Yes you can be a dual citizen in most countries including the US and UK. Some people even have three or more passports! Many permanent residents are nervous about becoming a citizen of their new countries, even if they’ve lived there for many years, for fear they’ll lose citizenship in their home country. That’s not going to happen in most places but it can in a few, so you need to check this carefully before applying for naturalization in any country. For example, in Germany you must apply for a Retention Certificate or Beibehaltungsgenehmigung before naturalizing in another country; certificates are not automatically granted and you need to explain your reasons. But Mexico has allowed dual citizenship since 1998; the Philippines since 2003. Some countries including India, Japan, and the Netherlands do not recognize it. Some countries require a person with two citizenships – by birth or naturalization – to choose one or the other before a certain age, such as 23.
Why should you become a citizen of your new country? Some of the benefits are:
- Full legal rights including protection from deportation.
- You can vote (sometimes in both countries; it depends on the rules of each country).
- You’re able to sponsor more categories of relatives to come to the US or UK for residence.
- Ability to travel freely and live in any other country long-term. Many older migrants become citizens so they can then return to the “old country” and retire without losing travel and residence rights in their new country.
- Eligibility for jobs that are open only to citizens.
- Ability to claim all benefits available to citizens.
- One passport can be more advantageous than the other to travel, e.g. a US or UK passport will grant you visa-free entry to more countries than many Asian or African passports.
Could you already be a dual citizen and not even know it? Yes. If you were born in the U.S. you’re almost certainly a citizen. And everyone in the U.S. except Native Americans is an immigrant or the descendant of immigrants. You could be a citizen of the country your parents or even grandparents came from even though you’ve never lived there. Ireland (the Republic) has a very generous law that allows the grandchild of an Irish citizen to be an Irish citizen with no residence requirement. This gives you access to free movement throughout the European Union (EU) since Ireland is an EU member. U.S. embassy websites can be a good source of information on dual nationality in specific countries, e.g. this website has detailed information about U.S. and German nationality law.
Many Canadians are also US citizens. To apply, you must prove citizenship with detailed evidence of citizenship and residency of your ancestors. In recent years Spain and Portugal passed “laws of return” to allow Sephardic Jews, descendants of Jews expelled from these countries as long ago as the 1500s, to apply for citizenship. This would give the new citizens the right to work and live anywhere in the 28-nation European Union without taking up residence in Spain or Portugal.
I found out at age 18 that I was a Dutch national (not a full citizen – I couldn’t get a passport or vote) from birth because my father was a Dutch citizen at the time of my US birth. This allowed me to get a Netherlands ID card and travel and work freely there and in other European countries. Unfortunately, Dutch laws have changed several times since and I now no longer am a Dutch national. But I’m watching their laws carefully; maybe they will reinstate my Netherlands nationality one of these years.
Which passport should you travel on? You must normally use your U.S. passport to enter and leave the U.S. The other country may have the same rule to enter and leave their country. Using the other passport to enter/exit the other country will not cause you to lose your U.S. passport. (Section 215(b) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act). If you have a UK passport, you probably want to enter England on that one, to avoid visitor lines and restrictions.
The status of dual citizenship has had many ups, downs, and changes, and those changes continue. Dual citizenship used to be frowned on by most countries. There were international conferences and treaties devoted to the subject. One problem was that men could be required to serve in the military in two different countries. Also, countries would be asked to offer diplomatic protection to their citizens abroad, and conflicts could arise between countries as a result. There were serious consequences to breaking the rules – you could lose your citizenship by voting abroad, living abroad after naturalizing, or even marrying a foreign man if you were a woman (I would have lost my citizenship under this rule when I married my English ex-husband some years ago)!
In recent years attitudes have changed. One central reason is globalization and resulting migration. People travel and live all over the world much more than they did a hundred years ago. Many countries have liberalized their naturalization laws and even encourage dual citizenship. Why?
- For the countries that migrants leave (“sending countries”) dual citizenship helps maintain the ties with the country of origin. There is no problem in the migrant traveling to or returning to live in their home country.
- Because of the ongoing ties, many migrants continue to send money (remittances) home to their families and communities in the old country, which helps that old country.
- For the “receiving countries” – where migrants go – dual citizenship encourages integration into their new country.
- Some receiving countries are “selling” citizenship to attract affluent investors and their money. Malta was the first EU country to do so, and citizenship of EU countries is popular these days. If investors had to lose their birth nationalities, they probably wouldn’t sign up for the investment citizenship.
It’s not easy to lose your U.S. citizenship. In fact you must deliberately renounce it. Renunciation has become more popular in recent years, mostly among the super-rich, for tax reasons. To combat tax evasion, the 2010 U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires rigid reporting on the assets of U.S. citizens regardless of where they live. In 2014 over 3,000 U.S. citizens renounced their citizenship, many to avoid FATCA.
The decision to leave the EU or “Brexit” has devalued UK citizenship, although changes will likely take at least two years. For now, a UK passport is still an EU passport. But more and more people are seeking additional passports for political, economic, travel and other personal reasons. I have at least one US family member who’s applied for a UK passport because of concerns about the upcoming US election. If you enjoy being a global citizen, it’s a good time to explore all these interesting possibilities.
If you have US or UK citizenship questions, email to schedule an initial consultation.
