also called dual nationality · multiple citizenship
Holding citizenship of two or more countries at the same time.
Dual citizenship means you legally are a citizen of two countries at once, with a passport and full rights in each. That is more than permanent residence, which only lets you live somewhere without making you one of its nationals. The upside is more doors open; the downside is you may owe two countries taxes or, in some places, military service.
You take up your grandparent's Italian citizenship alongside your American one. Now you can live and work anywhere in the EU freely, but you also discover the US still expects a tax return from you every year no matter which passport you travelled on.
Two passports widen travel and residence rights, but can also mean two sets of tax and military obligations.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
Dual citizenship is holding two nationalities at once, and a second passport is the document of that second citizenship.
Citizenship by investment is one way to get there, acquiring a nationality in exchange for a large investment or donation to a country, rather than through ancestry or years of residence.
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