# Canadians!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294 "2003-08-01T04:32:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gillianssj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@Gillianssj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gillianssj2)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/1 "2003-08-01T04:32:54Z")
All my fellow Canadians out there! Are we allowed triple citizenship? I know we can have dual, but any more??? ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/2 "2003-08-01T04:34:50Z")
My children have Canadian, U.S. and British citizenship, so yes, you can have as many as you’re entitled to. It should be noted, however, that some countries require you to surrender their citizenship if you become a naturalized citizen of another country. ---
**Author:** ![Gillianssj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@Gillianssj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gillianssj2)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/3 "2003-08-01T04:36:37Z")
Cerowyn you have totally answered my question! ``` THANK YOU ``` ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/4 "2003-08-01T04:43:53Z")
Doesn’t the US make you surrender your second citizenship? Or is that only if you live there? ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/5 "2003-08-01T08:01:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cat Fight \* > \*\*Doesn’t the US make you surrender your second citizenship? Or is that only if you live there? \*\* It was the U.S. I was thinking of when I mentioned that some countries consider you to have given up their citizenship if you become a naturalized citizen of another nation. Someone once explained to me that it was the swearing of alliegence to another nation that invalidates your U.S. citizenship (such an oath wouldn’t be required if you had another citizenship by birth). However, I can’t speak for the veracity of that claim. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/6 "2003-08-01T08:08:19Z")
Well, whoever it was that explained that to you didn’t know what they were talking about. There is no such thing as “invalidating” your U.S. citizenship - for the most part you would have to declare intention to give it up, in so many words. Have a careful read through [this site](http://travel.state.gov/loss.html). ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/7 "2003-08-01T12:16:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cat Fight \* > \*\*Doesn’t the US make you surrender your second citizenship? Or is that only if you live there? \*\* It depends. The laws change from time to time. When I was younger, I couldn’t get my U.S. citizenship without renouncing my Canadian one. At that time the only country that the U.S. would allow dual citizenship with was Israel. That has since changed and I have both my Canadian and U.S. citizenship, no problem. My mother was also told by the U.S. Consulate guy that she could now be naturalized as a Canadian citizen without losing her U.S. citizenship. I’m not sure what would happen if things changed back again. As **Ruadh** mentioned, it’s not like your citizenship can be invalidated without formal process. Hm. Interesting thought. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/8 "2003-08-01T12:46:56Z")
You can have dual citizenship with a country that doesn’t recognize dual citizenships (like Mexico) if you simply don’t tell them you got a new one and are careful about which passport you use when you enter said country. This only works if said country is your birthplace. Of course. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/9 "2003-08-01T13:28:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \* > **It depends. The laws change from time to time. When I was younger, I couldn’t get my U.S. citizenship without renouncing my Canadian one. At that time the only country that the U.S. would allow dual citizenship with was Israel.** I’ve heard this Israel thing before but it sets off my bullshit detector. Could we have a cite? ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/10 "2003-08-01T14:13:15Z")
The Master speaks on [renouncing your US citizenship and dual citizenship](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_229.html). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/11 "2003-08-01T14:27:14Z")
Mexico’s allowed dual citizenship since 1998. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/12 "2003-08-01T14:38:57Z")
Guess my admitedly anecdotal data was stale… ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/13 "2003-08-01T18:14:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*I’ve heard this Israel thing before but it sets off my bullshit detector. Could we have a cite? \*\* It had something to do with Israel enacting the Law of Return in 1950 that granted citizenship to any Jew who wanted to make “aliya”. In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court made the decision on Afroyim v. Rusk that an American can maintain his citizenship in a free country unless he voluntarily renounces it – the “Afroyim” in this case was Beys Afroyim who was a naturalized U.S. citizen who then lost his U.S. citizenship in 1960 because he had voted in a foreign state (Israel). So I would assume from the Afroyim v. Rusk decision that the “you can keep your other citizenship rule” would be for everybody, but nontheless, I wasn’t able to get my U.S. citizenship until the late 80s (don’t remember why – I was a kid and at the time it didn’t really matter about all the “citizenship issues” that my parents were talking about.) There is an overview of sorts [here](http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0793/9307019.htm), if you want further cite-like stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/14 "2003-08-01T18:21:30Z")
