# US nationals with dual citizenship - was it difficult? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 8, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901 "2010-11-08T13:55:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/1 "2010-11-08T13:55:52Z")
I’m curious about the comments about it in the [Ever wish you had another nationality?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=584192) thread, especially this one: > [@Ever wish you held another nationality?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-wish-you-held-another-nationality/559375/53): > > As pointed out above, that isn’t true for everyone. The U.S. doesn’t like its citizens from having dual citizenship but it can’t stop it either. There are plenty of people that have dual U.S. and (other country) citizenships. That doesn’t mean that it is risk free however and the U.S. doesn’t want its citizens to collect citizenships on a whim like trading cards. If there was ever a real conflict between the two countries that involved something like a draft, it could put everyone in a bind. It could also create a problem if the person ever got into serious problems with a third country while traveling. In short, the U.S. won’t just strip you of your citizenship if another country offers you another one but it isn’t too hot on the idea. What are the practical effects of “not too hot on the idea”? How does the US government stop or discourage its citizens from obtaining dual citizenship? What was the process like (if there are any US citizens who subsequently acquired citizenship of another country on the board)? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/2 "2010-11-08T15:12:53Z")
We dumped our son’s Korean citizenship when he was naturalized. Otherwise, he’d have been required to serve in the Korean army, and there was a small chance if he went to Korea having not served, he’d have been arrested. That isn’t the U.S. government being “not to hot” on the idea, but its an illustration of the complexities. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/3 "2010-11-08T16:09:58Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > What are the practical effects of “not too hot on the idea”? How does the US government stop or discourage its citizens from obtaining dual citizenship? What was the process like (if there are any US citizens who subsequently acquired citizenship of another country on the board)? The practical effects are that you typically have to be a US citizen _first_; you can’t become a naturalized US citizen and retain your prior citizenship, in most cases. If you want dual citizenship you have to do it the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/4 "2010-11-08T16:13:09Z")
Canada had no particular issue with it, and the US has no knowledge of it, unless I show up in the US with a Canadian and a US passport. That said, it’s not much use on a day-to-day basis. I use my Canadian passport going into the US these days, as I need it to get back to Canada, and my traveling companions are all on Canadian passports. So it’s not like I get to go in the fast line to 'Merica. ---
**Author:** ![UTejas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UTejas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UTejas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/5 "2010-11-08T16:33:18Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I use my Canadian passport going into the US these days, as I need it to get back to Canada, and my traveling companions are all on Canadian passports. So it’s not like I get to go in the fast line to 'Merica. Is this a good idea? I believe it is a felony for a US citizen to enter the USA on a foreign passport. It sounds like a pain, but the only legal thing to do is enter the US on the US passport and enter Canada on the Canadian one. [Cite](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/1185.html) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/6 "2010-11-08T16:35:47Z")
I think the US is just way too precious with their shit. It just oozes hegemony, and it’s ugly. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/7 "2010-11-08T16:36:28Z")
That says it’s illegal for citizens to enter or leave the US without _carrying_ a valid US passport. It doesn’t say anything about showing it. Actually, re-reading **Aft3d** ’s post, he might not be carrying it, so maybe you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/8 "2010-11-08T17:31:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The practical effects are that you typically have to be a US citizen _first_; you can’t become a naturalized US citizen and retain your prior citizenship, in most cases. If you want dual citizenship you have to do it the other way around. This simply isn’t true. Many people retain their old citizenship while going through US naturalization, and are dual citizens after the fact. For one thing, a determination of foreign citizenship is an agreement between the person and the foreign nation, not the US. It doesn’t even make sense that you could do this: think of the timing practicalities. They can’t say that you can’t be a foreign citizen at the moment of acquiring US citizenship because that means you’ve already relinquished your foreign citizenship. That means you are temporarily stateless, which is probably a reason the foreign nation will refuse to relinquish your citizenship. In addition, there is no law that says you have to actively relinquish your foreign citizenship after obtaining US citizenship. The US doesn’t get to decide that your prior citizenship is retained or not, the foreign nation does. Some countries, such as South Africa, have laws stating that your citizenship ends if you acquire a foreign citizenship. In South Africa’s case there is a form you can fill out before the fact stating that you want to retain South African citizenship. In that case obtaining foreign citizenship means nothing to your South African citizen status, although really they probably wouldn’t have any way to know about the US citizenship anyway. The only place where this is uncertain is in fact the opposite of the case you make: if you are already a US citizen you could find your citizenship in jeopardy if you voluntarily take on a foreign citizenship with the intent to lose your US citizenship. Here is a link to the State Department with their take on it: [http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis\_pa\_tw/cis/cis\_1753.html](http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html). ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/9 "2010-11-08T17:33:05Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > We dumped our son’s Korean citizenship when he was naturalized. I’m just curious. What practical steps did you or your son have to go through to do this? ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/10 "2010-11-08T17:37:20Z")
