Luxembourgers in Brazil want to strengthen business ties with the Grand Duchy

Exchange

Luxembourgers of Brazil want to strengthen business with the Grand Duchy

Brazilians who recovered Luxembourgish citizenship met this Saturday in Florianópolis at the 2nd South American Meeting of Luxembourgish Families, organized by ACLUX.

23 June 2024

The watchword now is to strengthen business exchange initiatives between Luxembourg and Brazil. This was one of the conclusions of the 2nd South American Meeting of Luxembourgish Families which took place, this Saturday, in Florianópolis, in Brazil. Luxembourgers who live in Brazil look at the Grand Duchy as a way to enter the European market.

A meeting that had the opening by Claude Wiseler, president of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies. “In the government program the Luxembourgish diaspora is a concern that will be the subject of a debate in the Chamber of Deputies,” assured Claude Wiseler, in the opening session of the conference that had a full room.

There are many Luxembourgish flags spread across the room at the meeting that brought together representatives of Luxembourgers who live in Brazil. A community with around 28 thousand people who live in the south of Brazil and who recovered Luxembourgish citizenship. They did not want to let pass unnoticed the celebration of the National Day of the Grand Duchy and organized the 2nd South American Meeting of Luxembourgish Families promoted by ACLUX. Many of the participants admit that they have the intention of moving to the Grand Duchy. In almost all the interventions several warnings were made about the precautions to take before moving to Luxembourg.

To learn one of the official languages of the country and to have enough money to survive one year without working, around 60 thousand euros, were two of the most frequent recommendations.

“We, the undesired”

During several interventions the discrimination that many of these neo-Luxembourgers feel was also mentioned. “We, the undesired,” was the expression used by Daniel Atz, one of the speakers, to define the community of Luxembourgers who live on the American continent.

“When they approved the legislation of recovery of citizenship they intended to reach Luxembourgish women who, by marrying foreigners and acquiring the citizenship of their husbands, lost Luxembourgish citizenship. They were not expecting that so many applications would arise from descendants of Luxembourgers who emigrated in the 19th century to the American continent,” he underlines.

“Despite the objective of the government visa, we existing, and being more than 40,000 who obtained citizenship legally, due to the lack of proactive engagement of the government, there are few data about our population and our requests for information were refused,” he said. For this American it is necessary to do something.

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“Facing the same challenges, I propose that the next step in the search for integration in Luxembourg be to unite forces as Luxembourgish citizens of the American continent,” stated Daniel Atz, founder of LuxCitizenship. A company that helps in the process of recovery of Luxembourgish citizenship of residents in the USA. Currently there exist 28,150 Luxembourgish citizens residing in Brazil and 15,702 citizens in the United States.

“What I can do is to bring together Americans with dual citizenship who would be interested in uniting forces,” appeals this American who recovered Luxembourgish citizenship in 2014. Currently he lives in Luxembourg, in Esch-sur-Alzette.

How to launch a business in Luxembourg? Which professional areas have more job opportunities in Luxembourg? These were some of the questions that were under discussion. “To share information about how to do business in the country and because the relationship now will begin to consolidate, to share ideas, with lectures very focused on the business part. How to do business in Europe, because Luxembourg is a gateway to Europe,” underlines the leader of ACLUX.

For this Sunday is foreseen the celebration of the National Day of Luxembourg in a lunch to be held in one of the first Brazilian cities that received more Luxembourgish immigrants, in the 19th century: São Pedro de Alcântara.

Next initiatives

The meeting also served to define strategies for the future. “One of the biggest problems of the community is the wait of almost one year to obtain the Luxembourgish passport in Brazil,” underlined the leader of ACLUX. To reduce this waiting time they propose “to make an itinerant mission of the consulate in Brasília in the region of the south of Brazil,” he underlines. “To create a website of information about what is necessary to do for those who intend to go to live in Luxembourg, so that people who want to move there are well integrated,” he proposes.

History of the citizenship recovery process

“A descendant in direct paternal or maternal line, even if born abroad, of a Luxembourgish ancestor on the date of January 1 of nineteen hundred and who, or one of his descendants, has lost Luxembourgish nationality on the basis of previous legal provisions, may recover Luxembourgish nationality by making a declaration within the period of 10 years from the entry into force of the present law.”

This is Article 29 of the Citizenship Law approved in 2008, by proposal of Luc Frieden, minister of Justice at the time. “The explicit intention was to increase the number of Luxembourgers living in Luxembourg, legalizing, for the first time, dual or multiple citizenship in Luxembourg and also having a special article for the recovery of Luxembourgish citizenship,” explains Daniel Atz.