Naturalization and giving up old passport...
 

I just received my interview date for naturalization. It tells me I need to bring all my passports (current and old/expired). My goal is to maintain dual (UK/US) citizenship... what happens if I show up for the interview without my current British passport? WIll I just have to give it up and then apply for a new British passport? Don;t I need my old British passport to apply for a new one (or do I just send off my birth certificate instead?). Anyone else have any stories or experiences about the whole giving-up-your-old-passport problem? :(
cheers
Rob

Re: Naturalization and giving up old passport...
 

Relax. You won't be "giving up" your British passport(s). They want them at the interview to make sure you haven't had any absences that would break your physical presence or continuous residence timelines. They will not take your passport from you.

Re: Naturalization and giving up old passport...
 

The US government does *not* have the authority to keep your UK passport as it is the property of the UK government. They just want a look at it... IOW, don't show up without it.

Ian

Re: Naturalization and giving up old passport...
 

You can keep your British Passport. They just need that to prove your
residency,etc. They won't take it back. Actually the US government allows
dual citizienship. Its countires like India who will take away passports.


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"rjbhutton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...
>
> I just received my interview date for naturalization. It tells me I need
> to bring all my passports (current and old/expired). My goal is to
> maintain dual (UK/US) citizenship... what happens if I show up for the
> interview without my current British passport? WIll I just have to give
> it up and then apply for a new British passport? Don;t I need my old
> British passport to apply for a new one (or do I just send off my birth
> certificate instead?). Anyone else have any stories or experiences about
> the whole giving-up-your-old-passport problem? :(
> cheers
> Rob
>
> --

>

Re: Naturalization and giving up old passport...
 

"Enigma Boy" wrote:

> You can keep your British Passport. They just need that
> to prove your residency, etc. They won't take it back.

My understanding is that when you show up at the naturalization
ceremony, US officials will take your "green card" -- but not any
foreign passport you might have. So don't forget to bring your
"green card" to the ceremony -- but leave your British passport
at home.

> Actually the US government allows dual citizenship. It's
> countries like India who will take away passports.

The US situation is a bit muddled with regard to naturalization.
The US naturalization oath does, to be sure, contain a mandatory
blanket statement renouncing/disavowing all prior allegiances.
However, in practice, the US no longer attempts to enforce this
renunciatory statement in any meaningful way.

The State Dept.'s material about dual nationality on its web site
acknowledges that a newly naturalized US citizen might still be
considered by his "old country" as being one of its citizens.
This means that even though US law requires a US citizen to have
a US passport when leaving and returning to the US, one's old
country is free to continue to impose its own requirements on its
own citizens. Thus, a new US citizen might very possibly end up
needing to carry two passports when travelling between the US and
his old country.

There are, to be sure, some other countries which do aggressively
prohibit dual citizenship -- such as by forbidding their citizens
to have a passport from any other country, or by revoking citi-
zenship (and demanding return of their passport) if one of their
citizens obtains foreign citizenship or a foreign passport, or by
requiring their new citizens (before naturalization) to submit
written evidence that they have gone to their old country's
officials and have formally renounced their old citizenship in
accordance with the old country's laws and procedures. The US,
however, does not do any of these things at the present time, and
I'm not aware of any serious suggestions that any such steps are
at all likely to be enacted here in the foreseeable future.

As for the argument that the US would have no legal right to
confiscate a new US citizen's British passport, even if it wanted
to, because the passport belongs to the UK and not to the person
-- and that any such demand by US officials could be defied with
impunity on that basis -- I doubt that argument would hold much
water in practice if the US were to decide to adopt a policy
demanding such seizure as a precondition for US naturalization.
Again, though, the US does =not= in fact require, expect, or even
ask new citizens to hand over their foreign passports as part of
US naturalization.

Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.richw.org/dualcit/
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional immigration consultant,
or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only and
are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.