Does USCIS/DOS inform your home goverment of citizenship approval

hadron

Registered Users (C)
I have been asked by someone from a country that doesn't allow dual citizenship (no, its not india) whether the US goverment sends any information regarding your voluntary acceptance of US citizeship to your home country.

I don't think they do, but I am not sure. While the US doesn't recognize dual citizenship, it is my understanding that the goverment here doesn't really force you to take any steps to relinquish your prior citizenship. (Also, I can see situations where a home goverment might retaliate against family still living there if they find out that a family member has 'betrayed' the beloved homeland.)
 
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No.

But at some point you would have to lie about your citizenship situation in you country - or your friend would risk to be exposed in some other way. Some countries like Germany offer exceptions to the rule. Maybe that is an alternative for your friend.

Alex
 
> I agree with the change.

Why would that be ? We are not talking about voting in elections abroad or joining a foreign military but in some situations it can be beneficial for an immigrant to maintain his former citizenship (e.g. their kids have a choice of citizenships once they turn 18).
 
Well, this is just my personal opinion, which I am not trying to force on anyone, or have the gov't adopt.

I am not a big fan of dual citizenship by choice. If somebody is a dual national by birth, that is fine. The same is true for those who voluntarily become U.S. citizen, yet their home country does not allow for renounciation of citizenship. I have personal problems though with "shopping for citizenship" for the purpose of convenience (easier travel etc.). It is the same as if - and this applies to some of my closest friends - somebody uses a Green Card just to have the option to work in the U.S. at some undefined point in the future. Hence, using the GC only as a "travel visa".

I hope I did not offend anybody, if I did, it was not my intention.

Cheers,
Nico
 
Nico, no offense, but 'home' is bigger than one country for many individuals. Asking that "there shall be no other citizenship for you next to this" appears to me the same as if one should just love your mother OR your father OR only one of your children.

Hadron, the proposed legislation would just make sure that a person complies with the citizenship regulations in both (or all of) their countries. This is something one should make sure by oneself anyway. If deception is too easy, some individuals may feel tempted to assume a new citizenship and unlawfully 'keep' the prior citizenship without being able to accept the necessary consequences that may be forced upon them one day.

Alex
 
AlexanderG said:
Asking that "there shall be no other citizenship for you next to this" appears to me the same as if one should just love your mother OR your father OR only one of your children

or to marry wife A or wife B or wife C or ... or wife Z,

wouldn't it be nice if we could marry them all? :)

Seriously, it is about taking up one's responsibilites that come with one's citizenship. You cannot have allegiance to multiple nations, just as you cannot marry multiple women (well, I guess you could somewhere or sometimes).
 
Right now the government does not inform the home country of the citizenship.But unless you have vowed never to go there again i dont see how you would hide this fact.If you want to go to that country as a US citizen you have to leave on your US passport.You have to take a visa of your home country and/or present the US passport to the customs official when you land at the home country.And finally you have to re-enter on your US passport.I doubt you can leave on your US passport,present your X passport when you land at X,Leave for the US from X on your X passport (which will now not have a valid US visa) and re-enter on your US passport.
 
I believe the international protocol is actually that you typically enter a country whose citizenship you possess with the passport of that country. When you leave and there is an exit control (unlike the US who have deputized the airlines to do the exit control, most countries actually check whether sought criminals are absconding), you are to leave on your national passport. In the end you are obliged to adhere to the laws of the country you are travelling to. Upon reentering the US, you enter on your US passport (this does screw with the airlines manifests and the entrance/exit numbers but overall the number of dual citizens is pretty small to start with).
 
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Exactly.The point i was trying to make is that it would be impossible to go to your home country without directly or indirectly informing them of your US citizen status.
 
> Exactly.The point i was trying to make is that it would be impossible
> to go to your home country without directly or indirectly informing
> them of your US citizen status.

How is that ? You enter your home country with your home countries passport and you leave it on that passport just like you do when you have a GC.
 
don't most passports identify one's birthplace? so if you are a, for example, naturalized US citizen born in India, your US passport will identify to the Indian authority that you were born in India and as such you must have been an indian citizen.

This actually raises some interesting questions. Most countries require you to go through a process to renounce your citizenship. If one simply acquires his citizenship through a naturalization process, his original home country can refuse to recognize his newly acquired citizenship.

I wonder if such things have happened. I know that the US does refuse to acknowledge ones acquired citizenship if no formal renounciation is followed, as in the Mark Rich case from a few years back.
 
When I get my US Passport I will travel on it exclusively, except if I need to travel to the UK for more than 90 days.
 
> his original home country can refuse to recognize his newly
> acquired citizenship.

I believe Syria doesn't recognize other citizenships that you acquire. So they reserve the right to do to you what they can do to all their citizens like : detention without charge, torture, disappearance.
 
Oath of Allegiance

It clearly states - you have to renounce......to any....foreign...state or sovereignty.....I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.

Currently this is not enforceable .... hopefully the congress change it mind and make it enforceable - thenafter there will be no ifs and buts :eek:
 
hadron said:
I believe Syria doesn't recognize other citizenships that you acquire.

and others as well - the US for example is one such country.

The interesting thing is that I have never heard of a case where such laws are enforced. For example, have year ever heard the Syrian government refusing to recognize the US citizenship of a syrian-born naturalized US citizen?

Not sure what would happen if this became true one day.
 
> I have never heard of a case where such laws are enforced. For
> example, have year ever heard the Syrian government refusing to
> recognize the US citizenship of a syrian-born naturalized US citizen?

Well, they arrested a syrian born canadian citizen and made him disappear without giving him access to consular support.
 
hadron said:
> Exactly.The point i was trying to make is that it would be impossible
> to go to your home country without directly or indirectly informing
> them of your US citizen status.

How is that ? You enter your home country with your home countries passport and you leave it on that passport just like you do when you have a GC.

==========
In my opinion :
Unless your country X allows for dual citizenship ( in which case they would know about US citizenship anyway), using prior country's passport after obtaining USC would come under fraud.
 
From wikipedia:

In criminal law, fraud is the crime or offense of deliberately deceiving another in order to damage them — usually, to obtain property or services from him or her unjustly. [1]. Fraud can be accomplished through the aid of forged objects. In the criminal law of common law jurisdictions it may be called "theft by deception," "larceny by trick," "larceny by fraud and deception" or something similar.

endquote

So while it might be a violation of ones countries citizenship and passport laws (because some countries consider your citizenship revoked once you voluntarily pursue another citizenship), it doesn't fall under fraud.
 
JoeF said:
That depends on that country's laws. It is prudent to know about these things before using the country's passport.

How can that be of any question? If a country doesn't allow dual citizenship - something the prior poster has assumed, anyone having dual citizenship is in clear violation of its laws.

this is a much clearer case than if we should list traffic violations.
 
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