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Renunciation of citizenship is the voluntary loss of citizenship. It is the opposite of naturalization, whereby a person voluntarily obtains citizenship. It is distinct from denaturalization, where citizenship is revoked by the state.
The common law doctrine of perpetual allegiance denied an individual the right to renounce obligations to his sovereign. The bonds of subjecthood were conceived in principle to be both singular and immutable. These practices held on in varying ways until the late 19th century. [1] [2]
The refusal of many states to recognize expatriation became problematic for the United States, which had a large immigrant population. The War of 1812 was caused partly by Britain's impressment of US citizens born in the UK into the Royal Navy. Immigrants to the US were sometimes held to the obligations of their foreign citizenship when they visited their home countries. In response, the US government passed the Expatriation Act of 1868 and concluded various treaties, the Bancroft Treaties, recognizing the right to renounce one's citizenship. [3] [4]
During World War II, over 120,000 Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps throughout the West Coast of the United States. Conditions in the camps were often sub-par, with cruel emotional and sometimes physical mistreatment. This, along with a 'loyalty questionnaire' that required the Japanese to renounce any loyalty to the Japanese Emperor, led a total of 5,589 Japanese American Nisei to renounce their American citizenship.
"My renunciation had been an expression of momentary emotional defiance in reaction to years of persecution suffered by myself and other Japanese Americans" [5]
— Minoru Kiyota
Renunciation of citizenship is particularly relevant in cases of multiple citizenship, given that additional citizenships may be acquired automatically and may be undesirable. Many countries have pragmatic policies that recognize the often arbitrary nature of citizenship claims of other countries and negative consequences, such as loss of security clearance, can mostly be expected only for actively exercising foreign citizenship, for instance by obtaining a foreign passport. People from some countries renounce their citizenship to avoid compulsory military service. However, some people may wish to be free even of the purely theoretical obligations and appearance of dual loyalty that another citizenship implies. Even in countries that allow dual citizenship, such as Australia, Jamaica and Pakistan, electoral laws demand that politicians not be under an obligation of allegiance to any foreign country, and so when politicians have been found to be violating such laws, they stepped down and renounced their other citizenships in response to the public controversy. [6] [7] [8] Another example may be political refugees who would wish to renounce allegiance to the country from which they escaped.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists both the right to leave any country, including one's own (Article 13(2)), and the right to change one's nationality (Article 15(2)), which implicitly recognizes the right to renounce citizenship. [9]
Each country sets its own policies for formal renunciation of citizenship. There is a common concern that individuals about to relinquish their citizenship do not become a stateless person, and many countries require evidence of another citizenship or an official promise to grant citizenship before they release that person from citizenship. Some countries may not allow or do not recognize renunciation of citizenship or establish administrative procedures that are essentially impossible to complete.
Renunciation of citizenship is most straightforward in those countries which recognize and strictly enforce a single citizenship. Thus, voluntary naturalization in another country is considered as "giving up" of one's previous citizenship or implicit renunciation. For practical reasons, such an automatic renunciation cannot officially take place until the authorities of the original country are informed about the naturalization.
Due to the United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, renunciation in Canada and Australia is possible only if it will not result in statelessness. [10] [11] Applications for renunciation may have a waiting time of several months until approval.
Argentina is one of the few countries in the world where its citizens cannot renounce their citizenship. According to Art. 75- section 12 of the Argentine Constitution, Art. 16 of Decree 3213/84 and judicial interpretation of the Supreme Court, the Argentine nationality is irrevocable. Argentines seeking citizenships in countries where multiple nationalities is prohibited can contact their Consulates to obtain proof of the irrevocability of Argentine nationality. [12] [13]
Germany actively investigates whether its citizens living abroad have become naturalized when they apply for a passport; for instance in Canada, German passport applicants have to submit a search of citizenship record. [14]
Israel allows dual citizenship upon naturalization through the Law of Return, but Knesset (Israeli parliament) members are required to renounce all foreign citizenships. [15] [16]
In accordance with Japanese nationality law, the renouncing person is required to submit a formal report at an embassy.
