With the way America is going these days, many of us are daydreaming about escaping to a beautiful island surrounded by azure waters and good food. If you are a celebrity who does good things for a nation, you too could be granted dual citizenship.
As someone who is always trying to find ways to get another citizenship someplace where life is more simple, it warmed my cold jealous heart to see that Tom Hanks and his Greek-American wife Rita Wilson became official citizens of Greece last year. It was announced by Prime Minister Mitsotakis on his Instagram on Sunday.
I know you’re think it’s because they are privileged and rich. That may be true but they actually received this beautiful gift because of a good deed they did for Greece in 2018. Tom and Rita have been visiting Greece annually for over twenty years. They even bought property on the island of Antiparos. In 2018 they helped raise global awareness and relief after a deadly wildfire near Athens killed 100 people. CNN reports:
In a picture posted on social media by the country’s prime minister, the two proudly hold up their brand new passports.
The couple and their children became honorary Greek citizens last year — after officials highlighted Hanks’ role in helping raise awareness about the 2018 fires that devastated areas near Athens and claimed the lives of more than 100 people.
“Tom Hanks is a person who showed real interest in the people who suffered from the fire in Mati and promoted this issue in the global media,” Greek Interior Minister Takis Theodorikakos told CNN in a statement in December.
Wilson, who is part Greek, and Hanks, a Greek Orthodox convert, have often been spotted spending their vacations in Greece, where they also own property on the island of Antiparos.
The two have produced several films based on the Greek community and never shy away from sharing their admiration for the country and its people.
I can’t keep the jealousy in my heart for long because Tom and his wife continue to show the world what wonderful people they are. It’s also lovely to see that doing good deeds does not go unnoticed. And to be fair, they gave us My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Hanks’ company produced it) and that alone should have been rewarded with permanent citizenship in Greece.
I will continue to daydream about that expat, dual citizenship life while I plug away at whatever job I have. Maybe I’ll send Rita and Tom a letter asking them to adopt me. In the meantime, I’ll watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding on repeat while eating tzatziki and baklava.
I got engaged on Crete and married on Rhodes. I would adore to have dual citizenship. I haven’t been back to Greece in two years and I am missing it soooo much. dolmades for dinner!
Good for them.
I watched the film a couple of weeks ago after many years.
How Ian survived all of it, I will never know.
But her father’s wedding toast speech makes me cry every time. “We are all fruit”
Good for them! The only European country I have left to visit
Gosh, I hope there is never any dirt about them! They are my absolute favorite celebrity couple. They seem to still be quite smitten with each other, which is a rarity in any relationship, celebrity or not, after 30 years.
There is a bunch of Q Anon nonsense about them both, and that this Greece citizenship is about Tom’s pedophilia and ties to the Clintons and Epstein. (insert giant side eye here)
I’m seriously considering dual citizenship too. Does anyone have any insight on a country’s process that doesn’t include marriage?
Without marriage and work/emigration, it’s lineage or investment. A lot of smaller (for some reason often island) nations like Malta or Cyprus give residency and/or a path to citizenship to anyone who can buy property there for 250K or more.
If your parents or grandparents are immigrants you might be able to get citizenship from another country (if said country has blood right citizenship).
It really depends… I have dual citizenship based on my father’s birth country (Portugal), and here in New Zealand people can get residency (first step toward citizenship) based on their relationship or work – so if you can get a job to sponsor you to come and live/work here, then you’re in luck.
However I know that with COVID, it’s become a lot harder because the priority is giving jobs to people who are already residents and citizens (you’d need to prove you have skills that are hard to hire for here).
I imagine this is similar to most countries
Greece is amazingly beautiful.
Cutest couple in hollywood, probably the happiest too! This is a nice gesture made by the country to show thanks. Plus, I’m loving Rita’s hair. I want to look like that at 60!
I have the DVD and it’s an occasional view for me. I wouldn’t own it if I didn’t like it. Nia Vardalos was the inspiration and lead in the film. My matriarchal family is Sicilian. The Greek family in MBFGW can be likened to Moonstruck with Cher. The Sicilians are or were much the same, flamboyant, outspoken, entertaining to watch. As to Tom and Rita they exude likability and stability.
I miss Greece so much. I have dual (GER/GR) citizenship and will treasure it forever. The country is just so beautiful. I wish Hollywood would discover that its history is a storyteller’s goldmine.
That’s not even the real list, it’s a fake list conservatives pass around because they think it validates their “all liberals are evil” bs. If you look at the names some are repeated, some are misspelled (they spelled Barack Obama wrong lol) and some are stage names instead of legal names (pretty sure you can’t use a stage name on a flight manifest). Hanks is not even on the real list, nor are most of the celebrities Qanon losers have been harassing lately.
I had the original comment removed to avoid the continued spread of misinformation. Thank you for the replies and I am sorry for my part in that misinformation. I am not affiliated with Trump, QAnon, etc. I have people in my life who are likely firmly ensconced in tinfoil that I value and I was hoping to find some firm information to refute what they were saying. I love and adore Tom Hanks, and his movies and art were formative in my childhood.
Greece is gorgeous but the country is falling apart.
If she’s part Greek I’m sure she filed to have her ancestry recognised and her citizenship is officially recognised and granted. That’s how you get most dual citizenships. Tom gets his through her (marriage).
I wonder if they had to go through Greece’s rickety red tape with the hoi polloi, complete with 6 different stops for various stamps, approvals, signatures, approvals. Then wait while the passport office shuts for the obligatory coffee/cigarette break, with no clear idea of when/if it will reopen. I dread my 5-year Greek passport renewal. Beautiful country but absolutely ridiculous when it comes to administration.
My cousin was just telling me that if drumpf gets re-elected, she’ll definitely move abroad. Her job is toying with the idea of permanently wfh and thus she could live anywhere. She’s eligible for dual citizenship, but hasn’t got it yet.
I have triple, but haven’t thought of permanently moving abroad. But I guess that’s always a backup plan.
Actually as a Greek living in Greece (and not a Greek American so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about ) I find my big fat Greek wedding very offensive and as a movie that gives the audience all the stereotypes than are not true about Greeks nicely wrapped in comedy .
A Greek I find this movie very offensive my self, it perpetuates stereotypes, that might have been true like 80-60 years ago
Exactly! It horrifies me every time ..