- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Mods, I hope this topic's okay; it relates to figure skating in that there's been an awful lot of citizenship discussion in the last few months, but I'll understand if you wish to move it.
I was curious about dual citizenship -- what it really means and who allows it. So I did some poking around and learned new things, which is always a treat, so I figured everyone here would like to learn new things, too.
What I found was fascinating. The oath to become a naturalized U.S. citizen includes a complete renunciation of one's former allegiances. However, in today's world, this is a mere formality and is not aggressively pursued, and much of the free world apparently works the same way.
For example, when Tanith took her oath to become a U.S. citizen, she renounced all ties to Canada. But as far as Canada's concerned, she will always be a Canadian citizen unless she actually contacts the Canadian government and tells them otherwise; and unless she does something outrageous, such as take up arms against the U.S., no one will ever give a hoot about this from now until the end of time.
Likewise, if a U.S. citizen takes an oath for another country, and that oath includes a renunciation of U.S. citizenship, the U.S. still considers you a U.S. citizen because the oath is just a formality. One of the websites I visited cited the case of Marc Rich (he whom Clinton pardoned, to the chagrin of many). Evidently, Mr. Rich took the oath to become a citizen of Spain, and in so doing, assumed he was no longer a U.S. citizen because the oath included a renunciation, and he was just dead wrong about that.
This laid-back policy is backed up by the fact that the U.S. does not require U.S. citizens who become citizens of other countries to renounce their U.S. citizenship upon doing so.
Some dual citizenship issues have to do with whether you were a child when your citizenship was granted, or whether you were born into it.
Some countries, such as Haiti, have laws which say that you cannot be a citizen of that country and of another country at the same time under any circumstances. Some countries, such as Iran, say that you can renounce your citizenship all you want, but your butt will be forever theirs, so just learn to like it. Some countries, such as Korea, consider you a citizen if your parents or grandparents were born there, whether you like it or not.
Sometimes there are complications, such as the U.S.'s ability to help a dual citizen if the person gets in trouble in his other country. Sometimes there are passport issues to deal with (which should you use when entering and leaving the two countries?).
The U.S. policy (not law, but policy), currently and for the foreseeable future, is to recognize that dual citizenship exists but not to endorse it. Also, U.S. citizenship cannot be revoked, per se; you can only lose it by giving it up voluntarily, and if your behavior becomes sufficiently anti-U.S., you are considered to have voluntarily given it up, as exhibited by your actions. The current policy is to assume at first that you did not want to give it up; the State Department puts upon itself the burden to prove that that was indeed your intention. Again, this is policy, not law.
Here are the various web sites I found. Loads of fun reading.
The U.S. government official site, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
The oath taken by naturalized U.S. citizens
A reference page at USCitizenship.info
DualCitizen.net -- a really neat help site for dual citizenships around the world
A long FAQ page put together by a guy who did the research and just wanted to share
I was curious about dual citizenship -- what it really means and who allows it. So I did some poking around and learned new things, which is always a treat, so I figured everyone here would like to learn new things, too.
What I found was fascinating. The oath to become a naturalized U.S. citizen includes a complete renunciation of one's former allegiances. However, in today's world, this is a mere formality and is not aggressively pursued, and much of the free world apparently works the same way.
For example, when Tanith took her oath to become a U.S. citizen, she renounced all ties to Canada. But as far as Canada's concerned, she will always be a Canadian citizen unless she actually contacts the Canadian government and tells them otherwise; and unless she does something outrageous, such as take up arms against the U.S., no one will ever give a hoot about this from now until the end of time.
Likewise, if a U.S. citizen takes an oath for another country, and that oath includes a renunciation of U.S. citizenship, the U.S. still considers you a U.S. citizen because the oath is just a formality. One of the websites I visited cited the case of Marc Rich (he whom Clinton pardoned, to the chagrin of many). Evidently, Mr. Rich took the oath to become a citizen of Spain, and in so doing, assumed he was no longer a U.S. citizen because the oath included a renunciation, and he was just dead wrong about that.
This laid-back policy is backed up by the fact that the U.S. does not require U.S. citizens who become citizens of other countries to renounce their U.S. citizenship upon doing so.
Some dual citizenship issues have to do with whether you were a child when your citizenship was granted, or whether you were born into it.
Some countries, such as Haiti, have laws which say that you cannot be a citizen of that country and of another country at the same time under any circumstances. Some countries, such as Iran, say that you can renounce your citizenship all you want, but your butt will be forever theirs, so just learn to like it. Some countries, such as Korea, consider you a citizen if your parents or grandparents were born there, whether you like it or not.
Sometimes there are complications, such as the U.S.'s ability to help a dual citizen if the person gets in trouble in his other country. Sometimes there are passport issues to deal with (which should you use when entering and leaving the two countries?).
The U.S. policy (not law, but policy), currently and for the foreseeable future, is to recognize that dual citizenship exists but not to endorse it. Also, U.S. citizenship cannot be revoked, per se; you can only lose it by giving it up voluntarily, and if your behavior becomes sufficiently anti-U.S., you are considered to have voluntarily given it up, as exhibited by your actions. The current policy is to assume at first that you did not want to give it up; the State Department puts upon itself the burden to prove that that was indeed your intention. Again, this is policy, not law.
Here are the various web sites I found. Loads of fun reading.
The U.S. government official site, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
The oath taken by naturalized U.S. citizens
A reference page at USCitizenship.info
DualCitizen.net -- a really neat help site for dual citizenships around the world
A long FAQ page put together by a guy who did the research and just wanted to share