US citizenship

[CharlesTD]

Ok quick question for you.

A good friend of mine has gotten married to an American they are moving up here to live he was told by INS or whatever it is called there that once he becomes a Canadian citizen he will have to give up his American citizenship. He is getting worried about this and not knowing he hasn't seen any hard facts proving this only what the immegration people in the US are telling him. They were supposed to send him info regarding this but he hasn't recieved it yet. He has no problem if that is what it comes down to but he would prefer not to and can't understand why that would be so if it is actually the case. So my question is does anyone know for certain about this?

 

[Charade]

I can't help you with that but I'm curious why your friend is giving up their American citizenship. Can't they have dual citizenship?

 

[WatchinCaptKangaroo]

In the US you can have dual citizenship with Canada and in Canada you can have US citizenship if you're a Canadian. I don't know how it all works though.

 

[CharlesTD]

I know Canadians don't have to give up thiers but from what they are being told he will have to give up his if he becomes Canadian. He is willing to and if the US does this he has no plans of returning there ever so he says LOL.

 

[Kermit]

Are you asking if he can have dual citizenship? If so, I don't think so. I think that it was possible for a while, but then they changed it. I'm not an expert, so don't take my word for it, but the last time I heard someone talking about it, it wasn't something that could be done.

My mom was a Canadian citizen living in the USA when my sister and I were born. (She's an American citizen now.) People born the year my sister were born were allowed to have dual citizenship if they filled out certain forms, but people born the year I was born were not allowed to.

 

[Geoff_M]

Here's a State Department FAQ that explains the issue. The bottom line today is that dual citizenship is allowed under current rules. It used to be that naturalizing to another country resulted in the loss of US citizenship automatically. Now, unless you explicity inform the US Government that you wish to drop your citizenship, naturalizing does not result in automatic loss: http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_778.html

 

[CharlesTD]

Thanks Jeff I just thought it was funny they were being told he would automatically lose his US citizenship. Now I am not to sure if this has any bearing on it but he got out of the military just before the war started and they wanted to keep him on a reserve list or active list not sure how that works in the US but he declined. He told them he was moving to Canada after his wedding. He has since run into roadblock after roadblock trying to get stuff together to come up here right down to the fact that even his family Dr doesn't seem to want to perform his physical exam needed for teh immegration appligation to Canada.

 

[totalia]

Thats odd. Canada usually doesn't care if you have dual citizenship. The US gvt does though. There must be a reason they are doing that.

 

[CharlesTD]

Totalia he will be moving to Canada from the US and you are correct Canada doesn't care about it but apparently he is getting the run around in teh US. As a Canadian we have the luxury of moving to any country we want and becoming a citizen there and still retaining all our Canadian rights and even for the most part our health coverage. Another friend of mine moved to Tennesee with his wife and anytime he gets hurt etc he comes back here for the healthcoverage so he doesn't have to pay anything for the care LOL.

 

[catherine]

DH is American and we live in the UK, if he becomes a British citizen he will lose his American citizenship. My DD's both have dual nationality, but as far as I'm aware when they turn 18 the US requires them to choose between the two!

 

[totalia]

Yeah the US cares ever since 9/11. I was told that to become an American citizen, I would need to give up my Canadian citizeship. But the Canadian gvt doesn't give a crap whether I'm dual or not.

I don't know why thats the case. Just that alot has changed since 9/11. Course, I guess I could be wrong.

Just thats what a lawyer told my fiance and I. Though, lawyers aren't always right and sometimes they are just being greedy.

 

[NeverEnufWDW]

I'm a Yank and my wife is an Australian citizen who has a US green card. We live in Australia at the moment.

I remember going through red-tape hell and stumbling through all the INS hoops when we were trying to get her permanent residency.

Funny how people who are trying to follow the letter of the law are put through the wringer, while at the same time the governmental clearly could care less about the thousands of illegals streaming in through the southwest borders every day.

 

[scrump]

Dual Citizenship in the US is often confusing, and you will hear conflicting reports. I do know that the State Dept is trying to reduce the number of duals, but it depends on the country, etc. I've always thought that usually with the UK and Canada, you could keep dual citizenship.

I've always heard that kids born with dual citizenship had to choose when they were 18. I was one of them, but I didn't have to choose.

 

[Geoff_M]

Yeah the US cares ever since 9/11. I was told that to become an American citizen, I would need to give up my Canadian citizeship. But the Canadian gvt doesn't give a crap whether I'm dual or not.

Another good Dual Citizenship resource is http://www.richw.org/dualcit/ The guy has done exactly what the OP is talking about... He was born in the US, moved to Canada and became naturalized there, he never lost his US citizenship, and has since moved back with this family with zero problems.

The bottom line is that what matters are the laws of the two countries in question. At one time US policy was that US citizens who were naturalized to another country automatically lost their US citizenship. That was changed starting in the 1960's with a series of court rules that said that US citizens could not "passively" lose their citizenship by merely moving to a second country and becoming a citizen there.

However, the courts have not touched US policies that have required people becoming naturalized US citizens to renounce their homeland citizenship. And this may be what's mudding the waters. Also complicating things is the "type" of US citizen you are... born here, child of US citizens, naturalized, etc.

 

[CheshireVal]

I'm a Yank and my wife is an Australian citizen who has a US green card. We live in Australia at the moment.

I remember going through red-tape hell and stumbling through all the INS hoops when we were trying to get her permanent residency.

Funny how people who are trying to follow the letter of the law are put through the wringer, while at the same time the governmental clearly could care less about the thousands of illegals streaming in through the southwest borders every day.

I hear ya!

My hubby is an Australian (living here) and we just sent off his forms for permanent residency/work permit (he's on a student visa now).

Please tell me it's not going to be that bad.

 

[CharlesTD]

Well hopefully things all work out but they are not holding thier breath. I find it funny as was posted here how the people trying to go about things the correct way run into roadblock after roadblock and never seen to get anywhere unlike people that just seem to walk in off the preverbial street LOL.

 

[curiouser]

I believe its a dont ask, dont tell policy of sorts... heheee

My roommate in college had US citizenship but she was born in Canada. She never officially renounced her Canadian citizenship, so she was a dual citizen. The US would prefer that once you gain US citizenship, you formally renounce your citizenship to other countries, but its not required.

Honest question here though, how will the US know that he's become a Canadian citizen?

If they are going to make him give up his citizenship, personally, I say... OH CANADA!!!

 

[CharlesTD]

I believe its a dont ask, dont tell policy of sorts... heheee

My roommate in college had US citizenship but she was born in Canada. She never officially renounced her Canadian citizenship, so she was a dual citizen. The US would prefer that once you gain US citizenship, you formally renounce your citizenship to other countries, but its not required.

Honest question here though, how will the US know that he's become a Canadian citizen?

If they are going to make him give up his citizenship, personally, I say... OH CANADA!!!

The way they know is because of all the applications process and US documents he needs to become a Canadian citizen there are forms from teh US and medical records etc that he needs to fill out and have sent with his application. So the US government as far as I know anyhow gets copies of the info this is how I am guessing they know he is becoming a Canadian.

 

[CharlesTD]

sorry double post.

 

[totalia]

I don't think the US gvt will force anyone to give up their citizenship. Its not like they automatically yank it or anything. They just very much dislike dual citizenship and you may get a nasty letter or something.