This is the first deep dive in my flag theory series. If you haven’t read the overview yet, start there — it explains what planting flags means and why our residency-based tax system gives Canadians an edge Americans have to fight for. New to the series? Read the Flag Theory introduction first — it lays out the full six-flag framework.

Here we’re taking apart flag one: citizenship. And I’ll be honest up front, because most content on second citizenship is written by people selling one. A second citizenship is the slowest, least urgent flag on the board. It’s also the one I’d start positioning for earliest — and those two things aren’t a contradiction.