# Must applicants for US citizenship surrender their foreign passport upon becoming naturalized? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852 "2013-01-30T23:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/21 "2013-01-31T12:53:59Z")
It’s impossible to answer without knowing what country she is a citizen of now. It’s entirely up to that other country. The USA doesn’t care about her other citizenship but doesn’t recognize it either, meaning that her relationship with the US government will be purely as a US citizen and nothing else. Many (a majority?) of countries these days don’t remove your citizenship if you obtain another but I think some do. Also some (Singapore?) require that you give up other citizenships to become a naturalized citizen of theirs. Australia used to not allow dual citizenship until about ten years ago. I don’t know how the law worked in practice. I suspect it was on the Australian passport application or anything else that required you to be a citizen, it probably asked “are you a citizen of another country?”. You were probably disqualified if the answer was yes. ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/22 "2013-01-31T12:56:27Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > FWIW I will mention that the US knows I have become a Canadian citizen, but I still get a US passport that I travel with (it lasts twice as long as a Canadian passport) and when I return to Canada, I show that and my citizenship card and no border agent has ever remarked on that. I did have to turn in my immigrant card when I became a citizen. You also need to have the US passport to get back into the US since US citizens are legally required to only enter the country with a US passport. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/23 "2013-01-31T13:16:36Z")
The Oath of Allegiance required of naturalized citizens in the United States begins with a phrase that may be the source of speculation about losing any prior citizenship: > [@](#): > > I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; … Despite such language, it is up to the country of prior citizenship what effect, if any, acquiring US citizenship will have. FWIW, I know Colombians who have retained Colombian citizenship after naturalizing as American citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/24 "2013-01-31T14:07:47Z")
Absent a treaty, I would be very surprised if the US would or even could under international law require a foreign passport to be surrendered as it is the property of the foreign government. Likewise I don’t think the UK under any conditions could seize my US passport without the permission of the US government. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/25 "2013-01-31T14:30:47Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > I have personal experience of this, I naturalized in the United States a few years ago. I still retain my South African citizenship and passport. As far as South African law is concerned, you’ve lost your SA citizenship (unless you applied beforehand to keep it). But of course if you don’t tell Home Affairs you won’t get in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/26 "2013-01-31T14:49:55Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Absent a treaty, I would be very surprised if the US would or even could under international law require a foreign passport to be surrendered as it is the property of the foreign government. Likewise I don’t think the UK under any conditions could seize my US passport without the permission of the US government. That’s true, of course. Country A cannot tell country B whether or not someone is one of their citizens. Country A can however have a law that says that a naturalized citizen must renounce other citizenships within some specified time or lose their new citizenship in country A. I believe a few countries have that. The US is not one of them. I don’t know what happens in that situation if country B doesn’t even have a means of renouncing citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/27 "2013-01-31T15:10:47Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Paging **Eva Luna**. > > If she’s a UK citizen she’ll have to turn in her passport unless she was born after December 1982 and/or in Hong Kong and some other things too. Huh? Canadian with British parents, born before 1982 - I have both passports, and the thing my dad impressed on me is that no matter what other countries said or did, no matter what other citizenship, I was always a British citizen. He’s still got his British passport AFAIK, plus Canadian passport and either green card or US passport (never asked). There was a great deal of outrage in Canada a few years ago when things blew up (so to speak) in Lebanon, and the government spent a fortune retreiving Canadian citizens - who it turned out, had come over here, got naturalized, then went back to Lebanon when things settled down. They had been gone 10 years or more, permanently settled back home, but still held Canadian (and Lebanese) passports and expected the Canadian government to get them out when the bullets started flying like they were a bunch of tourists. Most countries don’t care what else you do. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/28 "2013-01-31T16:17:04Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > As far as South African law is concerned, you’ve lost your SA citizenship (unless you applied beforehand to keep it). But of course if you don’t tell Home Affairs you won’t get in trouble. Indeed. I did apply before to keep it, so at this point they (a) know I naturalized (or at least intended to do so) and (b) are okay with that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/29 "2013-01-31T16:22:55Z")
Out of curiosity, I called the UK Consulate in DC just now (I had to call anyway because I’m renewing my passport) and they said I was totally right - if it was 1979 or something. As of now, I’m wrong, because “British subject” status is being phased out. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/30 "2013-01-31T16:28:36Z")
Thanks for all the responses. We’re primarily interested in finding out if, at some point in the naturalization process (we’ve heard at the oath-taking ceremony), some US official will physically ask or demand that she surrender her foreign passport. The majority of the responses seem to indicate the answer to this question is “no”, so (if this is accurate) we probably won’t have to worry about getting her another passport for her native country. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/31 "2013-01-31T16:35:53Z")
IIRC, the Canadian passport application even has a question about what other nationalities you hold. Does the American application also? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/32 "2013-01-31T17:33:46Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > An “EU passport” is just the passport of an EU member state. The EU itself doesn’t issue passports. Thanks for that. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/33 "2013-01-31T18:13:12Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > IIRC, the Canadian passport application even has a question about what other nationalities you hold. Does the American application also? Nope, the application form itself is pretty simple. [Here’s a link.](http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/79955.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/34 "2013-01-31T18:22:42Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Thanks for that. That said, there is a distinction - starting in 1993, EU member states all issued uniform-ish maroon passports. Prior to that, they issued wholly unique passports; dark blue, in the case of the UK. Some of those are still knocking around. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/35 "2013-01-31T18:35:05Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Thanks for all the responses. We’re primarily interested in finding out if, at some point in the naturalization process (we’ve heard at the oath-taking ceremony), some US official will physically ask or demand that she surrender her foreign passport. The majority of the responses seem to indicate the answer to this question is “no”, so (if this is accurate) we probably won’t have to worry about getting her another passport for her native country. The question has been answered authoritatively. I will just add that although you are not required to surrender your foreign passport, don’t use it in the U.S. for travel purposes. [Most U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States.](http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html) ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/36 "2013-01-31T21:43:51Z")
To be fair though they USED TO, which is the source of the confusion. In fact some countries have created expedited ways for those that renounced citizenship to naturalize in the USA to get it back. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/37 "2013-02-01T09:51:50Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > A few years back a family member from France with American wife wanted US Passport, maybe citizenship too. They told him he had to give up the French passport. > . Which is pointless, since like the USA, France won’t care whether or not you’re a citizen of another country, unless you renounce formally to your citizenship (or are stripped of it, which is an extremely rare event, requiring an act of treason or something similar). Surrending his passport to US authorities isn’t in any way a formal renunciation, so he’s still a French citizen, willing or not. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/38 "2013-02-01T10:43:06Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Thanks for that. They all bear the mention “European Union” though. There’s such a thing as European Union citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/39 "2013-02-04T09:39:43Z")
No, there isn’t. The closest I can think of is that a country can be a member of the European Union, but that doesn’t mean that a citizen of that country is a EU citizen. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852/40 "2013-02-04T10:54:34Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > No, there isn’t. . Yes, [there is](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_of_the_European_Union). Anecdotically, regarding the possible independance of Scotland and Catalogne, this is an issue. Would/should the citizens of these newly founded countries keep their EU citizenship or not? (By the way, I notice the link I gave includes too a list of the EU countries who allow people to hold multiple citizenship, which is relevant to this thread) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/must-applicants-for-us-citizenship-surrender-their-foreign-passport-upon-becoming-naturalized/648852.md?page=3)