From: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Subject: Dual Citizenship (Was: Korean Views on Race)
Reply-To: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Organization: Curious Goods (formerly Louis Vendredi Antiques)
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 17:40:51 GMT

lchsu@lambert.uwaterloo.ca (Leon C. Hsu) writes:
>ahsiung@labs-n.bbn.com (Anita Hsiung) writes:
>>The United States does not recognize dual citizenship.  It is stated
>>very clearly when you apply for naturalization that you give up all
>>privileges and rights you had from your country of origin.  They
>>emphasize that again at the actual oath-taking.
>
>I think this has changed relatively recently. At least for Canadian 
>citizens seeking dual US-CANADA citizenship. 

The renunciation oath at the US Citizenship ceremony sews up that
avenue, as the US legally considers you to have dropped everything
else prior.  Canada does not recognize that, however, and you must
go through an involve process of filing 10 forms in triplicate and
taking renunciation oaths in front of consular officials to verify
it.  While you can retain the Canadian citizenship under Canadian
law, there will be hell to pay if the Americans catch you later.

Prominent American-resident Canadians who would otherwise have become
Americans were it not for renunciation include green-card holders
Peter Jennings, former Ambassador Ken Taylor and wife Pat (who is an
AIDS researcher), Morley Safer of CBS (who's from Montreal), and Wayne
Gretzky (married to an American).

For American going to Canadian, you can *acquire* Canadian citizenship
although it WON'T be recognized legally by the United States ... it's
more of a foreign residency nuisance *unless there is a renunciation*
of the American citizenship while getting that second passport.  That
is why no Americans with German parents get a Reisepasse, because the
Germans require renunciation; with Ireland, however, I'm told that
foreigners are exempt from taking renunciation if they're legacy
(having Irish parents, borrowing an Ivy League term) passport
applicants (naturalization into Ireland still requires it, though).

>It used to be that the US would not recognize them, so a lot of my
>friends who were born in the States but grew up in Canada had
>Canadian citizenship but never really renounced their US citizenship.

This is a different case.  When you have dual citizenship by birth,
you're allowed to keep them.  There were urban legends about having to
decide for one or the other at ages 18/21/25/take-your-pick but nobody
that I know (and there are lots of them in metro New York and over in
California (1 Million Canadians, dunno how many are duals)) has ever
gone through such a process.  According to the Rich Wales' FAQ, there
was a court case in the late 60's that struck down legal restrictions
against dual citizenship (but recognized foreign renunciation as loss
of U.S.  citizenship) but State Department *policy* is to warn people
against taking any additional passports regardless (and some officials
are so endeared to this policy that deceptions to get Americans into
trouble are common abroad).  [The original intent of this *general*
policy is that a lot of cases may not involve reasonable allied
countries such as Canada or Ireland ...]

I'm not certain about triple citizenship by birth, but our kids 
would be all right unless Germany goes to war against the U.S.
or Canada ...

gld
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary L. Dare				Elections 1992-93:
> gld@cunixB.cc.columbia.EDU		* Jean Chretien (Canada)
> gld@cunixc.BITNET			* Perot^H^H^H^H^H Elvis! (USA)
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