Brexit Testimonies

"With Brexit on the cards, if I did not have dual citizenship I would have applied for Italian citizenship immediately, seeing I live with my family here in Italy."

Citizenship means that I fully share daily life in my adopted country with all the duties and rights it concerns. I was given dual nationality on marriage nearly 43 years ago in Italy. At the time Italian nationality meant little to me but now I am so grateful that I have it and if I had to choose between British and Italian, I would not hesitate in handing in my British passport. I am so upset by the turn that events have taken that I am no longer proud to be British but will never of course forget my heritage, that is impossible.

I don’t know very much about the application process, I am ashamed to say, except that my daughter too, who was born in 1975 in Italy has dual nationality as we applied to the Home Office for her British citizenship when the law was passed to allow British mothers to pass their citizenship on.

With Brexit on the cards, if I did not have dual citizenship I would have applied for Italian citizenship immediately, seeing I live with my family here in Italy. I am fully integrated into this country and have no wish to return to England even though I still have relatives there. I thought it were strange at first having dual citizenship and the possibility of being able to vote, getting called up for jury duty, which actually happened. As time has drawn on, I have more and more been drawn into the way of life here and have distanced myself in many ways from my roots.