LuxCitizenship

The Brazilian-Luxembourgers Survey

Updated: January 9th, 2024
Written by: Daniel Atz with Lauren Lowell and Verônica Bochi

Why are so many Brazilians applying for Luxembourgish citizenship? This is the first survey to measure how these new dual citizens see Luxembourg and their future in Europe.

The Brazilian-Luxembourgers Survey

Updated: January 9th, 2024
Written by: Daniel Atz with Lauren Lowell and Verônica Bochi

Why are so many Brazilians applying for Luxembourgish citizenship? This is the first survey to measure how these new dual citizens see Luxembourg and their future in Europe.

View Our Other 🇧🇷🇱🇺 Studies: Ancestors | Dual Citizens | Survey | View All Studies

Background

From July 11th to July 26th, 2023, we ran an open survey of Brazilian-Luxembourgish dual citizens through ancestry. 634 Brazilian dual citizens participated, representing a wide range of ages and demographics.

The following is the 2nd edition of the only systematic survey of the Brazilian-Luxembourger dual citizens. In it, respondents provided answers to questions on their future in Luxembourg and motivations for applying for dual citizenship. LuxCitizenship works with clients in the US, so none of the respondents were our clients. However, all respondents self-identified as Luxembourgish citizens. We verified this by confirming that they provided a valid Luxembourgish ancestor through specific questions in the survey.

Video: GTo turn on the subtitles, please press the play button, followed by the CC icon. To change languages, click the gear icon and “Subtitles/CC”.

Let’s Put It in Perspective

As of December 2023, there are 27,632 Luxembourg citizens living in Brazil. Why does that matter? Well, that number alone is equivalent to over 4% of Luxembourg’s national population.

EEJCC, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In fact, with a growth rate of 872% over the last 5 years, Brazil is now the second foreign country with the most Luxembourgish Dual Citizens in residence, coming just after France.
When adding up the Luxembourgish citizens in Brazil and the Brazilian dual citizens living in Luxembourg, they’re nearly equivalent to the population of Luxembourg’s 3rd largest commune, Differdange.
This population is still set to grow by the thousands through 2025. With this quick shift, we think it’s extremely important to understand these new Luxembourgers.

Key Findings

Having analyzed the results of our survey, we have highlighted some general findings.

Of all the Brazilian-Luxembourgers who participated in our studies, there are several key takeaways that the majority had in common:

1. Over 84% of the Brazilian dual citizen survey respondents want to learn Luxembourgish

2. 54% of the respondents want to move to Luxembourg, while 8% already live there.

3. 24% of respondents want to move to Luxembourg in the next 5 years.

4. Only 16% of respondents are not considering a move to Europe in the future, which is over 3x less than for Argentina or the US.

Citizenship Status

We asked the respondents when and under what article they applied for Luxembourgish citizenship.

When did they apply?

100% of our survey respondents have already obtained Luxembourgish dual citizenship. Furthermore, 51.7% indicated that they have obtained a Luxembourgish passport.

Year Citizenship Was Received

Have Luxembourgish Passport

2016 or before 0
2017 0
2018 0
2019 0
2020 0
2021 0
2022 0
2023 0

Have Luxembourgish Passport

International Experience

We asked the dual citizens about their experiences outside of Brazil.

Who’s Been to the Grand Duchy?

While not all of our participants had to travel to Luxembourg to complete their citizenship applications, 80.6% reported that they have visited Luxembourg in their lifetime. Of the three countries included in our study, the Brazilian-Luxembourgers were also the most likely to live in Luxembourg, with 8.4% of respondents currently living there.

Traveled to Luxembourg

How many times?

1 time 0
2-3 times 0
4+ times 0
I live in Luxembourg 0
Never 0

Time Spent Outside Brazil

Just over 27.5% of the survey respondents have lived outside of Brazil. 15.8% have worked abroad in some capacity. These are both very high figures in comparison with the national average in Brazil.

Have You Lived Abroad?

