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Post by Trevor Eischen on Aug 28, 2014 12:12:31 GMT -5
Moein! I'm going to create this thread so we can combine useful links to information and documents. This way people will have more of a centralized place to go for forms they need and step-by-step instructions for each of the phases in the reclamation process. Please contribute below this message, and I will add your URL to the top and attribute who provided the link so that you can be a celebrity in the Luxembourg dual-citizenship community. Here's the start of the list (I'm leaving for work in 5 minutes, so it's going to be a very short list for now): What you need for phases one and two: bit.ly/1q8FPhmThat previous link is full of bureaucratic jargon. If you're confused, here's a check list for everything needed in stage 2: bit.ly/YYyd6MNeed something called the note d'information? Here's the link to the form: bit.ly/1sJaqk1Instructions for obtaining the FBI rap sheet: 1.usa.gov/1rixGcILuxembourg American Cultural Society and Center's information page on dual-citizenship: bit.ly/1lkZvhSDual-citizenship information from the Luxembourg consulate in San Francisco: bit.ly/1qnoakYVideo testimonial on the different steps in the application process: bit.ly/Z0kLzzWhat/where is this Bierger Center thing and can I get fries and a shake there? Bierger Center site: bit.ly/1u5nX6l, Google maps: bit.ly/1u5ol4WHave a question that needs asking and answering within 24 hours? Contact Xavier Drebenstedt at xavier.drebenstedt@mj.etat.lu Speak French? This link take you to guichet.lu, which is regularly updated with information on recovering citizenship: goo.gl/LiQyRf
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Post by Trevor Eischen on Aug 28, 2014 11:33:58 GMT -5
Trevor, Please know I am grateful for your creation of this forum. I have been doing a lot of reading through your blog, but the wordpress format has made it difficult to find the pertinent bits related to the citizenship process, even while searching through your blog's web domain on Google! Best, Garret Garret, congratulations! You are the first person to join the Luxembourg citizenship forum! Your prize: a free coffee. See you on Sept. 6!
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Post by Trevor Eischen on Aug 28, 2014 9:34:26 GMT -5
Hi everyone who's interested in learning about the Grand Duchy and applying for dual-citizenship through the reclamation law!
I've decided to make this forum to help facilitate everyone's projects and to take a step back from the discussion. I wanted to create this because, as you may well, I don't monitor the blog every day -- I have a job, a girlfriend, friends, family and other hobbies and activities that crowd my calendar.
Recently, I have encountered people scrambling to put together their projects a few weeks before a planned trip to Europe, which is unfortunate.
I have been working for more than two years on this project during moments of downtime in my senior year of college and freshman year of being an adult. I savored every struggle, every unknown and every problem. I interviewed Luxembourg bureaucrats, Kansans and Chicagoans about how parts of this crazy process work, and they were kind and generous with their help and information. There are people out there with whom I've exchanged many emails, and their help has been absolutely invaluable; I consider them my first Luxembourg friends. Through this process, which takes time and effort, I met new people and discovered so much about my ancestors and the European country from which they immigrated more than 100 years ago. It's been an awesome, life-changing project and an amazing outlet for a journalism and history major to write about the past, politics and genealogical research.
But some people have emailed me with bizarre expectations. One person said he had found my blog but hadn't read it and then asked me to provide all the answers I have already discussed on the blog. Another person became upset when I had not answered an email within 24 hours, even though I was out of town -- in Europe, actually, turning in my own documents at the Bierger Center.
This blog is not a means through which one can extend their fanciful backpacking trip in Europe. Nationality is a serious issue. People eligible for this project are fortunate enough that they have fewer steps than others who are seeking Luxembourg or European citizenship. We don't have to wait years and years for our citizenship to be processed. We don't have to be fluent in any of the national languages. This is truly generous of the Luxembourg government, which is elected by the people. As such, wannabe Luxembourgers in the U.S. and elsewhere need to show pride in their reclaimed or soon-to-be reclaimed nationality. We are to become representatives between the Grand Duchy and the U.S., believe it or not. We need to learn a few things about Luxembougers, their country, its history and possibly even pick up some words and phrases in the multiple languages spoken in the Grand Duchy (I'm struggle-busing with learning French right now, but at least I'm trying!).
This all aside, I have met so many interesting people who have shared their experiences, the true purpose of my blog and online presence with the insanely niche community. Questions come up, and that's understandable! I wish I could give you all the answers, but I don't work for the Luxembourg government and I'm not fluent in Luxembourgish ... yet. In the coming weeks, I will start adding links and transplanting passages from previous blogs to this forum in the hope that it will be of some use to people. It's really hard to find answers and follow conversations in WordPress -- I totally understand this as a moderator -- and I recently discovered that I missed a bunch of comments because of WordPress filters on conversations. If I don't respond to a comment, it's not because I'm irrationally viscous and hate you solely based on your username, though some of them are pretty weird. It's because I'm either busy or somehow your comment ended up in the spam folder, which I rarely check.
Anyway, let's get this started. Please feel free to start a question. I'll try my best to consolidate similar issues into the same forum. If you have any issues with the forum, please email me at trevoreischen1714@gmail.com. I'm new to moderating forums, so I'm not sure what I've enabled or blocked.
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