Dual Citizenship Question

T

ttam

Registered Users (C)
Folks,
If you retain your old citizenship in addition to being a naturalized citizen, how will an American Consulate abroad respond to this type of situation?

For example, you return to your country of origin as a dual citizen and you have to renew your US Passport at the U.S. Mission aborad? File taxes etc.?

Thanks,

Ttam
 
You would enter the embasy with your (expired) US passport and as a US citizen. It would be the same as entering the US. You use your US citizenship not your native one...
 
Now, if the consuluar officer becomes curious how I live in France without a stamp in my passport, and asks if I am a dual citizen, will I be in trouble?

ttam
 
They won't ask you why you don't have a stamp. They have nothing to do with immigration France at all. They only need to verify if you are a USC and with a US Passport that's all they care or will care about. I believe you can also appy for a US passport by mail if you are overseas as well...
 
The reason I am asking this is because a friend of mine is a dual (Swiss-American) citizen by birth. owever, everytime she goes to the U.S. Embassy in Frankfurt, Germany she get a ration of cr_p from the consular officers. Statements like: "Don't you know you can lose your U.S. citizenship etc." make it a pretty intimidating ordeal.

So, I guess my real question is: "What does the law say concerning this matter."

Any insights?

Thanks
ttam
 
The US doesn't force one to only become a USC and abandon all other nationalities. Some countries like Peru, do make you forfiet Peruvian citizenship if you take another countries. The US does not. They do make you state in the Oath you will uphold the US etc. You cannot lose USC because you are Dual.

The US just won't acknowledge the other nationality so you don't want to show anything but a US passport to them. Seems the ones your friends encountered were just being pissy or didn't really know the rules themselves. And as you stated your friend just gets crap from them, they haven't yet done any action against them other then harsh words...
 
ttam said:
Thanks for your answer. Doesn't the oath imply abandoning your prior allegiance?

ttam
Click to expand...

No. Do some research and you will discover that:
(a) US citizenship by birth cannot be "lost" unless the person specifically intends to give it up. Simply having or obtaining a second citizenship is not considered grounds for intentionally giving up the USC.
(b) Taking the oath does not in itself establish that a person intends to give up their former citizenship(s).
 
ttam said:
The reason I am asking this is because a friend of mine is a dual (Swiss-American) citizen by birth. owever, everytime she goes to the U.S. Embassy in Frankfurt, Germany she get a ration of cr_p from the consular officers. Statements like: "Don't you know you can lose your U.S. citizenship etc." make it a pretty intimidating ordeal.
Click to expand...
She must have been showing her Swiss passport at the US embassy. That will certainly invite harassment.

Generally when you have multiple citizenships, you are supposed to present yourself as a citizen of country X when dealing with government entities of country X. Travel to country Y, use Y's passport when you arrive. Travel back to country X, use X's passport. Enter Z's embassy, show your Z passport.
 
It's the same thing as just crossing a border, the embasy is the same thing. I have travelled with my US passport and not gotten a stamp at all from the visited country. Some do, some don't. They won't look or care about it. They just care that if are a USC you are showing the US passport. If you show another you will be treated as a visitor and can be denied. If they find out you are a USC as well, they will get annoyed and verbally let you know you only use a US passport to enter the US...
 
boatbod,

Thank you for your advise. You stated that:"Taking the oath does not in itself establish that a person intends to give up their former citizenship(s)." Can you substantiate this statement with a court ruling?

What's the point of the Oath-part that states "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"?

Thanks guys for your input.

ttam
 
To put it simply when I took my oath I renounced 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.

My home country in their eyes says until I file a claim and denounce my citizenship to them, I'll always be a citizen regardless. So I gave my alliegence to the US, but my former country still states I'm one of them. Not my problem if they want to reconize me for it. If the US doesn't want that, they'll have to contact my former country over that. I've done my part...
 
Ttam,
Open up a US passport. There are clear instructions for dual US citizens when they are in their "other" country. The key is intention. As long as the US citizen intends to keep his/her US citizenship, he or she will be fine.
 
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