General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How did you get here? [View all]Cleita
(75,480 posts)before the American revolution was working in an American owned mine in Chile. He married a Chilean woman, my mother, had me, born in Chile, and brought me and his wife here just before I turned two years old. I was always considered a citizen and traveled on an American passport, but I had to take the same oath for citizenship that immigrants take before I was twenty-one years old to confirm my loyalty to the USA I guess. This kind of created a problem. Because, I had to renounce my Chilean citizenship before I was twenty-one, the Chilean government doesn't recognize my renouncement saying I wasn't of age to make such a decision and it resulted in me having dual citizenship. I don't claim my Chilean citizenship though, nor do I vote in their elections or pay taxes to them for that matter. However, my mother did have some Mapuche ancestry in her so I do as well and that makes me a descendant of a First Nations people as well.