Hmm… here’s an interesting excerpt from the Washington Report article of my link: > [@](#): > > \*\*Did Golda Meir relinquish her U.S. passport at some point in her evolution from Milwaukee schoolteacher to prime minister of Israel? U.S. State Department officials said they did not know. > > “State Department officials should know,” former INS Commissioner Leonel Castillo told me. "If you look at it strictly, she should have relinquished her passport. " > > Castillo added that while Washington claims it has a “good neighbor” policy with Mexico, the U.S. does not permit Mexicans to hold dual nationality. “We make them become either U.S. or Mexican—you can’t be both,” he said, adding: “The U.S., in its special relationship with Israel, has become very sympathetic to allowing Israelis and Americans to retain two nationalities and allowing U.S. citizens to hold public office in Israel.” > > Asked if he knew of any other countries with so many dual citizens, Castillo said, “No, I don’t know any. This U.S.-Israel relationship is a special situation.” \*\* NOTE: This article is archived from **1993** and is therefore not reflecting any current laws there may be. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/15 "2003-08-01T19:49:07Z")
Well, [here](http://www.richw.org/dualcit/cases.html) I have found the relevant case law, and [here](http://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html#israel) is the FAQuestion pertaining to the Israel myth (which, as I suspected, is precisely what it is). You would think an INS commissioner would know better, but then … this is the INS we’re talking about. The only references I’ve found to any changes to law in the late 1980s relate to loss of U.S. citizenship, so I am still not sure what the problem in your situation was. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/16 "2003-08-01T21:47:48Z")
It does sound rather apocryphal, doesn’t it? But it’s a good example that shows how widespread the foggy information is. From your link: > [@](#): > > Also, officials of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) may not always be aware of the full story on dual citizenship, would explain the “special case with Israel” mis-info that gets propogated by folks like the Former INS Commissioner in my link. I was able to sort things out shortly after the 1986 citizenship law amendments – I’m guessing it had someting to with those changes. From a link within your link: > [@](#): > > Previously, if a US citizen were also a citizen of a foreign country, had spent one or more periods of time in that country totalling at least ten years, and performed any of the listed actions that could result in loss of US citizenship, the action in question would be conclusively presumed to have been performed voluntarily and without duress … \ I had Canadian citizenship and hadn’t lived in the U.S. since I was a toddler – so I’m guessing it had something to do with _that_ rule and a boneheaded INS desk jockey telling my parents: “Oh, well! Citizenship lost!” ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/17 "2003-08-01T21:49:16Z")
BTW- I’m bookmarking your link there **ruadh**. It’s pretty interesting. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/18 "2003-08-01T23:55:54Z")
This Canadian Government ‘document’ should answer your question: [http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizen/dualci\_e.html](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizen/dualci_e.html) ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/19 "2003-08-02T11:50:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jovan \* > \*\*Guess my admitedly anecdotal data was stale… \*\* Don’t worry about it. It was actually a Mexican _Constitutional issue_ until 1998. When they changed the law, it allowed Mexicans to not surrender their citizenship when taking other citizenships, thereby allowing dual citizenship. However those that had already lost citizenship now need to go back and re-apply! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians/192294/20 "2003-08-02T15:37:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \* > \*\*Hmm… here’s an interesting excerpt from the Washington Report article of my link:NOTE: This article is archived from **1993** and is therefore not reflecting any current laws there may be. \*\* My best friend became a dual citizen in 1991. So go figure. The U.S. may not RECOGNIZE a dual citizenship, but it doesn’t necessarily actively prevent anyone from holding it.