Recently I read that Pamela Anderson was granted U.S. citizenship. “But,” she said in the ariticle, “I will keep my Canadian citizenship.” I thought that dual citizenship for U.S. citizens was illegal. Alex Trebek also said that he was “alive, Canadian, and American,” implying that he too has dual citizenship. I recently met a woman who was born in America but now lives in Switzerland. She claimed to have dual U.S.-Swiss citizenship, explaining that it was legal in her case because Switzerland is a neutral country. Are there exceptions to the rule that dual citizenship is illegal, as in the cases stated above? I thought there was a Straight Dope column about this, but a search of the archives produced only a column about renouncing one’s U.S. citizenship, not about the facts concerning dual citizenship. This is of great interest to me because I have spent many years living abroad and would some day in the future like to consider taking dual citizenship, being extremely reluctant to give up my U.S. citizenship under any circumstances. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
I am a Canadian who lives in the US. My last trip to the INS (BCIS, whatever they are called now), I inquired about dual citizenship with Canada. The answer from the immigration officer was that “The US will not recognize dual citizenship”. However, Canada will not rescind your citizenship if you happen to become an American citizen.
For the record, I do not have American citizenship.
Correction: will not automatically rescind your citizenship.
Gingy is essentially right.
The United States will NOT recognize dual citizenship - in fact, it’s in the pledge you have to take, which states that you break off all former allegiences to other flags and countries and so forth.
So - if you take on American citizenship, the United States will ONLY recognize you as an american citizen. That’s it. Interesting side note - they can actually take it away, if a naturalized citizen does something really bad… so then you’re a citizen of nowhere?
Anyway: so, you’ve become a USC. Go you! The US thinks you’re now one of them.
Canada, however, has a different take on the matter. Liz (in Great Britain) says: “Oh, that’s nice, my little maple-flavoured-crumpet!” but she will tell you that you can’t just lose your citizenship by taking on another. She, and Canada, and other countries recognize dual citizenship. The only way you can lose your canadian citizenship is if you formally ask to have it revoked.
So - for Canada, you’re still a Canadian Citizen and a USC.
This means that, for example, a child born to a USC and a Canadian Citizen who is also naturalized in the US, the child can be registered as a Canadian Citizen born abroad as well.
It’s silly, if you ask me, but that’s how it works.
Some countries, like Germany I believe, do NOT recognize dual citizenships either - so if you’re a German citizen and you naturalize in the US, Germany says “bye-bye” and you’re no longer one of them.
If I mistake not, Australia was also like that until quite recently…
I also meant to say: If you are a USC and you are considering a citizenship abroad, make sure that country recognizes dual citizenships. Technically, the US won’t ditch you “right away” if you take on another citizenship (you have to ditch your US one formally too) but it will NOT recognize your NEW citizenship.
Immigration, rah rah rah 
You can look up the relevent info at the U.S. Department of State: http://travel.state.gov/law/dualnationality.html
From the U.S. Department of State: “U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to choose one citizenship or another.”
I’m a Canada-U.S. dual citizen by the way.
The U.S. does not encourage dual nationality. But they are well aware that it exists and there’s not a lot they can do about it depending on the citizenship laws of the other country.
A person who acquires a foreign citizenship automatically (by marriage or parentage for example) is not at risk of losing their U.S. citizenship. If you apply for a foreign citizenship it is possible to lose your U.S citizenship, but not always.
The U.S. may prefer that I give up my Canadian citizenship, but Canada is under no obligation to accept my “renunciation.” Therein lies the juristictional limits. Each country may just ignore your other citizenship (unless you really piss them off and give them an excuse to take your citizenship away – so don’t go robbing banks or anything.)
As Elenfair said, (in case it wasn’t clear in my own post), the U.S will NOT recognize my other citizenship. While I’m in the U.S. I’m a U.S. citizen. Period.
So I am supposed to go into the U.S. with my U.S. passport as a U.S. citizen.
In cases where there are conflicts, the country where you are sitting tends to have dibs over you.
I’m not an expert on the law, but I know that my boss and his wife just became citizens of the US from the UK. They kept their UK citizenship. But they also said that this was a new ruling.
[QUOTE=Elenfair]
Gingy is essentially right.
. The only way you can lose your canadian citizenship is if you formally ask to have it revoked.
QUOTE]
does this mean I can become deliberatley stateless by asking to have my (single) nationality revoked? I have always wanted to try and live in an airport transit lounge like that guy in Paris
It should be noted that any evidence of multiple citizenship (say, by having a passport from more than one nation) will generally disqualify you from having any sort of security clearance from the U.S. government.
I had this same conversation with a friend of mine who worked for the Department of Justice (Homeland Security), who also held Scottish as well as American citizenship. There are special cases where that multiple or dual citizenship is waived. In her case, she was born to Americans who were stationed in Scotland and therefore granted Scots citizenship. It was a bit of a fuss, but they waived it for her anyway.
You may wish to read up on the Dual Citizenship FAQ
I am a dual citizen. After living in Oz for a while I decided to change my status from permanent resident to citizen. After careful analysis of all the facts at that time (and not what the Department of State chose to state about it) I found having a second citizenship did not jeopardize my American citizenship.
It still doesn’t.
However, whenever I fly between both countries something weird happens as I pass over the equator. I’m not sure what it is (and its more profound during a full moon flight), but all I know is I board the plane as one citizen and deplane at my destination as a different citizen.
Well, you learn something every day. I’m married to a US citizen, and i thought that the US actively forbade anyone from holding dual citizenship. It seems, thoough, that it’s just a matter of what the US government will actually recognize.
I wonder what they’d think of me with my three passports? (Canada, Australia, British)
Scottish citizenship??
“And, Mr. President, may I present to you the Scottish Ambassador, Sir Ian MacDougall.”
There’s also the matter of enforcement, which is difficult to impossible. Most of the time, one country has no way of knowing what other citizenship you may carry.
Example: my college roomie is Salvadoran by birth, U.S. citizen by naturalization (which she didn’t apply for herself – her parents naturalized while she was under 18, thereby naturalizing her by operation of law with no action on her part), and well on her way to passport #3 (U.K.). Her two U.K.-born children have all three of the above-mentioned citizenships by birth, as both El Salvador and the U.S. recognize derivative citizenship through the mother, and her husband is British.
In theory, U.S. citizens are supposed to enter and depart the U.S. on their U.S. passports. On the other hand, a) how will the U.S. even know that the kids have British or Salvadoran passports? Plus U.S. law does not recognize the renunciation of U.S. citizenship on behalf of a minor, so as things stand now there would be no penalty against the children for not following the rules.
And as far as my friend, she keeps her Salvadoran passport, because wouldn’t you rather travel to El Salvador on a Salvadoran passport than a U.S. one? And wasn’t that even more the case while there was still an active civil war going on in El Salvador? As far as I know, unless a person is under active government surveillance for other, more serious reasons, the U.S. doesn’t normally swap citizenship data with other countries.
I should add a small piece of advice for anyone who gets a second (or third) passport:
When you’re entering a country, decide before you get to the immigration desk which passport you’re going to use, and have it ready.
I went to Hong Kong in 1993 (while it was still in British hands), and when i arrived at the immigration desk i pulled all three passports out of my pocket and flicked through them until i came to the British one, which i then handed over. My little shuffling act got me a 15-minute interrogation as to why i had three passports. I half expected to be marched off to a back room, but in the end they let me pass.