Oath wording and dual citizenship

[rwsh]

As you all know, the oath of allegiance taken at the US naturalization ceremony requires that:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen ……..

Many believe that, from the US perspective, applicants who go through the naturalization process are thus required to state under oath that they are renouncing their old citizenship.

For this to be true, one must conclude that renouncing allegiance to a foreign sovereign is indeed equivalent to renouncing citizenship as far as the US is concerned.

I realize that this distinction could be accused of splitting hairs over semantic nuances but clearly if such an equivalency is not true, then taking the US oath does not mean the same thing as renouncing citizenship.

Of course we also know that the US never actually requires that we physically go to our old embassies and truly renounce citizenship as far as our countries of origin are concerned, as would be required, for example, by the Brits.

Any comments or clarifications?

 

[McMahon]

In my opinion, the wording in the Oath means that a naturalized citizen cannot (willingly) claim to the US Government that a foreign citizenship is preventing him/her from exercizing the duties and responsibilities of a US Citizen.

 

[Jedi.Knight]

Correct. For instance, if we go to war (against your country of birth) and the draft is instituted for all males from 18 years and older are required to fight, than your prior allegiance can't be used as an excuse not to fight.

 

[aabbcc11]

You are splitting hairs because renouncing allegiance is not the same as renouncing citizenship , they are 2 different things. When a baby is born as a citizen there was no oath taken swearing fidelity.
The problem lies with t he other country, can they trust you as their citizen ? In my case India does not, so they automatically deny their passport as valid. Actually it is one of the toughest countries to become a citizen of ;-) and they have a high bar on who can become Indian.

 

[Huracan]

All things said, the U.S., Canada and a few other countries are fairly generous in their requirements to become citizens. Some countries make it really tough or impossible. That's bad, but I guess it will be their loss. In this world of increased labor mobility I think a country has to provide avenues for people to be able to relocate and set roots in their host countries, including permanent residence status and citizenship.

My 2 cents.