# American and British Citizenship

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-and-british-citizenship/291304>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 22, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-and-british-citizenship/291304 "2005-02-22T05:15:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DuhCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@DuhCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DuhCow)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-and-british-citizenship/291304/1 "2005-02-22T05:15:28Z")

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I’m an American citizen. Say I moved to the UK and lived there for some time. If I were to apply for British citizenship and successfully acquire it, would I retain my American citizenship?

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-and-british-citizenship/291304/2 "2005-02-22T05:23:59Z")

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Yes.

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**Author:** ![quicken78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/919ad9/32.png) [@quicken78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quicken78)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-and-british-citizenship/291304/3 "2005-02-22T05:36:52Z")

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Yes. I have both. You used to have to choose (until the mid-1990s, I think) when you reached 21. This was a requirement imposed by the US. However, even prior to that point, ‘off-the-record’ advice would be just to keep both citizenships and not tell anyone about it.

I don’t think that the UK has ever had a problem with dual citizenship.