I’m a dual citizen, as is my husband. Our children have three citizenships. I was born in England to two American parents who were just there working for a while (my dad was doing his post-doc at Oxford). I’m a British citizen because I was born there and I have a British passport to prove it. My husband is from Switzerland and got his American citizenship a few years ago. So now America thinks of him as an American citizen, but Switzerland also thinks of him as a Swiss citizen. My kids have citizenships in England, Switzerland and the U.S. It’s kinda cool. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/11 "2010-11-08T17:59:12Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > I think the US is just way too precious with their shit. It just oozes hegemony, and it’s ugly. IMHO, In comparison to some other countries, the US is pretty relaxed about this sort of thing. Indians cannot acquire dual citizenship, period. Mexico used to have the same law, although they changed it a few years back - my cousin was a dual US/Mexico citizen and when he turned 18, the Mexican government insisted he lose one or the other. He went with Mexico and lost his American citizenship. Shortly afterward, they changed their law to allow dual citizenship, my cousin applied to have his US citizenship reinstated, and it wasn’t a problem. My (American) aunt lived in Mexico for forty years and never got Mexican citizenship because she would have had to forfeit her American citizenship in the process. The US doesn’t make people give up their native citizenships in order to acquire US citizenship derived from marrying an American national. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/12 "2010-11-08T18:02:19Z")
> [@tetranz](#): > > I’m just curious. What practical steps did you or your son have to go through to do this? Send a certified letter to the Korean consulate, with his U.S. naturalization paperwork, saying we no longer wanted him to be a Korean citizen. The adoption agency took care of it for us though - at that time (when you still needed to be naturalized if you were adopted as a baby), they’d collect all the babies naturalized that month and send it all the paperwork at once. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/13 "2010-11-08T18:08:27Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > I’m a dual citizen, as is my husband. Our children have three citizenships. > > I was born in England to two American parents who were just there working for a while (my dad was doing his post-doc at Oxford). I’m a British citizen because I was born there and I have a British passport to prove it. > > My husband is from Switzerland and got his American citizenship a few years ago. So now America thinks of him as an American citizen, but Switzerland also thinks of him as a Swiss citizen. > > My kids have citizenships in England, Switzerland and the U.S. > > It’s kinda cool. But forget about running for the presidency of the United States. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/14 "2010-11-08T18:13:43Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > But forget about running for the presidency of the United States. 🙂 I don’t think that’s true. Senator McCain was born outside the United States to two U.S. citizen parents, and I don’t think there was any serious objection to him as a candidate for President of the U.S. He may even be a citizen of Panama as well as a U.S. citizen. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/15 "2010-11-08T18:22:08Z")
> [@UTejas](#): > > Is this a good idea? I believe it is a felony for a US citizen to enter the USA on a foreign passport. It sounds like a pain, but the only legal thing to do is enter the US on the US passport and enter Canada on the Canadian one. > > [Cite](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/1185.html) This is an ongoing discussion that I have yet to get a good answer for. Thanks for the citation. I’ve also been told that it is not a great idea to have 2 passports on hand. It is also not much fun getting back into Canada - where I live - on a US passport only. They tend to ask “when are you leaving, where is your return ticket”. Going into the US on a Canadian passport might be an issue in theory, although there is no reasonable way for them to know that I am the same A3D who is a stealth American. Keeping my US passport buried in my luggage might be a solution. Doing a switcheroo at different borders would be another one. Plus they seem to keep expiring, which doesn’t help. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/16 "2010-11-08T18:28:02Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > I think the US is just way too precious with their shit. It just oozes hegemony, and it’s ugly. How is “precious” to prefer that persons who want to be citizens have their primary allegiance to this country? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/17 "2010-11-08T18:29:46Z")
I don’t understand this concern about carrying two passports. Both the Canadian and the U.S. immigration people know that there are a lot of dual citizens, and that it is not an issue with their country to be a dual citizen. I doubt if it’s even a problem to hand the immigration person both passports: the worst they are likely to do is say, “I don’t need this one.” And it might explain, for example, how you are living in the U.S. without a visa or a green card, even though you can a Canadian passport. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/18 "2010-11-08T18:29:53Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > This is an ongoing discussion that I have yet to get a good answer for. Thanks for the citation. I’ve also been told that it is not a great idea to have 2 passports on hand. I don’t think there should be any issue with having two passports on hand, but it seems pretty common for countries to demand that their own citizens use the local passport when entering their country. So it is okay to have multiple passports, but you’d use your Canadian one to enter Canada, your US one to enter the US, and in my case my South African one to enter South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/19 "2010-11-08T18:56:47Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > I don’t think there should be any issue with having two passports on hand, but it seems pretty common for countries to demand that their own citizens use the local passport when entering their country. So it is okay to have multiple passports, but you’d use your Canadian one to enter Canada, your US one to enter the US, and in my case my South African one to enter South Africa. This is true – I must use my Israeli passport to enter and exit Israel, and my US one to enter and exit the US – however Israel has no problem with me handing both passports to the Passport Control Officer and asking them to stamp both. ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901/20 "2010-11-08T19:29:22Z")
I just want to agree with everything Driver8 said. I’m always surprised by what weird ideas people have about this. Things like “you’d have to given up your other citizenship first” and things like that. As Driver8 says, there is no practical way to do that and the new country has no say in the matter. In practice, only the “old” country can ever decide whether or not you keep your old citizenship. I guess if a country really wanted to enforce “you must give up other citizenships” then they could give you “provisional citizenship” or something with the requirement that you come back within a specified time period with proof that you gave up your other citizenships but I’ve never heard of a country doing that. The US certainly doesn’t. As I understand it, the US court cases years ago about dual citizenship were about US citizens obtaining other citizenships therefore raising the question of whether or not they were still a US citizen. I don’t think there has ever been any question about the other citizenship status of a new US citizen other than the assumption that they make the pledge with some seriousness. That doesn’t mean that they’re expected to recind other citizenships. I don’t think there is anything to stop a natural born US citizen with another citizenship becoming president. It might be a problem politically but not legally. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-nationals-with-dual-citizenship-was-it-difficult/559901.md?page=2)