View Our 2023 Luxembourg Dual Citizen Interactive Case Studies | Click Here
The American-Luxembourgers Study
Embracing A New Population
Updated: January 25th, 2023
Written by: Daniel Atz with Lauren Lowell
As of January 1, 2023, 12,268 Luxembourg citizens were living in the United States of America. This is an increase of 9,170 Luxembourg citizens in the last five years. Who are these new dual citizens? This study is a one-of-a-kind overview of the American-Luxembourger dual citizens.
The American-Luxembourgers Study
Embracing A New Population
Updated: January 25th, 2023
Written by: Daniel Atz with Lauren Lowell
As of January 1, 2023, 12,268 Luxembourg citizens were living in the United States of America. This is an increase of 9,170 Luxembourg citizens in the last five years. Who are these new dual citizens? This study is a one-of-a-kind overview of the American-Luxembourger dual citizens.
Background
In 2018, we at LuxCitizenship began to realize that there was a serious need to demystify who are the American born individuals applying for Luxembourg citizenship through ancestry. We decided to use the aggregated data from our clients’ citizenship applications to create an overview of this new population. We called this the American-Luxembourgers Study. Our first study was based on 241 dual citizen applicants and 46 Luxembourg ancestors.
Now in its 5th annual edition, the 2023 American-Luxembourgers study is based on data from Luxembourg’s Ministry of Justice, National Archives, Data.Public.Lu, CTIE, STATEC, and our own study of 1,029 (future) dual citizens and 223 Luxembourg ancestors.
Context
In 2008, the new Luxembourg Nationality Act introduced the concept of dual citizenship in Luxembourg. This law also created the possibility to reclaim Luxembourg citizenship through an ancestor alive on January 1st, 1900. From 2009 to the initial deadline in 2018, 4,509 Americans with Luxembourgish ancestry had their initial applications accepted.
2023: As The Dust Settles
According to Luxembourg’s Ministry of Justice’s statistics, in 2022, 668 American adults obtained Luxembourg citizenship through an ancestor alive on January 1st, 1900.
American Adults Obtaining Luxembourg Citizenship by Year
Chart by Visualizer
2022 was the highest year on record for Americans obtaining Luxembourg citizenship. However, at the start of 2022, 1,996 Americans were still eligible to apply and for most of the year all applicants believed that they had a final deadline on December 31st, 2022.
The government only voted on December 21st, 2022, to extend the Article 89 deadline to December 31st, 2025. So the extension only happened 10 days before the original deadline.
Does that mean that 1,328 Americans had otherwise given up on applying for dual citizenship?
American Adults Obtaining Luxembourg Citizenship by Year
Chart by Visualizer
2022 was the highest year on record for Americans obtaining Luxembourg citizenship. However, at the start of 2022, 1,996 Americans were still eligible to apply and for most of the year all applicants believed that they had a final deadline on December 31st, 2022.
The government only voted on December 21st, 2022, to extend the Article 89 deadline to December 31st, 2025. So the extension only happened 10 days before the original deadline.
Does that mean that 1,328 Americans had otherwise given up on applying for dual citizenship?
Not By A Long Shot!
Luxembourg’s Ministry of Justice only posts statistics on completed citizenship applications. It takes four months to become a citizen. So this distorts the numbers.
These figures don’t include applications from September – December 2022. However, evidence suggest that as many people applied in these months as in the rest of 2022.
We’ll only have official numbers in 2024. Until then, we know that the true number of new dual citizens is higher than the Ministry’s figures.
According to the National Registry of Physical Persons (RNPP), at the end of 2022 there were 12,268 Luxembourg citizens living in the US.32 That is an increase of 2,767 over 2021. STATEC data shows that only 46 Luxembourgers moved to the US in 2022. Therefore, the true number of new citizens through ancestry in 2022 was actually closer to 2,721 people.