The right to renounce Nigerian citizenship is established in May 29 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, which states that "any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his/her Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation", which the government is obliged to register except when Nigeria is physically involved in a war or when the President of Nigeria is of the opinion that the renunciation is contrary to public policy. Under section 29(4)(a), a person of either gender becomes "of full age" at eighteen years, while under section 29(4)(b) a girl younger than that is still deemed to be "of full age" if she is married. [17]
In 2013, the Senate of Nigeria proposed a constitutional amendment to delete section 29(4)(b), which would have the effect that girls could only renounce Nigerian citizenship at the age of eighteen or older regardless of their marital status; the amendment passed by a vote of 75–14, two votes greater than the two-thirds supermajority required for the passage of constitutional amendments. However, after the vote, a point of order was raised against the amendment by Senate Deputy Minority Leader Ahmad Sani Yerima (ANPP-Zamfara), who stated that Schedule 2 of the Constitution prohibited the National Assembly of Nigeria from legislating on any matters relating to customary or Islamic law. [18] Some sources suggested that the amendment would have the effect of outlawing child marriage, a matter of personal concern to Yerima due to his 2009 marriage to an Egyptian girl then only 13 years old. Senate President David Mark was initially disinclined to permit a second vote on the matter, but relented after an argument. Yerima's arguments were sufficient to convince enough erstwhile supporters and non-voters to oppose the amendment; with a vote of 60–35, it was deprived of its supermajority and failed to pass. [19] [20]
Citizens of Singapore can only renounce Singaporean citizenship if they have acquired citizenship of another country. At the time of renunciation, renunciants must submit their Singaporean passports and National Registration Identity Cards for cancellation. [21] Male Singaporeans generally cannot renounce citizenship until completing military service, though there are exceptions for those who emigrated at a young age (generally those who were not educated in Singapore). [22] In 2012, a Hong Kong-born man who had acquired Singaporean citizenship by registration while a minor filed a lawsuit regarding this requirement. [23]
About 1,200 Singaporean citizens renounce their citizenship every year, a quarter of them naturalised citizens. Singapore does not permit multiple citizenship for adults. [24] The total number of renunciants from 2001 to 2011 was roughly 10,900. Of these, roughly half were Chinese Singaporeans (who comprise about three-quarters of the population), while the rest were of other ethnicities such as Malay or Indians (who comprise about one-quarter of the population). [25]
Although renunciation may be the most commonly used term when referring to loss of US nationality, renunciation is only one of the seven expatriating acts that may be performed voluntarily and with the intent to relinquish US nationality stated in section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. § 1481). [26] People who relinquish U.S. citizenship are called "relinquishers", while those who specifically renounce U.S. citizenship are called "renunciants". [27]
United States law requires that prospective renunciants appear in person before a consular officer at a US embassy or consulate outside the United States and sign an oath or affirmation that the individual intends to renounce US citizenship. Exceptions to this rule are permitted in times of war and under special circumstances. [28] [29] During the expatriation procedure, the individual must complete several documents and demonstrate in an interview with a consular officer that the renunciation is voluntary and intentional. Depending on the embassy or consulate, the individual is often required to appear in person two times and conduct two separate interviews with consular officers over the course of several months. [30]
There were 235 renunciants in 2008, [31] between 731 and 743 in 2009, and about 1485 in 2010; [32] [33] In 2011, there were 1781 renunciants. [34] A total of 2,999 Americans renounced their citizenship in 2012–2013; [35] in 2014, 3415 have renounced their USA citizenship or long term residency. [36] The State Department estimates 5986 renunciants and 559 relinquishers during FY2015. [37]
Since 1998, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has also maintained its own list of people who have renounced citizenship under . This is one of the categories of people who are prohibited from purchasing firearms under the Gun Control Act of 1968, and whose names must be entered in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993. [38] [39] The names are not made public, but each month the FBI issues a report on the number of entries added in each category. NICS covers a different population than the Federal Register expatriate list: the former includes only those who renounce US citizenship, while the latter should include those who voluntarily lose citizenship by any means, and possibly certain former permanent residents as well. [40] [41]
In fiscal year 2015, the State Department estimated there were 5,986 applications for renunciation of nationality, and forecast an additional 559 citizenship relinquishments. The discrepancy between this total of 6,545 compared to the 4,279 announced by the Treasury Department is speculated to be at least partly due to different counting of long-term green card holders, but no department of the government has released an official explanation. [42]
In 2016, the Treasury Department published 1,151 names of people who expatriated in Q1 FY2016. [43] For all of the year 2016, the published number of renunciants was 5,411, a 26% increase from 4,279 in 2015—a record high. [44]
A summary of the difference between the NICS database of renunciants and the Federal Register of the mentioned renunciants and relinquishers of long-term residence status is summarized below. [45]
| Year | NICS | Federal Register |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 658 | 1,819 |
| 2012 | 4,385 | 1,247 |
| 2013 | 3,128 | 2,414 |
| 2014 | 8,781 | 2,984 |
| 2015* | 13,110 | 5,986 |
Formal confirmation of the loss of US citizenship is provided by the Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN) and is received by the renunciant a number of months later.
