Broadly speaking every country makes up their own rules for how non citizens can come to the country legally, how long they can stay for and what they have to do to become permeant residents and citizens.

This will be slightly different for each country, even within the EU.

Same applies to who they let become a citizen from birth.

Depends on the country and what you plan to do while you are there. Most countries in the EU have treaties with the US that allow US citizens to go there as tourists without getting a travel visa. How long you can stay depends on the country. Students are usually required to get a student visa. Workers are usually required to have workers visas in most countries.

Since the 90s (I think) dual citizenship has been possible for US citizens, meaning you don’t have to give up your US passport in order to also become an Italian citizen, for example. I am eligible to obtain Italian citizenship so when I file and receive recognition by Italy I will have two passports.

There are also rights we have via treaty like the ability to own property or start a business. Again this varies by country.

Keep in mind that US citizens living abroad still pay federal income tax to the US.

Generally speaking, no.

If you have a spouse of that area and/or job with the ability to support yourself, maybe, but you still have to jump through several hoops.

You can't "just" become a citizen, in most countries. There's usually a process, requiring clearing hurdles like being a resident for a specific length of time, working, etc. Differs by country. Most, because some countries sell citizenships to those rich enough (EDIT: Malta, which is in the EU, offers full citizenship for around $1million, lol).

As for travel, you (US citizen) can reside for up to three months visa-free within the Schengen area (the borderless zone within EU and close partners). Outside of it, it'll differ country by country. If you need more details about visas and traveling in Europe, there are plenty of official online resources, including advisories on your government websites. I suggest looking at those and NOT relying on "some guy who went to Europe 5 years ago told me", because these things have a tendency to change. Stay up to date or risk nasty surprises.

Some other EU countries are offering “golden visa” solutions right now. Greece, comes to mind.

>Keep in mind that US citizens living abroad still pay federal income tax to the US.

Which is crazy to me. Do you guys get to vote in US elections and receive social security from the US in the foreign country?

No.

You cannot be a citizen in 3 months, not unless you get in on a particular type of program (generally having a lot of money that you're going to promise to invest...generally a quite sizeable sum.) or getting married to a citizen, etc

For Switzerland, say, you will have to live there for 13 years and not just be there on repeated tourist visas because you don't accumulate 'citizenship time credits' that way. Which means you'll have a have a job for that long which means you'll need a sponsor or sponsors.

There is an interesting wrinkle to the Swiss situation where even if you live there there long enough your neighbors can still vote to not let you become a citizen.

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Yes. SS and voting remotely is allowed as long as you remain a US citizen.

Americans abroad do get to vote in elections (state and federal).

Note that you only have to pay any federal income tax if you’re earning somewhere above $100,000/year and the taxes in your country of residence are lower than the federal taxes you’d owe, and then you have to pay the difference. So basically fairly well off expats on the Middle East. Almost everyone else is either not earning enough, or is paying more tax in their country of residence than they’d owe Uncle Sam so don’t have to cough up any extra.

There are other asinine things though - you still have to file your taxes, which is a massive PITA from overseas as none of the info you get from your employer is formatted for US taxes, and things like retirement funds are also subject to US taxes (again with the $100k/year threshold. Banking can also be a pain as the U.S. have massive reporting requirements for US account holders that a lot of overseas banks just don’t want to deal with so don’t accept US citizens as customers. Basically the US government views all its overseas citizens as though they’re billionaires trying to hide vast fortunes, rather than the mostly very ordinary folks that they are.

Most offer residency only it seems, but Malta is selling citizenship, apparently

Depends on the country. I'm American but have been living in Mexico for a while. I get a (very cheap) 180 day visa and when that's about to expire, I fly back to the US, touch my feet down on my native soil for a day or two, and then re-up my visa. I know some Americans living down here that do the same.

It’s up to each individual country. The EU isn’t a country. You can usually find the different requirements on the country’s government website. Most European countries do have language requirements to get citizenship, and the other steps can be pretty hard. I have an American friend who moved to Denmark, and she’s had to take intensive language classes, maintain employment for several years, and other steps. And she’s still not close.

You could get special visas that allow you to stay there for long periods, but again you have to look at each individual country.

So if you file taxes (and perhaps not owe anything to the US) and are subsequently unemployed in your country of residence, you can claim US social security?

You might be a little confused. SS is a retiree payment scheme generally dependent on AGE. It is NOT payment because you are unemployed. There are some unemployment programs but nothing as significant as the SS program and targeted at poverty more than anything else.

Social security is not the same as unemployment compensation. Some people with disabilities qualify for social security income, also some children whose parents have died and sometimes surviving spouses also qualify, but generally it is not tied to unemployment.

In Italy there is some scheme for ex-pat retirees to transfer their money to Italian banks and pay a one time fee based on the amount.

In Italy it’s 5 years of residency and you have to acquire a fairly high knowledge of the language, among other things.

That's more of a loophole than a feature

The last part is not 100% true. Under a certain amount you get credits and don't have to pay tax twice. Still rather silly all in all. And the fact it costs quite a bit to give up your citizenship haha!

Ah I see. Yes I misunderstood. Thanks.