Excuse me if this has been answered before, but a quick search for previous questions on this returned no answers.
I’m trying to find out if an American living in the UK and married to a Briton can apply for UK citizenship, without renouncing their US citizenship. I’d also be grateful for any pointers on the procedures involved, or any warnings on points to look out for.
This is a subject close to my heart, Gary Kumquat :
The UK does not require you to renounce your previous citizenship if you become a British citizen. Where you may run into trouble is with your ‘home’ country’s requirements - eg. I am Australian and until recently if you actively took up citizenship of another country you had to relinquish your Australian one. I have no idea what the US position is on this, someone else might be able to advise, or contact the relevant govt department.
Here is info on this: Dual Nationality
This explains the requirements for British citizenship, links to forms etc. I am applying for mine in September as I will have been her 5 years, but if you are married to a Brit there are concessions:
To get to the 3 years, if you come over as a spouse you will be given permission to stay and work for 12 months, then provided you are still married you can apply to stay permanently. Then after 3 years you can go the naturalisation route:
However if you’re already here you can ignore this bit!
Hope that’s helpful.
US citizenship is very hard to lose, and essentially impossible to lose unintentionally. The US will not consider your seeking British citizenship to be grounds for revoking your American citizenship.
Tons and tons of info is to be found at Rich Wales’ Dual Citizenship FAQ.
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I’m a US/UK duelie myself, not by marriage, but just by being here long enough. The resouces cited are a good place to start. You can give up US citizenship by asking. But I read somewhere that if you are giving it up in order to avoid paying US taxes, then you will be barred from entering the US again.
You shouldn’t have to be worried about losing the U.S. citizenship merely by naturalizing in the U.K. The problems tend to arise when you do things like join a foreign military or accept policy-level employment with a foreign government. Check out the State Dept.'s FAQ at http://www.travel.state.gov.
My mother, US born, came to the UK in the late 50’s. She took UK citizenship when some policemen came to her house and told her she had to or get deported (this was not true, she could have gotten away with filing some papers, but they scared her into it). In the 70’s she was forced to renounce her US citizenship amid many tears. She has since had her citizenship status returned and given an apology. She now holds both UK & US passports, as could I if I wish.
Thanks for the excellent answers - much appreciated!