As recently as November 2014, individuals renouncing US citizenship waited up to 6 months for the official certificate of renunciation, while many renunciants, particularly those who renounced in consulates not located in the most common European cities such as London and Zurich, were never provided with a CLN and were told that the statement signed at the oath of renunciation is the only form given. Unofficial statements by the US State Department ascribe the problems to the fact that before 2010, the system was not efficiently designed and consular officers often improvised their own procedures based on the rough guidelines in their instructions. Since the 2010 enactment of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the large increase in renunciations led the Department of State to re-organize the process so it is clear and follows the same steps in all consulates, although as of 2016, a backlog of several months still exists in many consulates. [30]
Although many countries require citizenship of another nation before allowing renunciation, the United States does not, and an individual may legally renounce US citizenship and become stateless. Nonetheless, the United States Department of State warns renunciants that, unless they already possess a foreign nationality or are assured of acquiring another nationality shortly after completing their renunciation, they would become stateless and without the protection of any government. [46] [47]
In one case, Vincent Cate, an encryption expert living in Anguilla, chose to renounce his US citizenship to avoid the possibility of violating US laws that may have prohibited US citizens from "exporting" encryption software. [48]
Renunciation of US citizenship was free until July 2010, at which time a fee of $450 was established. [49] [50] An increase of 422 per cent, to $2,350, effective September 6, 2014, [51] was justified as "reflective of the true cost" of processing. [52] [53] Documentation of a prior relinquishment of US citizenship was free until November 9, 2015 when the renunciation fee of $2,350 was extended to cover all documentation of loss of citizenship. [54]
On October 26, 2015, Forbes reported that during 2014, American dual citizens in Canada who were trying to renounce their U.S. citizenship created a backlog at the US Consulate in Toronto. [55]
People giving up US citizenship may be subject to an expatriation tax. Originally, under the Foreign Investors Tax Act of 1966, people determined to be giving up citizenship for the purpose of avoiding US taxation were subject to 10 years of continued taxation on their US-source income, to prevent ex-citizens from taking advantage of special tax incentives offered to foreigners investing in the United States. [56]
In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act included various changes to the tax treatment of people who give up US citizenship. First, it defined concrete criteria to determine whether an ex-citizen or ex-permanent resident was a "covered expatriate" presumed to have given up US status for tax reasons, based on the person's income and assets, or inability to certify compliance with their tax filing and payment obligations for the past five years (). Second, it required the Department of the Treasury to "name and shame" people who give up US citizenship by listing their names in the Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Expatriate in the Federal Register (. [57] The list does not appear to contain the names of all people who give up US citizenship, though tax lawyers disagree whether that is because the list is only required to contain "covered expatriates", or due to bureaucratic errors or other reasons. Names of those renouncing in the last months of the year will mostly appear on the list before they have filed IRS form 8854 establishing covered or non-covered status, so it does not seem possible that the list is only required to contain covered expatriates. [58] [59] [60] [61]
Additionally, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 included a provision, the Reed Amendment (), to bar entry to any individual "who officially renounces United States citizenship and who is determined by the Attorney General to have renounced United States citizenship for the purpose of avoiding taxation by the United States". However, former IRS lawyers, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, have indicated that the provision is unenforceable because there is no authority for the IRS to share tax return information to enforce it. [62] [63] DHS stated that they can only enforce the Reed Amendment when former US citizens "affirmatively admit to renouncing their U.S. citizenship for the purpose of avoiding U.S. taxation", and between 2002 and 2015 they denied entry to only two former US citizens on the basis of the amendment. [63]
In 2008, Congress enacted the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Act, which changed the expatriation tax to a one-time mark-to-market worldwide capital gains tax rather than ten years of taxation on US-source income. [64] Effective June 2008, US citizens who renounce their citizenship are subject under certain circumstances to an expatriation tax, which is meant to extract, from the expatriate, taxes that would have been paid had he or she remained a citizen. All property of a covered expatriate is deemed sold for its fair market value on the day before the expatriation date, which usually results in a capital gain, which is taxable income. [65] Eduardo Saverin, a Brazilian-born co-founder of Facebook, renounced his US citizenship just before the company's expected initial public offering. The timing prompted media speculation that the act was motivated by potential US tax obligations. [34]
Since the enactment of FATCA in 2010, the numbers of people renouncing US citizenship have broken new records each year, increasing from a few hundred per year before FATCA to 5,411 in 2016. In the first two quarters of 2017 alone, 3,072 people renounced, which exceeds the full year total for 2013. [66] [67] In 2016, there were about 18 times more renunciations than in 2008, and the 2017 quarter 2 total (1,759) is more than 76 times that of quarter 2 in 2008 (23). [68] [69] Renunciants have reported that they feel forced to renounce under duress caused by FATCA but are prevented from saying this when renouncing. [70] [ failed verification ] [71] [ verification needed ]
United States nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds United States nationality. In the United States, nationality is typically obtained through provisions in the U.S. Constitution, various laws, and international agreements. Citizenship is a right, not a privilege. While domestic documents often use citizenship and nationality interchangeably, nationality refers to the legal means in which a person obtains a national identity and formal membership in a nation and citizenship refers to the relationship held by nationals who are also citizens.
The Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States (CLN) is form DS-4083 of the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the United States Department of State which is completed by a consular official of the United States documenting relinquishment of United States nationality. The form is prescribed by the Secretary of State under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is a bureau of the United States Department of State reporting to the under secretary of state for management. The mission of the Bureau is to administer laws, formulate regulations and implement policies relating to the broad range of consular services and immigration. As of 2021, the bureau is headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Rena Bitter.
Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that citizens of the United States may not be deprived of their citizenship involuntarily. The U.S. government had attempted to revoke the citizenship of Beys Afroyim, a man born in Poland, because he had cast a vote in an Israeli election after becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. The Supreme Court decided that Afroyim's right to retain his citizenship was guaranteed by the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. In so doing, the Court struck down a federal law mandating loss of U.S. citizenship for voting in a foreign election—thereby overruling one of its own precedents, Perez v. Brownell (1958), in which it had upheld loss of citizenship under similar circumstances less than a decade earlier.
The Nationality law in Nepal are regulated primarily by 2015 Constitution of Nepal, Nepal Citizenship Act 2006 and Nepal Citizenship Regulations 2006. The Nepali Constitution regulates provisions for Nepali nationality in Part 2 from Article 10 to 15. The Nepal Citizenship Act 1964 was first promulgated on 28 February 1964 and provides for single citizenship for the entire country to inherit Nepali nationality. The Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006 was enacted on 26 November 2006. It repeals the 1964 Act and makes further provisions for the acquisition and termination of Nepali citizenship and related.
Birth tourism is the practice of traveling to another country or city for the purpose of giving birth in that country. The main reason for birth tourism is to obtain citizenship for the child in a country with birthright citizenship. Such a child is sometimes called an "anchor baby" if their citizenship is intended to help their parents obtain permanent residency in the country. Other reasons for birth tourism include access to public schooling, healthcare, sponsorship for the parents in the future, or even circumvention of China's two-child policy. Popular destinations include the United States and Canada. Another target for birth tourism is Hong Kong, where some mainland Chinese citizens travel to give birth to gain right of abode for their children.
Vance v. Terrazas, 444 U.S. 252 (1980), was a United States Supreme Court decision that established that a United States citizen cannot have his or her citizenship taken away unless he or she has acted with an intent to give up that citizenship. The Supreme Court overturned portions of an act of Congress which had listed various actions and had said that the performance of any of these actions could be taken as conclusive, irrebuttable proof of intent to give up U.S. citizenship. However, the Court ruled that a person's intent to give up citizenship could be established through a standard of preponderance of evidence — rejecting an argument that intent to relinquish citizenship could only be found on the basis of clear, convincing and unequivocal evidence.
Emigration from the United States is the process where citizens from the United States move to live in other countries, creating an American diaspora. The process is the reverse of the immigration to the United States. The United States does not keep track of emigration, and counts of Americans abroad are thus only available based on statistics kept by the destination countries.
Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, such as freedom of expression, due process, the rights to vote, live and work in the United States, and to receive federal assistance.
An expatriation tax or emigration tax is a tax on persons who cease to be tax-resident in a country. This often takes the form of a capital gains tax against unrealised gain attributable to the period in which the taxpayer was a tax resident of the country in question. In most cases, expatriation tax is assessed upon change of domicile or habitual residence; in the United States, which is one of only three countries to substantively tax its overseas citizens, the tax is applied upon relinquishment of American citizenship, on top of all taxes previously paid. Australia has "Deemed disposal tax" which in essence is exit tax.
Multiple/dual citizenship is a person's legal status in which the person is at the one time recognized by more than one country under its nationality and citizenship law as a national or citizen of that country. There is no international convention which determines the nationality or citizenship status of a person, which is consequently determined exclusively under national laws, that often conflict with each other, thus allowing for multiple citizenship situations to arise.
