STICKYFROG

We are married.. Hooray.. My husband is British and I am American. We are going through the process of obtaining his visa so that he can be in the US and work. But he does a bit of business in Britain and theres a possibility that we may move back to the United Kingdom at some point. My question is this: What are the procedures for the both of us obtaining Dual Citizenship, How long does it take, and most importantly, how difficult is it. Can I apply for dual citizenship in my own country, the USA and can he apply here as well or will he need to apply for it in the UK.. Thanks )

Andy Platt

Slow down a bit. First let's deal with him because he's the one coming
across here. After he is a permanent resident for three years (and married
to you for those three years, and living in the US for most of it) he can
apply for US citizenship. Once he has that you can safely move over to the
UK. You would need to get an entry clearance to the UK so you could take up
residence there. After you have been a resident there for a couple of years
(I believe - I don't know the exact time) you can apply for British
citizenship. Then you would both be dual citizens.

Note that any children you have will automatically be dual citizens.

This advice applies to British / US citizenship - it does not necessarily
apply to other countries.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.
"STICKYFROG" wrote in message
news:437950.1034147407@britishexpats-
.com...
    > We are married.. Hooray.. My husband is British and I am American. We
    > are going through the process of obtaining his visa so that he can be in
    > the US and work. But he does a bit of business in Britain and theres a
    > possibility that we may move back to the United Kingdom at some point.
    > My question is this: What are the procedures for the both of us
    > obtaining Dual Citizenship, How long does it take, and most importantly,
    > how difficult is it. Can I apply for dual citizenship in my own country,
    > the USA and can he apply here as well or will he need to apply for it in
    > the UK.. Thanks )
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Folinskyinla

Hi:

I have a relative in a similar situation. His wife was born with dual US/UK nationality and her husband later obtained UK nationality by naturalization.

This is an interesting issue -- you may recall that the US and the UK actually had a dispute about this from 1812 to 1815 with British presence in the White House getting a little heated, shall we say.

For your husband, if he later obtains US citizenship, he will be required to solemnly renounce his allegiance to the Queen when he taks the oath of US citizenship. However, the Queen doesn't allow her subjects to such a thing. HRM doesn't recognize that oath. Bottom line: dual nationality.

It is pretty much the same here -- however, the US does allow renunciation. But since US citizenship is so precious AND US citizens are subject to income taxation of worldwide income, you have to jump through hoops to accomplish that.

Rich Wales

"Folinskyinla" wrote:

> For your husband, if he later obtains US citizenship,
> he will be required to solemnly renounce his allegiance
> to the Queen when he taks the oath of US citizenship.
> However, the Queen doesn't allow her subjects to such
> a thing. HRM doesn't recognize that oath.

Actually, it =is= possible to renounce British citizenship, but one
must do it before British officials via a procedure prescribed by
British law. The blanket renunciatory statement in the US natur-
alization oath doesn't meet the requirements of British law.

Also, although the US naturalization oath does contain a mandatory
renunciatory statement, the US does not require, expect, or even
ask new citizens to take any additional steps to get rid of their
old citizenships, other than to make the renunciatory statement in
the naturalization oath.

A final nit: The Queen's title is "Her Majesty" -- abbreviated H.M.
You may have been confused by the title used by other high-level
British royals -- "His/Her Royal Highness", or H.R.H.

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.