Aren't you gonna get double-whacked on taxes? In some countries the citizens are punished more severely on tax evasion than many other offenses that are deemed more serious in US. Take for example, Germany, where Steffi Graf's father was jailed for quite a few years while Monica Seles' stabber was free of prison time.
Yeah, I did a study abroad program in Milan for four months last semester. Absolutely loved it! The lakes (Como, Maggiore, Garda) are great, defenitely a must-see when in northern Italy.
Nope. Not if you don't live there. And if you do decide to live there, the US and Italy have agreements to address the tax issue so you don't get hammered.
Are you of Italian descent? What did you study ... or is that irrelevant? Did you travel elsewhere while there? We met a lot of American students at Oktoberfest, but most were from Paris. Did you happen to stroll into a small neighborhood pizzeria in Milan...I think it was called Pizzeria 40?
I'm not of Italian descent (actually, Pakistani). I'm a finance major and studied at Bocconi University in Milan (didn't real do much studying at all now that I think of it ). I made tons of friends from all over the world and we traveled all over Europe. Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Paris, London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brussels, Nice, Monaco, Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest. I defenitely think every college student should do at least one semester abroad! With all the cities I named, you probably think it costed me a fortune. Not true at all. I payed the normal tuition that I would have payed at my home university, housing was great (I lived in a residential builiding in Milan that used to be a hotel). They paired us up with one other person in each apartment. It was fully furnished, had a kitchen in each apartment, huge balcony, 2 TV's, maid service three times a week (changed towels, linens, etc.). All that for only 500 Euro/month (around $600/month). Since we were affiliated with Bocconi University, they gave us a huge discount for the place (over 50%). On top of that, traveling is really cheap in Europe compared to the US. Low cost air travel is really popular and competitive in Europe, and you can find plane tickets from say Milan to London for 1 Euro (not a typo) if you buy about a month in advance. All you have to do is pay the taxes on the ticket and it comes out to about 50 Euro roundtrip...insanely cheap. As for accomodations while traveling, we were all college students, so we obviously stayed at hostels which ran anywhere from 15 per person per night to 25 Euro. All in all, it was an awesome experience! Oh, and I didn't happen to go to Pizzeria 40. For pizza, we used to go this place called Da Noi Due. They had ridiculously huge pizzas for like 7 Euro!
Doesn't hurt to have a second citizenship -- unless the US takes a very xenophobic turn. I don't see it helping for travel in Europe. I'm French and American and I always use my American passport when I go to Europe. Americans are given great access, so I don't see having an EU passport in getting you much an American one wouldn't give you. I do know of a couple other perks that I get, that may come your way too. My daughter is a French citizen because of me, so the French government will give me some grant money to send her to a French private school in Houston. Also, recently, I got a call from the French Consulate and they told me that France happens to have some of the largest stockpiles of the antibiotics for the bird flu and that they're sending them to all the consulates to give to French nationals in foreign countries. And, I know if I get a brain aneurism or something that my insurance company tries to weasel out of paying for, I can always fly to France and get surgery there. And, finally, I always know that if the US turns fascist, or gets nuked, or institutes a draft for guys over 30, or whatever, I can always flee to France and they'll let me stay. So, if you're eligible for citizenship, and you wouldn't give anything up for it, go ahead and take it.
While the likelihood of getting caught is low you can still get into trouble with the US govt if you are a US citizen but do something that is illegal as a US citizen even if you are travelling and entering a foreign country using a non-US passport. The fact that you used a non-US passport does not mean that you ceased to be a US citizen from that moment on. Unless you actually lose US citizenship, you are potentially liable for all US laws that the US can enforce upon you worldwide no matter what passport you happen to be using at the moment.