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a 2010 U.S. federal law requiring all non-U.S. foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to search their records for customers with indicia of a connection to the U.S., including indications in records of birth or prior residency in the U.S., or the like, and to report such assets and identities of such persons to the United States Department of the Treasury. FATCA also requires such persons to report their non-U.S. financial assets annually to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on form 8938, which is in addition to the older and further redundant requirement to report them annually to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on form 114. Like U.S. income tax law, FATCA applies to U.S. residents and also to U.S. citizens and green card holders residing in other countries.
The Reed Amendment, also known as the Expatriate Exclusion Clause, created a provision of United States federal law attempting to impose an entry ban on certain former U.S. citizens based on their reasons for renouncing U.S. citizenship. Notably, entry can be denied to persons who renounced their U.S. citizenship to avoid paying income taxes. The United States is one of two countries in the world that taxes its citizens' income earned abroad for citizens whose primary residence is abroad. The other country to do so is Eritrea.
The Ex-PATRIOT Act was a proposed United States federal law to raise taxes and impose entry bans on certain former citizens and departing permanent residents. The law would automatically classify all people who relinquished U.S. citizenship or permanent residence in the decade prior to the law's passage or any future year as having "tax avoidance intent" if they met certain asset or tax liability thresholds or had failed to file any required federal tax forms within the preceding five years. People determined to have "tax avoidance intent", referred to in the text of the law as specified expatriates, would be affected in two ways. First, they would have to pay 30% capital gains tax on any U.S. property sold after the law's enactment. Second, they would be barred from re-entry into the U.S. either under immigrant or non-immigrant categories.
The Expatriation Act of 1868 was an act of the 40th United States Congress that declared, as part of the United States nationality law, that the right of expatriation is "a natural and inherent right of all people" and "that any declaration, instruction, opinion, order, or decision of any officers of this government which restricts, impairs, or questions the right of expatriation, is hereby declared inconsistent with the fundamental principles of this government".
The Renunciation Act of 1944 was an act of the 78th Congress regarding the renunciation of United States citizenship. Prior to the law's passage, it was not possible to lose U.S. citizenship while in U.S. territory except by conviction for treason; the Renunciation Act allowed people physically present in the U.S. to renounce citizenship when the country was in a state of war by making an application to the Attorney General. The intention of the 1944 Act was to encourage Japanese American internees to renounce citizenship so that they could be deported to Japan.
The Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Expatriate, also known as the Quarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen to Expatriate, as Required by Section 6039G, is a publication of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the Federal Register, listing the names of certain individuals with respect to whom the IRS has received information regarding loss of citizenship during the preceding quarter.
The FATCA agreement is an international agreement signed between Canada and the United States that allows the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in Canada. It is one of 30 intergovernmental agreements the US has concluded with other countries to implement the FATCA.
An accidental American is someone whom US law deems to be an American citizen, but who has only a tenuous connection with that country. For example, American nationality law provides that anyone born on US territory is a US citizen, including those who leave as infants or young children, even if neither parent is a US citizen. US law also ascribes American citizenship to some children born abroad to a US citizen parent, even if those children never enter the United States. Since the early 2000s, the term "accidental American" has been adopted by several activist groups to protest tax treaties and Inter-Governmental Agreements which treat such people as American citizens who are therefore potentially subject to tax and financial reporting requirements – requirements which few other countries impose on their nonresident citizens. Accidental Americans may be unaware of these requirements, or their US citizen status, until they encounter problems accessing bank services in their home countries, for example, or are barred from entering the US on a non-US passport. Furthermore, the US State Department now charges USD 2350 to renounce citizenship, while tax reporting requirements associated with legal expatriation may pose additional financial burdens.
Under United States federal law, a U.S. citizen or national may voluntarily and intentionally give up that status and become an alien with respect to the United States. Relinquishment is distinct from denaturalization, which in U.S. law refers solely to cancellation of illegally procured naturalization.
That night I stayed late at the research center, composingunder Opler's direction a long letter to United States Attorney General Tom Clark. In it I explained that my renunciation had been an expression of momentary emotional defiance in reaction to years of persecution suffered by myself and other Japanese Americans and,in particular, to the degrading interrogation by the FBI agent at Topazand being terrorized by the guards and gangs at Tule Lake. In conclusion, I wrote that I had renounced my citizenship under duress, in an atmosphere where I was bereft of any ability to think reasonably.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)The existing fee definition covers a projected 5,986 applicants renouncing their U.S. nationality in FY 2015. This rule expands the definition of the fee to cover an additional projected 559 applicants who will relinquish their nationality in FY 2015. The total volume of applicants paying this fee is projected to be 6,545, if in effect for all of FY 2015.
