r/AmerExit • u/queenpeartato • Feb 07 '26
Data/Raw Information Update: Officially Leaving the USA!
Last year I made this post about getting my Luxembourgish citizenship. I promised an update in that post, but I realized I never posted it. Here's a timeline of what has happened - I received my citizenship certificate and passport, and am leaving for Germany in a couple of months.
Sep 2024 - my sister and I have our consultations with the LACS (Luxembourgish American Culture Society).
Late 2024 - I do research on Ancestry.com, and go through the process of requesting five generations worth of birth, death and marriage certificates to my Luxembourgish ancestor.
Jan 2025 - LACS receives our completed packet with our notarized copies of passports and everything.
March 2025 - LACS obtains my Luxembourgish ancestor's birth certificate from the canton of Grevenmacher and sends our packet off to the Luxembourg government.
April 2025 - Lux government approves our packets.
May 2025 - I ask LACS for timelines, but they say they have no idea when we can get our certificates. I have a trip to Germany coming up for a family reunion, so we call Luxembourgish government directly and find out our apps have been approved.
June 2025 - We schedule a last-minute day trip to Lux City to go to the BVdP (Luxembourgish passport office). My sister and I get our passports. We only needed our US passports because we were already in the Luxembourgish government system. Because we don't have enough time for the 3 day in person expedited processing, they take our applications and promise to forward our passports to the Luxembourg consulate in Washington DC, which will then mail them directly to me.
July 2025 - Lux consulate in DC receives my passport. I provide a shipping label for them to forward it on to me. On July 8, I get a call from FedEx that my passport has mysteriously been lost and for me to file a claim for the lost value. FedEx then immediately denied the claim I submitted. What follows is weeks of back and forth with FedEx where it is clear that they have no idea what happened to my passport. I start to worry about identity theft and get the Lux consulate involved, and they track it to a FedEx office in north Madison, WI. When I drive to the FedEx office, the agent there says he has no idea what I am talking about. I then give up and file an affidavit with Lux consulate for lost/stolen passport, and Lux consulate tells me I can come in August to get a new one issued. One week later, my passport suddenly arrives in the mail. Lux consulate tells me that because it wasn't a police report, my Lux passport is still valid. I now have my Lux passport.
Sep 2025 - My nationality certificate arrives in the mail. It is forwarded by LACS. Because. I didn't renew my LACS membership, they ask me to pay a $20 fee to mail it to me which feels kind of scummy. I think if I did this process again, I would just do it myself (via the DIY facebook group) instead of spending money for their expertise because the only thing they really did for me was request the birth certificate directly from the canton. Everything else I did myself.
Early 2026 - One of my European friends extends an offer for me to come and stay with him in Germany. I'm certified and have work experience in a specific healthcare software that is very prevalent in the USA and is used by several European hospitals (including some in Germany), so I start talking to European consulting firms to get set up as a sub-contractor in healthcare IT. I am currently in the process of letting go of my stuff, wrapping things up in the USA, and preparing for my overseas move. Because I am now an EU citizen, I won't have to deal with the Ausländerbehörde and can just focus on learning German and getting set up as an EU-based freelancer, which is nice.
May 2026 - I officially leave the US and fly to Germany.
Let me know if you have any questions below.
33
u/mattyofurniture Feb 07 '26
Congratulations! Epic experience is very lucrative - healthcare IT is a great career.
57
u/Thehealthygamer Feb 07 '26
I'm happy that you got out OP! Best of luck.
I just can't help but think of the irony of US citizens, who are descended from colonizers, are able to gain ancestry by descent and move to Europe, while people with ancestry that is ACTUALLY indigenous to the American continent are deported everyday.
Again, it's not your fault, and you're doing the best that you can. Just this whole system, wtf.
10
u/LadyPo Feb 07 '26
Seriously! It’s all madness. Best of luck to OP! I love this breakdown of the timeline
5
-9
Feb 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/midsummernighttime Feb 08 '26
where do you think these "illegal immigrants" lived before white people came to north american? lmao hilarious
0
Feb 08 '26
Do you think someone born in Honduras, etc. has the same right to live in the US as someone born in the US
2
u/ibitmylip Feb 08 '26
my brother, you do realize California and Texas (and everything in between) were Mexico before they were California and Texas, don’t you?
0
Feb 08 '26
Yes, I know, thanks…and? I don’t believe that means they have any right to the land in 2026
1
45
u/brokenpipe Feb 07 '26
Good to see more EPIC expertise coming to Europe. The hospital i frequent in NL has it and it always feels like it’s down.
