It is increasingly common for people to live in a country other than the one they were born in and enjoy natural citizenship with. This could be due to employment opportunities or placements, moving for love and human connection, or perhaps even to move to a preferable and more ideal living situation. No matter your reason, it’s likely valid if you’re coming to a helpful post that promises to make this process a little easier for you.

There is much in the way of practical advice for citizenship-seekers out there, but in addition to filling in forms and coming to the right testing platform on the right day,  it’s also important to consider just what the principle emotional truths of seeking citizenship may yield, and what wisdom could help you stay guided throughout this process.

Applying for citizenship or hoping to be accepted by another host country can be a fantastic thing to consider, but it’s important to take nothing for granted and to work for this through the right format. We have some advice to help you follow this process correctly:

Fall In Love With The Culture

Fall in love with the culture as much as you can. Of course, forcing an interest, passion or love in anything will often lead this process to feel artificial, but luckily, you don’t need to do that. Simply spending time learning the language, visiting the landmarks, meeting a country’s people, eating its cuisine, learning the customs and generally being as attentive as you can be within your host country will help you develop a natural love for the place.

There’s a common piece of advice given to any thespian hoping to adopt a new accent for acting purposes. In order to pay the correct amount of attention necessary to ensure that they adopt all of the microexpressions and mannerisms that an accent will require, an actor has to fall in love with the culture. They have to be completely interested in getting in right, in learning the little idiosyncrasies of speech and how the voice is filtered via mouth movements and stresses on certain spoken vowels.

Thankfully, in order to become a citizen of a country you needn’t have to adopt the personality of the native population. You can still preserve your cultural identity, and keep everything that makes you, you. However, you also need to have a real appreciation for the country you hope to call home. You need to be familiar with it. When you fall in love with your environment, running through the citizenship tests in order to legitimise your legal belonging will be much, much easier to deal with.

Understand The Prerequisites

Different countries will have different prerequisites for citizenship depending on how long you have lived there, if you’re married to anyone holding natural citizenship, or how much you earn. Variables can be different, such as how long you spend in the country each year. It’s worth understanding the entire breadth of criteria you must meet in order to make that citizenship application in the first place. Without hitting all of them, it’s likely you’ll simply be declined.

Citizenship can seem like a huge hurdle for some, but if you’re consistent, you wait the appropriate amount of time and you stay active and engaged, you’re sure to meet the criteria sooner or later. Most countries know that active, healthy citizens are only a benefit to their country, and so they rarely put the boundaries artificially high provided you can prove yourself in the best context. We would deeply recommend following a Citizenship Preparation Course to help you get everything in order, allowing you to make the strongest application possible when putting that food forward.

Spend Time Travelling

It’s very easy to live in one small area of a country and feel you know almost everything about it. After all, we may think that culture is evenly distributed throughout the natural identity of a country. Of course, that is rarely the case. This is why it’s important to leave your comfort zone and travel to the extent that you can, even if it’s just to some nearby cities and towns. Familiarise yourself with the geography, visit landmarks, enjoy driving or walking routes that help you see more of the natural land.

When you do this your perspective will expand, and you’ll enjoy experiences that will further motivate you to gain citizenship. Sometimes, this process may even help you come to understand that practical realities of a country, as while it may be much better than where you came from, nowhere is without its poorer areas or areas with the need for improvement. The more you can explore, the more you can understand and come to appreciate your country.

Inform Yourself 

If you wish to be verified as an informed and active citizen, you need to live like one. Keep up with the news cycle of your local area and nationwide. Have an opinion on topics and if confused, do a little research. Perhaps learn a little about the local history of an area and see if this can help you come to a more thorough understanding of the local scene.

Informing yourself is not only an activity that helps you with your citizenship goals, but it can help you feel more rooted and connected to the place you reside. Why feel cut off? Just because you come from somewhere else doesn’t mean you cannot appreciate the natural history of an area, or feel connected to it, or become part of that story. Quite the contrary, in fact the history you’re learning of is filled with people who did the exact same. Now it’s your time to shine. But first, you need to inform yourself in a promising context.

Stay Active & Engaged In A Community

Get involved in the community! Perhaps you might volunteer, or come to a certain local event with your business as a sponsor, or simply join in with the local festivities at the end of each year. You needn’t have to become the saviour of a local town to have a real positive impact, even if that’s just by pleasantly greeting everyone you come across and supporting local business. This might not help you have a marked impact on your citizenship test, but it will certainly help you feel like a citizen, and outside of some financial and legal benefits that come with verification, the two are largely the same.

Keep On Top Of Your Finances

Financial stability is an essential part of becoming a citizen. You need to prove that you have a regular income in most areas, and that you manage your finances carefully. You needn’t be the most wealthy person in your area nor do you need to divulge your spending indulgences (such as eating too much takeout food at the weekend), but showing that you have reliable credit and have settled or consolidated debts correctly can be a big bonus. 

Not only this, but keeping on top of your finances can help you avoid a range of issues that may otherwise hamper your motivation to stay within the country or live as a self-respecting, productive citizen. After all, constructing a life somewhere new is often undertaken with the promise of things getting better, and so focusing all of your energies in this direction can be worthwhile.

With this advice, we hope you can enjoy the best success throughout your citizenship journey.