rpjs

My understanding is the US oath requires one to renounce one's former allegiances which is not necessarily the same as renouncing one's former citizenships.

As Mr Folinsky says, the matter then becomes what does one's other country make of the US oath? Some countries will take it as sufficient to renounce their nationality. The UK does not: the only way to renounce UK nationality is by making a declaration doing so before UK officials.

The US does not require its new citizens to do anything "extra" with regard to their former nationality; from the US point of view their oath is "enough".

sir_eccles

The "other country" so to speak will only be bothered if you fill in Form RN to renounce your British Citizenship. For that is the only way to do it.

Elvira

:curse:

She should have been stripped of her British citizenship.

ian-mstm

There is no discrepancy. Many of us are dual UK/US citizens. It is allowed... and the US Oath of Allegiance does not require you to renounce citizenship.

That said, even if it did require it, it would have no force of law! Why? Because the US government (much to their dismay) has jurisdiction only in the US. An oath taken in the US is not binding on any other country.


In a nutshell, they won't give a fuzzy rat's ass! Each country decides who is or who is not a citizen of that country. Here's the thing though... when you are in that country, you will be considered a citizen of only that country. That is to say, you can't hide behind the citizenship of another country to evade, for example, conscription laws!

There are very few countries in the world that specifically force their citizens to either be a citizen of their country or of some other country... but neither the US nor any of the Commonwealth countries are among those!

Ian

Bob

And for citizenship purposes, you get one gimme to get UK citizenship back again, for a fee of course

Steve_

This thread has been on here a 100 times, but just to repeat, the US has recognized dual citizenship since 1979, which was when they stopped attempting to get people to give up other citizenships and accepted it, basically. The US still has the power to ask you to give it up, but they don't and there is no way to enforce it which is basically why they stopped asking.

The UK doesn't really care, however you should be aware that there is a provision in the Immigration Act 2006 that empowers the Secretary of State to remove British citizenship if it is in the national interest to do so and it does not leave the person stateless, this power was used to strip Anna Chapman of her citizenship. So in other words they can do it, but it's unlikely to happen and even if it did there is an appeal process except where national security is an issue.

I always think people miss the main trick when it comes to US citizenship - which is that getting it means you have to file a 1040 every year until you die, as the US taxes citizens on the basis of their citizenship, not residency per se.

Read the instructions for IRS Form 2555.

JAJ

Some Commonwealth countries are still quite strongly against dual citizenship - India, Singapore and Malaysia are three that come to mind.

cardinal125

Thanks again all.
Just found this on the UK Home Office website also:

If you become a national of another country

You will not normally lose your British nationality if you become a citizen or national of another country. If you are a British subject otherwise than by connection with the Republic of Ireland you will lose that status on acquiring any other nationality or citizenship. If you are a British protected person you will lose that status on acquiring any other nationality or citizenship.

If you are becoming a citizen or national of a country that does not allow dual nationality, you may be required by that country to give up your British nationality.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/br...alnationality/

c1mth0g

And even then, their approaches are different. India is very strict - Indian passports contain a note that the passport has to be surrendered once another citizenship is obtained (and apparently applies to minors as well). Singapore and Malaysia's dual citizenship laws are more ambiguous - the government may take away your citizenship if you have obtained another, but it isn't automatic. Both Singapore and Malaysia allow minors to hold dual citizenship. Rumor has it that for adults, Malaysia is a lot more pro-active about taking away the citizenship of dual citizens than Singapore.

S Folinsky

Beg to disagree -- I just looked it up.

I will agree to the extent that one is not required to take formal action under British law.

c1mth0g

The US oath does require you to renounce your allegiance to other states, but doesn't require you to actually go through the process of renunciation with them. (And as pointed out, the US government has long acknowledged that cannot and will not enforce this.) In fact the US State Department's webpage on dual citizenship even states that one can be a dual citizen because one's former citizenship was not automatically lost upon naturalization (http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1753.html).

Some countries (eg Singapore) will actually require proof of renunciation before confirming your naturalization. The US does not.

wildinvirginia

Such an interesting thread. It makes me wonder if my US Citizen daughter f=of seven months would be entitled to dual residency - I am not a citizen here just a permanent resident and am still awaiting removal of conditions at that.

My husband although American has a British mother and grandmother so as he's now married to me too, he has several routes of obtaining residency rights in the UK - but believe he has to go through the same process i did to get here .... he'd just have more points having a maternal and a spousal connection.

Someone told me that they'd managed to get a UK passport for their baby daughter by 'going home; but I'm not sure how this would be possible - my daughters birth certificate shows she was born and registered here. maybe if you did it in the first weeks of birth but still ..... not sure that would be possible. isn't it also illegal to hold two passports? I am thinking maybe dual residency/citizenship means you still only hold one passport right?

My preferred (or only options) legal guardian for my 7 month old would be my brother in the UK if anything happened to hubby or I - I am considering what a nightmare it would be to get her over to them for guardianship. Am thinking very expensive - and therefore impossible - legal process. Anyone ever heard of or been through that? I am thinking if hubby and I regularly signed an Affidavit giving my brother permission to leave the US with his niece for the 6 month allowable holiday, it's be easier to sort it out in the UK. Am terrified she'd be left to the mercy of foster care or worse here while my poor family fight t get international custody sorted! Am thinking dual citizenship might expedite things.

c1mth0g

If you are a British Citizen, I think your daughter would be British automatically as well - you can apply for a British Passport for her via the British Embassy or Consulate in the USA. No need for here to ever set foot in the UK. And yes, both the UK and the USA allow their citizens to hold passports from other countries.

Bob

If you are a British Citizen, other means other than by decent, you pass it on, in the gist of things.

So if born in the UK, you passed it on to your kid automatically.

Same for your OH, if his mother was born in the UK as a Brit.

And didn't you read the thread? The UK and the US as well as many other countries don't care if you hold other citizenships, they usually just treat you as a national of that particular nation when you are in that nation and can't use the other citizenship to get you out of hot bother should you be wanted, or have national service requirements etc.

wildinvirginia

I did indeed read the thread - which is why it's so interesting. A while back we were considering going to the UK and it was made very clear that whilst my husband would most likely be granted a right to residency in the UK for the reasons I state, there was nothing automatic about it. Under the new points system, he would have had to apply and go through the same process I did here - with the same fees, just in GBP not dollars!

The parent I referred to seemed to have somehow shortcut that process with her child, just somehow registering her for a passport even though presumably she only had a U.S issued birth certificate as well.

I was wondering if anyone had heard of that situation being different from what we were told by the Embassy would be the process for my husband.