Luxembourg Citizens in the US (RNPP)
Table by Visualizer
The difference between Luxembourg’s Ministry of Justice figures with these total number of new citizens is because the Ministry of Justice publishes no numbers for minor children or any information about Article 7 citizenship.
By LuxCitizenship’s estimates, the total population of American-Luxembourger dual citizens has exceeded a size more than
1%
of Luxembourg’s total population.
Let’s Get To Know Each Other
In our ancestors study, we established that our 1,209 (future) dual citizens had 223 Luxembourg ancestors. These ancestors mostly came from Luxembourg in the mid-1800s, and the largest group settled in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Luxembourg Ancestor Place of Birth
Ancestor Last US Residence
Now Meet Their Descendants
From these 223 ancestors, 223 families popped up and branched out. Today, the 1,029 American-Luxembourgers cover a wide range of demographics and walks of life.
Participant Gender
Chart by Visualizer
Participant Age
Face of a New Generation
The biggest grouping of our dual citizens is in the 18-39 age range and 4-5 generations removed from their ancestor.
American-Luxembourg dual citizen Karissa eloquently explains about what her Luxembourg heritage means to her. This was part of a 2020 video campaign during the outbreak of Covid-19.
Generations from Ancestor
American-Luxembourgers: Where Are They From?
Much like their Luxembourg ancestors, many of our study’s participants were born and live in Midwestern states such as Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin. 34.9% of all our participants live in these three states alone.
Where Applicants Were Born
Where Applicants Live Today
Mobility – How “Close to Home” Are the American-Luxembourgers?
Nearly 70% of participants no longer live in the state where their Luxembourg ancestor resided. Of these same participants, 43% of them also do not live in the state where they were born. Overall, this is a very mobile population.
Born in Same State as Ancestor
Chart by Visualizer
Live in Same State as Ancestor
Chart by Visualizer
Born + Live in the Same State
Chart by Visualizer
Where Have They Moved?
Despite similar maps above, many participants have moved states in their lifetimes. The most common trend we see is from the Midwest to the West Coast. Also while over 1/3 of our American Luxembourger Survey respondents expressed having lived outside the US at some point in their lives, only 2% currently live in a foreign country.
Where Have Applicants Moved Since Birth?
Foreign Countries of Residence
Chart by Visualizer
Furthermore, 52.1% of the dual citizens who still live in the same state as their Luxembourg ancestor live in Minnesota. What’s keeping these Luxembourgers in Minnesota? Check out our Minnesota Dual Citizens study.
About the Dual Citizen Families
Just over half of our dual citizens are married. On the other hand, only 43% have children. The largest group among them has two children.
Education Level
The minimum education level of the participants in this study was a high school degree, and 90% indicate they have pursued higher education beyond high school.
Education Level Achieved
College Majors
Some of the most common college majors among our participants were Law, Business Administration, Nursing, and Computer Science.
College Majors
Career Path
While American Luxembourgers work in a wide variety of fields, over 1 in 10 work in education, while the same number work in healthcare.
Career Path
Applicant Job Titles
The American Luxembourger participants in our study have many different jobs and titles, but some of the most common professor, operations manager, president, and social worker.
Applicant Job Titles
The American Luxembourger participants in our study have many different jobs and titles, but some of the most repeated were Professor, Operations Manager, President, and Social Worker.
Are you ready to learn more about the American Luxembourgers?
Continue on to our American Dual Citizens Survey to learn more about the applicant’s motivations and future plans.
Are you ready to learn more about the American Luxembourgers?
Continue on to our American Dual Citizens Survey to learn more about the applicant’s motivations and future plans.
American Dual Citizens Survey
Learn more about the Luxembourg dual citizens.
Our team has put together six interactive studies on Luxembourg dual citizens. Check out our case study portal to continue reading.
Navigate our Case Studies
Learn more about the Luxembourg dual citizens.
Our team has put together six interactive studies on Luxembourg dual citizens. Check out our case study portal to continue reading.
Navigate our Case Studies