Thank you so much for the information Tomas. Very interesting to learn how it all works. You have enlightened me!
Karen Medeiros-Huffman On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 10:52 PM, Tomas Leal <tomasl...@comcast.net> wrote: > In response to some of the questions and statements regarding > Portuguese citizenship: > > Reason for wanting citizenship: > My reason is purely sentimental, a greater connection with my Azorean > grandfather and the family there. In fact, I already possess Irish > citizenship and passport via my mother's father, so I have EU status. > > The U.S. "ignores" other citizenships rather than accepts them. To the > U.S., a citizen is a citizen and that's that. Because of the > relationship with Israel and that country's granting of citizenship to > anyone Jewish, the U.S. has ignored the dual-citizenship issue. As far > as the U.S. is concerned, I am only an American citizen. > > How I found what I needed: > I knew my grandfather's village--Flamengos, Faial--and thus knew the > parish. All parish records from those years are stored in the new > library in Horta. All I had to do was look up his baptism record by > the date. He was baptized a few days after his birth, so I easily > found the original document. Because I still have a way to go with > citizenship, I have only a photocopy for my own interest, not an > official copy. When I need that, I will get it. > > Because of the strong position of the Catholic Church in Portugal, a > baptismal record counts as a birth certificate. In fact, there is no > birth certificate for most people of that time. When getting Irish > citizenship, I used a certified copy of that grandfather's baptism > certificate, and that was all that was needed to prove Irish birth. > Because my grandparents immigrated (separately) to the U.S., they > married in San Francisco, where my mother was born and married and > where I was born. The paperwork proving my connection was easily > obtained--took about five minutes. > > My Azorean grandfather also immigrated to San Francisco, where he > married my grandmother. My father was also born here. Thus, once I > have the Portuguese document, I will easily have everything I need to > prove my connection. > > "Benefits" of EU citizenship: > Having EU citizenship allows me to live and work within the EU. > However, it does NOT make available all the benefits. I have never > paid into any European health plan; thus, I cannot get national health > insurance anywhere in the EU. For that, I must be employed and pay the > taxes. In 2010, I had a medical emergency and had to pay completely > out of pocket. Fortunately, medical care in the EU is nothing close to > what is in the U.S. Treatment that would easily have cost over $1,000 > cost me about $175. My own medical insurance reimbursed my > prescription costs less my co-pay, and the ER cost was less than my co- > pay, so I got nothing. > > An additional reason for pursuing Portuguese citizenship is there are > some work possibilities for me there. Should something come through, I > would go into the tax system and thus contribute to the various > programs such as health care. I could then, possibly, get some kind of > coverage. > > Tomas > > -- > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions > when they arrive. > For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." > -- Hugs and Blessings from Karen (Medeiros) Huffman in Paso Robles, CA USA Searching for Medeiros and Cabral in Sao Miguel, Santos, Silva and Costa in Terceira Acores. Searching for Anderson and Swanson in Sweden and Schaeffer and Schommer in Germany. -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
