PenPenWrites

A 20-something in my family texted to check on his great grandparents’ emigration paths: Had my mother come here from Poland and when? How about my dad? Poland or Russia?
The flurry of interest had little to do with the tracing of roots. He’s doing what a growing number of Gen Zers are busying themselves with: Collecting passports.
He’s already got a good shot at a Canadian passport: His grandmother on his mother’s side was born there. But the Polish connection, though a lot less likely, would be especially valuable. It would translate into an EU passport.

He’s not alone in his passport mania. Another 20-something in my family is also deep into research on alternative passports. That means half of my grandchildren are ranging around seeking alternatives or additions to their US. passports.

To put my family’s activities into a broader perspective, Newsweek carried an article that came right to the point: “Why Dual Citizenship Is The New American Dream.” Its findings:

• A growing number of Americans are looking at dual citizenship as a fallback plan in times of widespread uncertainty and deepening political divisions
• A Harris Poll survey found that four in ten U.S. adults (42 percent) have considered or plan to relocate outside the country to improve their quality of life or financial position.
• Among Gen Zers, this number went up to 63 percent, while 52 percent of millennials were considering moving abroad.

My first thought was that my grandkids may become part of a brain drain from the U.S. They’re looking for options in case things here deteriorate even more than they have. But that was me talking to myself about my world view.

When I asked them why they were doing this, I got somewhat different answers.

• He wants the passports in order to say he has them. It turns out, passport collecting is a thing for Gen Z,
• Also, an EU passport would let him live and work in Europe relatively easily, if he wanted to
• She wants to be free to study and live abroad.
• They both say alternative passports would make travel abroad easier and less visa-filled.
• Neither of my grandkids is a stranger to traveling and living abroad. So they are comfortable with the idea of being citizens of the world, with passports that let them be just that.

For most of modern history, the American Dream was rooted in one place: America. But that’s shifting,” a director at The Harris Poll, noted in an interview with Newsweek.

• “While dual citizenship used to be reserved for retirees, the wealthy, or those with strong family ties abroad, it’s now a growing goal for middle-class Americans who want more control over their future.
• It marks a real mindset shift—less about pledging allegiance to one nation, more about staying agile in a world that feels increasingly unstable.

“Dr. Kristin Surak, at the London School of Economics, turns her eye on recent history to share a perspective on what’s happening with younger adult generations.

• “What were once seen as stable democracies no longer look so stable to many people. Brexit led a number of UK citizens to search for an Irish grandparent and take up Irish citizenship to retain the benefits of EU membership.
• The extreme politicalisation of US politics over the past several years has had a similar effect of driving people to look for exit options.”
• “They may not be planning to move immediately–or at all–but many applicants want the peace of mind of knowing there’s a way.”

painting: Eugène Boudin, Jetty and Wharf at Trouville, 1863,