How can I get a second passport?

There are 8 legal routes to a second passport through heritage (descent, restitution, identity, belonging) or family ties (marriage, parent/child, siblings, adoption). Over 130 million Americans may already qualify.

Can Americans have dual citizenship?

Yes, the United States allows dual citizenship. Americans can legally hold passports from multiple countries without losing their U.S. citizenship.

How do I establish permanent residency abroad?

Permanent residency can be established through heritage-based citizenship, marriage to a citizen, family reunification programs, or other legal pathways covered in Claim Your Second Passport.

Claim Your Second Passport | How to Get Dual Citizenship

Inside the Book

Note to the Reader

U.S. citizen? Check. Active passport? Check. Future secure? Check.

At least, that's what I assumed.

Everything I valued—freedom, mobility, safety, opportunity—felt guaranteed. Then the ground began to shift.

A global pandemic. Court rulings that made millions wonder what might change next. Wild market swings. For the first time, I questioned whether my take on the future was as stable as I'd believed.

One afternoon, over coffee, a dear South African friend shared a perspective shaped by growing up where security was never certain.

"Maybe you'd feel more grounded if you had a second passport," she said. "I have three. So, I have options if I need them."

Her words put into language something that I had circled but not yet named. This wasn't about travel. It was about leverage—the steadying calm that comes from knowing you're not bound to a single system or a single set of rules.

Not everyone feels this pull for the same reason. Some want a safety net. Some want mobility. Others want belonging or a different future for their kids.

This book is for anyone ready to understand the doors already open to them—real, recognized, and lasting. Not to abandon what matters, but to protect your ability to keep it.

Summers and a Future

Priya grew up in Denver, fully immersed in American life—but every summer, her family returned to Mumbai to visit her great-grandparents. Those sweltering weeks were her favorite: eating street food, shopping in crowded markets, being fussed over by relatives, elaborate family celebrations, listening to stories late into the night.

One evening, long after she was supposed to be in bed, she sat at the top of the stairs and overheard her parents talking softly in the kitchen. They admitted they sometimes felt like guests in their own heritage, worried they couldn't pass enough of it along. Coming to America so young—and giving up their Indian citizenship—had cost them more than they realized, especially once they began raising a child.

Priya always assumed India would be a place to visit, not a place she could legally belong to. So when she discovered the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) program, she felt a spark of possibility. She could apply—and so could her parents—while keeping their U.S. citizenship.

She urged them to apply together. Six months later, three OCI cards arrived in the mail. They weren't full citizenship, but they unlocked something that felt just as valuable: the right to return anytime without a visa, to buy property, even to imagine retiring there one day.

Childhood summers had given Priya roots. The OCI card gave her wings—a lasting legal link to her family's first home, and a new kind of freedom for their future.

8 Legal Routes to Get a Second Passport

Discover which pathway is right for you and your family—through your heritage or through your closest relationships.

Pathway I: Heritage

Descent

Citizenship through bloodline and heritage

Restitution

Reclaiming citizenship lost to exile or persecution

Identity

Ethnic, religious, or diaspora ties

Belonging

Cultural integration and naturalization

Pathway II: Marriage & Family Ties

Marriage

Through a spouse or long-term partner

Parent/Child

Through parents or children

Siblings

Family reunification through siblings

Adoption

Guardianship and court-recognized family

Claim YourSecond Passport