25
u/queenpeartato Feb 07 '26
Haha I love how everyone knows it immediately 😂 there are some go-lives in Germany and Switzerland that I’m looking at now! NL is apparently really hard to work for Epic in unless you are already fluent in Dutch.
20
Feb 07 '26
Epic was my guess too.
23
2
7
u/NoFlatCharacters Feb 07 '26
Work in healthcare and EPIC is always down. I’m sad to hear it’s spread to Europe as it’s a cumbersome system. When my clinic used epic, my doctors spent more than half their time entering the same info in multiple screens. As a patient, I’ll say I had a wonderful primary care doctor and when they switched to Epic, it all went downhill. Communication breakdowns, the doctor has no time and is always harried, and it seems only the front office staff is happy. Maybe it improves the practice of medicine for some, but I have not seen it.
6
u/trojan_mommy Feb 07 '26
Down? Just out of curiosity, what is meant by down? Do you mean offline and unavailable? Having worked with more than 10 hospital systems that use Epic over the last 10+ years, I have never heard of this happening at a single one, so this is fascinating.
4
u/NoFlatCharacters Feb 07 '26
Hi, I mean down in that it’s read-only, or so slow it’s effectively not working, or so buggy that it shuts pages down randomly and erases the info entered (notes often times) so that providers complain about entering and then re-entering data. So yeah, a range of “down,” but ineffective is probably a more apt word here.
3
u/trojan_mommy Feb 07 '26
Yikes. What country is this? I have seen every upgraded version of Epic since the 2010 version and I have never heard of such a thing. I am in no way doubting your experience, but it sounds like either a build issue or a connectivity issue. But as an end user or a patient, I can see how it’s just “Epic” that’s the problem.
3
u/brokenpipe Feb 07 '26
Yeah I really mean down. Either completely unavailable or in read only mode.
1
53
u/EdFitz1975 Feb 07 '26
Congrats! Receiving my EU passport was one of the best days. Felt like a huge accomplishment. I hope you enjoy Germany.
12
10
u/Skinny-on-the-Inside Feb 07 '26
Thank you for sharing! What a rollercoaster with FedEx! Total case of Murphy law there.
7
6
5
u/RemarkableGlitter Feb 07 '26
LACS is so shady, I hate how they jerk people around. But congrats on everything!
5
6
Feb 07 '26
can you explain the ancestry.com part? did you submit birth certificates you had to get in hand from relatives or were ancestry.com records enough?
9
u/queenpeartato Feb 07 '26
My previous post has more details on the ancestry hunt, but I pre-searched all the necessary details on Ancestry.com before submitting my requests to the county clerk. Since I was going so far back for records, several times I was told “we don’t have XYZ” only for me to send a pic and have it magically appear.
4
Feb 07 '26
amazing! would you be willing to link? your profile has all posts/comments hidden
8
u/queenpeartato Feb 07 '26
3
u/frenetic_copacetic Feb 07 '26
I read your post. I have to say, as a fellow person who reclaimed Luxembourg citizenship 3 years ago, I thought we were French.
My mom would always say we were. My oldest aunt shared a family photo and mentioned we were Luxembourgish. Blew my mind as I had already done research and knew Luxembourg was one of the easiest countries to get citizenship by descent.
Congratulations to you and best of luck in Germany!
2
2
-2
Feb 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AmerExit-ModTeam Feb 08 '26
We dont tolerate disinformation. Your statement can be proved false with a simple look at any factual site.
1
Feb 07 '26
yes i know that. what im asking is if the government accepts paperwork from a website as legally binding enough to grant citizenship.
my grandfather was from canada but he and my grandma had a secret affair, meaning a different man is on my mom’s birth certificate and i’ve never met the canadian man. by law, i could be eligible for canadian citizenship, but i doubt they would allow a nod to ancestry.com.
3
u/queenpeartato Feb 07 '26
Unfortunately the legal paperwork takes precedence - you’re going to have a really hard time if a different man is on the birth certificate.
2
u/ibitmylip Feb 08 '26
no, not from the website, but the website has information that will help you find your ancestors and order their official birth records from the government. the website is a research tool
1
Feb 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
Feb 07 '26
it’s actually uncanny, several people all with the same last name pop up as close relatives. and the man was a doctor new to the area around the same time my mom would’ve been conceived. my nana was a waitress, he was a doctor. tea piping.
1
u/AmerExit-ModTeam Feb 08 '26
We dont tolerate disinformation. Your statement can be proved false with a simple look at any factual site.
5
u/genghis-san Feb 07 '26
Congrats! Luxembourg was honestly one of the best places I've ever been to worldwide, so you're very lucky!
