US Citizenship Library

This section was created to help people with the most commonly asked questions about US citizenship.

Click on the links to visit the other relevant sections about United States Citizenship:

• General United States Citizenship
• Dual Citizenship
• Military US Citizenship
• Children & Citizenship

DUAL CITIZENSHIP

1. How do I give up my US Citizenship?
   
   A person wishing to give up or renounce his or her US citizenship must voluntarily and with intent to relinquish US citizenship:
   
   1. appear in person before a US consular or diplomatic officer,
   2. in a foreign country (normally at a US Embassy or Consulate); and
   3. sign an oath of renunciation
   Renunciations that do not meet the conditions described above have no legal effect. Americans cannot effectively renounce their citizenship by mail, through an agent, or while in the United States. In fact, US courts have held certain attempts to renounce US citizenship to be ineffective.
   
   
2. If an American citizen were to apply for citizenship in another country, must s/he give up the US citizenship? If not, what are the conditions? What about dual citizenship?
   
   If one takes up citizenship in another country, then the US will consider that person to no longer be a citizen. Incidentally, the same is not necessarily true the other way around. If a person of another country becomes a US citizen then, depending upon the laws of the home country, that country may still consider her/him to be a citizen. There are situations where the US may recognize dual citizenship. For example, a person may have acquired US citizenship through a parent and still be a citizen of another country. The dual citizenship situations generally pertain to citizenship-by-birth, not when the US citizen naturalizes in another country.
   
   
3. Do Foreign Citizenship Oaths Strip you of Previous Citizenships?
   
   In general, no, although some countries (such as the US but not Canada or Australia) have verbal oaths that state that all former citizenships are relinquished, there are few (if any) modern cases in which this has happened to dual citizens. Most citizenship oaths are historical and have little legal power. In general, most countries that allow dual citizenship require very specific acts for you to relinquish your citizenship, and routine verbal oaths delivered in a foreign country are rarely considered valid. Marc Rich (of Clinton pardon fame) is one of the well-known cases (Action and Deltamar v. Rich, 951 F.2d 504 (2nd Cir. 1991)). Rich assumed an oath in Spain would remove his US citizenship. The Spanish naturalization oath he took included an explicit renunciation of US citizenship. Due to a variety of circumstances the court judged that he was still a US citizen. The US State Department's position is:
   
   The Department has a uniform administrative standard of evidence based on the premise that US citizens intend to retain United States citizenship when they obtain naturalization in a foreign state, subscribe to routine declarations of allegiance to a foreign state, or accept non-policy level employment with a foreign government. Both the Australian and Canadian citizenship oaths do not require giving up previous citizenships. The renunciatory language in the Canadian naturalization oath was ruled illegal by a Canadian court in 1973 on technical grounds and was subsequently removed. The Australian Oath of Allegiance became a Pledge of Commitment in 1994. The Citizenship Council recommended in February 2000 that the pledge remain unchanged and the Government stated in May 2001 that it accepted this recommendation. The Pledge reads:
   
   From this time forward, under God
   I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
   whose Democratic beliefs I share,
   whose rights and liberties I respect,
   and whose laws I will uphold and obey.
   
   New Citizens can choose to take the pledge in the form of an oath, which includes the words 'under God', or in the form of an affirmation, which does not.
   
   
4. I heard that the US and Canada don't allow Dual Citizenship. Is this true?
   
   This is incorrect. Both the US and Canada now allow their citizens to hold multiple citizenships. Most references to the contrary are out of date since this has been resolved for at least ten years in the case of the United States and over twenty in the case of Canada. Note that the respective governments often couch dual citizenship in negative terms as few governments like to lose control over their citizens.
   
   The official US position on dual citizenship reads in part:
   The US Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does not encourage it as a matter of policy because of the problems it may cause.
   
   The official Canadian position on dual citizenship reads in part:
   Unlike the law in effect in Canada up to 1977, the present Citizenship Act allows a Canadian citizen to acquire foreign nationality without automatically losing Canadian citizenship. Since February 15, 1977, a Canadian citizen may retain Canadian citizenship, unless he or she voluntarily applies to renounce it and the application is approved by a citizenship judge. The present Act thus makes it possible to have two or more citizenships and allegiances at the same time for an indefinite period. Also, both the US and Canada require specific acts to give up citizenship. Canada requires that someone who wants to give up their Canadian citizenship has to go to a Canadian embassy or consulate and sign a special form in the presence of Canadian officials. The US requires that "A person wishing to renounce his or her US citizenship must voluntarily and with intent to relinquish US citizenship appear in person before a US consular or diplomatic officer, in a foreign country (normally at a US Embassy or Consulate); and sign an oath of renunciation".
   
   
5. Which Countries Allow/Prohibit Dual Citizenship?
   
   Countries Which Allow Dual Citizenship:
   Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cyprus, Egypt, El Salvador, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan*, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, South Africa*, Spain (only in certain cases), Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tonga (only in certain cases), Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Western Samoa.
   
   * Persons retain their former citizenship if they apply to retain it before taking out Australian citizenship.
   
   Countries Which Prohibit Dual Citizenship:
   Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Burma, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran*, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.
   
   * Iran does not recognize dual citizenship but continues to recognize its citizens as Iranian.
   * Note that Germany has recently amended its citizenship laws so that in some exceptional circumstances, dual citizenship is now allowed. Consult the German Foreign Office web site for details.
   * Also, India announced on 8 January 2002 that it will shortly change its law to allow dual citizenship for Indians settled outside India.
   
   This information was taken from Attachments A and B of the Government's June 2001 Discussion Paper with updates that we have become aware of since then. Please note however that laws may change in some countries and we cannot guarantee that this list is completely up to date.