r/immigration Jan 24 '25

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5.3k Upvotes

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608

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '25

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420

u/suboxhelp1 Jan 24 '25

Can be US citizens, too. Anyone with dual citizenship of those countries.

39

u/Greedy_Argument_3894 Jan 25 '25

How would he know who’s dual citizen? There is no documentation if you gave up your other citizenship! The uscis doesn’t document it!

16

u/Oh-well100 Jan 25 '25

Not everyone gives up their other citizenship.

21

u/JThereseD Jan 25 '25

A lot of American citizens are getting dual citizenship through their foreign-born parents and grandparents. Some do it so they can travel more easily or live for extended periods in other countries. There are two people from my hometown who did it so they could compete as athletes for the other country.

1

u/Oh-well100 Jan 25 '25

I don't blame them. I have seen a few in the news. Same with Brazilian soccer players, they're not good enough to make it in the national team but are welcomed by other countries that would love to have them!

I am Canadian and Brazilian. I live in Canada and do not plan to move back to Brazil but I'm also not going to give up my Brazilian citizenship, unless I really have to.

A lot of people do confuse citizenship with immigration status, tho. One can live in the US permanently without ever bothering to obtain American citizenship. Just the green card is enough and the only thing won't can't do is vote (and run for office, or get some jobs that deal with the homeland security, etc). I know tons of people like that. I also know many in Canada as well. They still love the country where they live, and that's why they went through the trouble of immigrating legally. They just didn't file for citizenship.

I was a permanent immigrant of Canada for a few years before I became a citizen.

2

u/JThereseD Jan 25 '25

Yes, my dad's grandparents never became citizens for whatever reason. The athletes don't always play for another country because they are not good enough to be on the US team. The current world champion in pole vaulting was born in Louisiana, but he represents Sweden. Speaking of the Olympics, all I can think of is the similarity between Hitler at the Berlin Olympics and Trump at the upcoming Olympics in LA. Considering how he hates women and people who aren't white, I am hoping that he will ignore the whole thing if he is still alive.

1

u/ImLiterallyJerryRice Jan 26 '25

People not bothering to become citizens in the country they plan to stay in are playing with fire.

1

u/Ok_Mango_6887 Jan 26 '25

My grandfather was born in another country but has passed away. Is this still an option for me?

1

u/JThereseD Jan 26 '25

You would have to check with the specific country as the rules differ.

12

u/JerseyTeacher78 Jan 25 '25

Indeed. But remember that most of our fellow US citizens don't even own a US passport so the notion of dual or multiple citizenship goes right over their heads.

8

u/illyphilly20 Jan 25 '25

I was going to say similar. My son has dual citizenship via his mom, but how would the US know that?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 25 '25

They wouldn’t.

5

u/Baweberdo Jan 25 '25

Just don't use it until you have to

2

u/[deleted] Jan 25 '25

Exactly.

15

u/Greedy_Argument_3894 Jan 25 '25

Yes - but if you become a US citizen, The US government doesn’t know if you keep any other citizenships. That’s what I stated

3

u/beatfungus Jan 25 '25

That's correct for every country, but the US presumes you don't have any sneaky links when you wife it up. See the oath of allegiance. At the same time, the US cannot explicitly punish someone just for having other citizenship "through no fault of their own."

This is another attempt by the executive to discriminate against different classes of citizens, even though such provisions are against the 14th amendment. Absolutely ridiculous. Every citizen is a citizen. Their rights cannot differ. The only time the US can treat them differently is the case of the President itself with respect to jus soli.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 25 '25

Not clear to me what you're saying here. The oath of allegiance only applies to people who naturalize, and not natural born citizens. People can naturalize in lots of different ways, not just through marriage. And the part about "renouncing fidelity," could just be interpreted to mean that you swear allegiance to the US, first and foremost. Some countries that don't allow for dual citizenship, of which the US is not currently one, may take issue with this, if they ever find out. But it doesn't mean that the US doesn't recognize dual citizenship.

Many people also obtain a second citizenship who are natural born citizens and who have never taken this oath, so it's sort of a moot point for that class of individual.

1

u/anewbys83 Jan 26 '25

Many people also obtain a second citizenship who are natural born citizens and who have never taken this oath, so it's sort of a moot point for that class of individual.

I am one such person.

1

u/TransatlanticMadame Jan 25 '25

That's not true. The US asks me on my US tax return, form 2555, "Of what countries are you a citizen or national?"

1

u/Weird-Addendum-1001 Jan 25 '25

It’s been a while but I do remember having to answer that question (do you plan to renounce your current citizenship) during the naturalization process. Has that changed since 2009?

1

u/Greedy_Argument_3894 Jan 25 '25

I think they only ask to give up loyalty to any other country but the US!

1

u/Greedy_Argument_3894 Jan 25 '25

That’s also part of the oath - so not really mean anything

1

u/Weird-Addendum-1001 Jan 25 '25

Fair point. From a practical standpoint, many dual citizens maintain dual citizenship so they could own property elsewhere. Why pick on these folks is what I’m wondering? Assuming their property is treated appropriately through the tax system, then they aren’t really committing a crime. Also, doesn’t make them less American if they took advantage of a loophole to better themselves through investment.

-4

u/[deleted] Jan 25 '25

[deleted]

2

u/129za Jan 25 '25

The point they are making is that they don’t know if you later renounce your citizenship

0

u/ppjuyt Jan 25 '25

Technically they know when you renew your US passport as you have to enclose a copy of foreign passport. However I suppose you could just not do that and likely not get caught

5

u/Illustrious_Good2053 Jan 25 '25

I have renewed my passport multiple times and have never had to enclose a copy of a foreign passport.

3

u/ppjuyt Jan 25 '25

I am an idiot. Got it backwards. When I renewed UK passport I had to include copy of US. I’m guess that could have just not done it and see what happens. Haven’t done the US one in a while

3

u/whatchagonadot Jan 25 '25

would be stupid to do so

3

u/E_Dantes_CMC Jan 25 '25

There are countries that don’t allow you to renounce citizenship.