Why?

I (or my spouse) was working abroad 0
Studied abroad during college 0
Spent time abroad during childhood 0
Volunteered abroad 0
Other 0
*Respondents could make multiple choices and the percentage is based on the number of respondents that answered the question.

Multilingualism

Most people in Luxembourg speak 4-5 languages. How do the Brazilian dual citizens compare?

Speak a Foreign Language?

54.7% of the dual citizen respondents self-reported speaking a foreign language. The standard used for this question in the survey was “do you have the ability to fluidly use a language for the responsibilities of your work”. This reflects the respondents’ actual answers, but we assess that this number is far too high in comparison to reality.

Do You Speak a Foreign Language?

Languages Spoken

English 0
Spanish 0
French 0
German 0
Other 0
*Percentage of all respondents speaking language. Possible to make multiple choices

While 54.7% of respondents speak at least one foreign language, 18.1% speak two foreign languages or more.

Schwätzt Dir Lëtzebuergesch?

84.8% of the Brazilian dual citizen participants expressed that they are interested in learning Luxembourgish. This is the highest level of interest expressed during our study, and could be a real opportunity to explore.

Brazilian speaking to Luxembourg's Ambassador

An extract from RTL TV Lëtzebuerg’s report “Luxembourger and Brazilian” (Lëtzebuerger a Brasilien) See article for the videos.

Interested in Learning Luxembourgish?

Interest to Move

Do these new dual citizens plan to put their Luxembourgish passport to use? How do they see their future in Europe?

From Brazil to the EU – Moving to Luxembourg

As many as 53.6% of the dual citizens living in Brazil are considering a move to Luxembourg one day. Additionally, 15.8% would consider moving to another EU country.

Want to Move to the EU?

To turn on the subtitles, please press the play button, followed by the CC icon. To change languages, click the gear icon and “Subtitles/CC”.

Of participants that expressed interest in moving to the EU in the next five years, 23.0% indicated that they would make the move with their spouse, 48.3% with their children, and 28.7% would go alone.

Where are they headed?

14.4% of Brazilian dual citizen respondents, about 91 people, are considering a move to Luxembourg in the next two years. As far as other popular destinations people want to move to, Portugal, Spain, and France are the most popular.

Move To Luxembourg - When

In the next 6 months 0
In the next 1-2 years 0
In the next 3-5 years 0
Much later in life 0
No set plans, but interested 0

What other EU country?

Portugal 🇵🇹 0
France 🇫🇷 0
Spain 🇪🇸 0
Other 0

Application Motivations

What drove these Brazilians to apply for Luxembourgish dual citizenship?

Dual Citizenship Motivations

By far the stand-out motivator for applying for dual citizenship was the possibility to provide themselves and their families with more opportunities in the future .

Now that they have obtained Luxembourgish citizenship, the same participants have varying plans for their future with Europe, with the largest percentage hoping to work there.

*Respondents could make multiple choices and the percentage is based on the number of respondents that answered each question.

Potential Interests

I am interested in working in Luxembourg 0
I am interested in working in another EU country 0
I am interested in retiring in Luxembourg 0
I am interested in studying in Luxembourg 0
I am interested in retiring in another EU country 0
I am interested in studying in another EU country 0

Application Motivators

I am considering the future of my children/grandchildren 0
I am proud of my Luxembourg heritage 0
I desire to reconnect with the land of my ancestors 0
I would like to split my residency between Luxembourg and Brazil 0
Recent political or social events have motivated me to obtain a second nationality 0
I would like to find members of my family living in Luxembourg 0
Other 0

Congratulations! You have completed reading our study on the Brazilian-Luxembourgers.

Interested in reading LuxCitizenship’s other case studies? Check out our overview page to navigate all our studies.

All Case Studies

Congratulations! You have completed reading our study on the Brazilian-Luxembourgers.

Interested in reading LuxCitizenship’s other case studies? Check out our overview page to navigate all our studies.

All Case Studies

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