kferr
July 13, 2018, 12:06pm
21
Tim_T-Bonham.net:
Is it as simple as you just choosing to renounce your citizenship?
*A specific example I remember is Lee Harvey Oswald. He tried to renounce his US Citizenship while living abroad, but the US did not accept that (though they didn’t reject it, either.). (Basically, the US Consulate involved just filed his application and didn’t take any action on it for several months. During that time, he got disillusioned with life abroad, and returned to the US.)
There’s a load of forms to fill out, you have to go for an interview, and pay a fee. Details are available here
There was a recent thread on this, but the US government doesn’t actually do much for most citizens abroad. I can’t really imagine that giving up US citizenship for British would actually make any real difference.
I’m reminded of the episode of The Office where Michael attempted to declare bankruptcy simply by standing up and announcing it to his coworkers.
The Perfect Master (ret’d) spoke: How do I go about renouncing my U.S. citizenship?
Here’s the procedure:
(1) Leave the country. There is no procedure for renouncing your citizenship while still physically present in the U.S. The government has the idea that if you’re mad enough to renounce your citizenship you probably don’t want to keep living here (although most militia types seem to want to stick around, presumably to keep their disgust fresh). Also, frankly, most of the 800 or so people who renounce their U.S. citizenship each year aren’t protesters but rather are cases of “dual citizenship” who haven’t lived in the U.S. for a long time. What typically happens is that someone is born in the U.S. to non-U.S. parents, who later return to their native land. Such a person is automatically a U.S. citizen but has a claim to his parents’ nationality also. While dual citizenship is usually not illegal — the U.S. “tolerates” it — it can complicate your life, notably in connection with taxes. So many people choose one or the other on reaching adulthood.
(2) Apply for citizenship somewhere else. Strictly speaking this is optional, in the sense that it’s optional to put on the parachute before you jump out of the plane. But if you’re a stateless person living abroad and you get in a jam with the local authorities, or you want to get a passport to travel to yet another country (or back to this one), you’re up fecal matter creek.
(3) Go to a U.S. embassy or consulate and tell them you want to renounce your citizenship. Often they’ll try to talk you out of it, tell you to come back after you’ve slept it off, etc. Persist. Eventually they’ll have you sign an oath of renunciation, an affidavit affirming the oath, and a “statement of understanding,” which basically asks you if you’re sure you know what you’re doing. You also have to supply certain tax-related info and turn in your passport. The consular officer overseeing the proceedings must sign an attestation saying that in his opinion you’re not off your nut. The papers will then be forwarded to the U.S. state department, which in the fullness of time will issue you a Certificate of Loss of Nationality. You’re officially un-American. Lotsa luck.
kferr
July 16, 2018, 3:53pm
25
The numbers have changed a lot. From 800 when that article was written in 1997 to over 5000 reported in 2016 From here
I have thought about it, but the upsides to giving up citizenship are basically “less tax hassle,” while the downsides are “potential difficulty travelling to / from the US,” and living in Canada with aging parents in the USA, that’s not a risk I feel I can take.