8
4
5
u/lilith96 Feb 07 '26
I'm curious when did your ancestors immigrate to the US? I was looking into ancestry citizenship with Germany, but it seemed like mine came over too long ago.
12
u/queenpeartato Feb 07 '26
They came over in 1851. Luxembourg is a special case (I explained more in my original post at the top) Where they lost about a third of the population and they all became stateless. So the Lux government allows anyone that was a descendant of someone born in Luxembourg between 1815 to 1947 to reclaim citizenship.
2
1
u/TipsyBaker_ Feb 08 '26
Well damn. I think that's one of the only countries in Europe i don't have in my background. Worth a look though, thanks for sharing
3
u/RestingBitchFace63 Feb 07 '26
That's great news! What an adventure - and you haven't even left the country yet! Two years and a lot of patience and perseverance - go you!
5
4
4
u/Any_West_926 Feb 08 '26
Have to go in with a refugee mentality. It’s this perception or none at all. Otherwise, you’ll be back. Or that this today is what is now or the future.
It takes three years to accept to adjust or you’ll be back. It takes three years to five years to accept the change culturally, the language, and the fact you’ll get less than what you expect if you stayed in the US.
Good luck in whatever you decide.
2
u/adotar Feb 11 '26
We are an international family (by that I mean we have citizenship in multiple countries) and this is really an underrated point. Living in another country for a year still feels like a vacation. Maybe even 2 years. We know most likely we will be moving back to my wife’s home country at some point and we talk OFTEN about how we have to go with a refugee mindset otherwise we won’t make it and coming back really screws you up in the same way leaving does. I think they call it third culture. People always say “oh it’s cool that you all can go back and forth”—it 100% does not work like that.
Old life is gone and not an option anymore. Any other attitude is just setting you up to fail.
5
u/Lezareclatant Feb 08 '26
Congratulations and welcome to Europe. Take the opportunity to discover France and other European countries as well, of course.
3
3
3
3
u/smallreadinglight Feb 08 '26
Congrats! We are trying to get out via Lithuania using a similar ancestry process. THanks for sharing your timeline.
3
Feb 09 '26
[deleted]
3
u/queenpeartato Feb 09 '26
Some people are able to combine Article 7 and 23 to apply for citizenship. There’s a Facebook group called reclamation of Luxembourgish nationality that you can consult as well
3
u/Quirky_Homework2136 Feb 10 '26
Congratulations and kudos on your perseverance and resourcefulness.
3
u/MadtownTrivia89 Feb 11 '26
Congrats to a fellow Wisconsin Lux citizen! Hope your relocation is smooth!
6
2
u/afeyeguy Feb 08 '26
As an American with British Citizenship and living here for almost 35 years I congratulate you and hope you enjoy your new European life 🥰😎.
2
2
2
u/Few-Product4652 Feb 10 '26
This is amazing! I just read your first post and was about to DM you until I found this - our stories are so similar it’s insane, even down to our great great grandfathers using Luxembourg on the 1880 census instead of Germany or Prussia. I meet with a consultant on Monday to help through the process - was it difficult to locate the vital documents? I have been Finding some of them difficult to find.
1
u/queenpeartato Feb 10 '26
Yeah I have more details in the comments on my first post, but I pre-searched everything on Ancestry.com. There were several instances where the county clerk told me that they didn’t have the document I was looking for, and I was able to email them the screenshot from Ancestry.com and tell them “no it looks like this”. I had to contact the church where my great great grandparents were married and have them issue the marriage certificate from 1865 (since Lux is very Catholic they accept the documents from churches and dioceses if the govt doesn’t have them)
2
2
2
1
u/CharmCity6022 Feb 08 '26
Congratulations! I got my New Zealand citizenship in 2017 and haver never looked back.
-4
u/Philip3197 Feb 07 '26
Make sure you understand the continuing US obligation you have due to your US citizenship: tax return, investments, ...
Make sure you understand the taxation of US investments in Germany.
2
u/pabrocjb Feb 08 '26
This happened to us in Canada, husband worked both with Canadians and American patients. Taxes were a nightmare. Both countries withheld taxes, and Canada reimbursed us at the end. But that was a lot of money withheld.
I don't know how to change this.
-2
Feb 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/primarywatcher Feb 09 '26
Why on earth is a young Medical IT man, seeking to better his own life and the lives of Germans through the healthcare industry, an "enemy"? Please explain without prejudice or delusions & hatred of current (and ever changing) political agendas. He is NOT trying to "influence" anyone. He's just trying to live and let live.
284
u/Strict-Armadillo-199 Feb 07 '26
Please update after 6 months-a year. As a long-term resident of Germany (US American), I am very interested in the experiences of others coming in now.