they are leaving, but the ones I spoke with are leaving.

Anyone have any ideas or input. does anyone know of people looking to leave?

[mler]

There may be several reasons. For one thing it is now legal to hold dual citizenship, and this information has becoming widely available through the internet. In addition, a financially prosperous baby boomer population is reaching retirement age, many of whom have the resources to spend time in other countries. It is also an age at which people begin to think of the past, and this is an opportunity to make a connection to that past. At the same time, a growing and economically strong EU makes European citizenship an economic asset. My own feeling is that these reasons combine to explain the dual citizenship phenomena.