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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2447 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 15, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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My past (albeit limited) research on the topic has indicated that there's probably no country on Earth that lets welfare-dependent schizophrenics immigrate. But (just to double check), if one were to have to flee America (say, come 2029), which countries would be the best shot?

Without savings, the ability to claim us benefits abroad, ancestry, or changing that disabled status, nobody. Ireland would take you if you were irish. Paraguay and portugal if you had even moderate savings. Plenty of places if you're self supporting. You're probably stuck in the US if you can't find any paying task you can do.

Ireland would take you if you were irish.

Where "Irish" means at least one grandparent born on the island of Ireland (including Northern Ireland), or a parent who was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth. The system is deliberately set up to exclude Irish-Americans whose ancestors emigrated during the Ellis Island era. You can now maintain diaspora Irish citizenship indefinitely if each generation registers as foreign-born citizens before having kids, but if you have lost it you can't get it back.

Yep. I think it's possible to go further back if the relevant relatives are still alive, because actually claiming citizenship resets the generation gap (I don't have the rules open, but I'm pretty sure if your great grand-parent was born in Ireland, and you got your grandparent to claim Foreign Birth Registry citizenship, the grandchild would then be eligible despite the grandparent not being a citizen at the time of the parent's birth, let alone yours. I might be wrong on that though). But overall it's a very generous amount of diaspora citizenship, and really worth claiming for those eligible.

No - if your parent registers after your birth, you are SOL. My eldest is in this position - my wife was already pregnant when I started the foreign birth registration process after the Brexit referendum, and I didn't realise that there was a 10-month backlog. The only way I can pass on Irish citizenship to my eldest son is by living in Ireland (or Northern Ireland) with him and applying for naturalisation.

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