Renunciation of citizenship
Encyclopedia
Renunciation is a voluntary act of relinquishing one's citizenship
(or nationality
). It is the opposite of naturalization
whereby a person voluntarily acquires a citizenship, and related to denaturalization where the loss of citizenship is not voluntary, but forced by a state.
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 19th century.
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 British-born U.S. citizens into the British Navy. Immigrants to the U.S. were sometimes held to the obligations of their foreign citizenship when they visited their home countries. In response, the U.S. Government sought to pass laws and conclude treaties recognizing the right to expatriate.
, 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. However, some people - in particular politicians and government officials - may wish to be free even of the purely theoretical obligations and appearance of dual loyalty
that another citizenship implies. Boris Johnson, currently the Mayor of London, renounced in 2006 the US citizenship he had acquired through being born in New York. He said ‘What I want is the right not to have an American passport.’
Another relevant case may be political refugees who may wish to renounce allegiance
to the country they have escaped.
Renunciation of citizenship is the only way to eliminate the lifetime tax obligation of countries which tax based on citizenship rather than residency. Currently, the United States is the only major country which taxes based on citizenship rather than residency. A 1995 study by the U.S. Congress found that at the time only the U.S., the Philippines
, and Eritrea
tax based on citizenship rather than residency. The Philippines switched to a residency-based system the following year, thereby not taxing its citizens on worldwide income.
In 1996, the U.S. changed its immigration law to include a provision to "name and shame" renunciants. The Department of the Treasury became obligated to publish quarterly in the Federal Register the names of those citizens who renounce their citizenship. Only the names are published, but by counting the number of names in each list, media organizations are able to infer the number of renunciants each quarter. According to the New York Times, there were 235 renunciants in 2008 and 743 in 2009. However, the lists published in the Federal Register have been found to have numerous errors including missing names, exact same names repeated two or three times in the same list or across multiple lists, and the same name published multiple times with different spelling or punctuation. Accounting for the errors, a more accurate total of renunciants is 226 in 2008, 731 in 2009, and 1485 in 2010.
The same 1996 law included a provision 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.” There is no known case of this provision, known as the Reed Amendment, having ever been enforced. In 2008 Congress enacted the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Act that imposes a penalty, often called an "exit tax," on certain persons who give up their US citizenship or long-term permanent residence.
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 prohibit US citizens from "exporting" encryption software.
Some countries may not allow renunciation of citizenship or establish administrative procedures that are essentially impossible to complete.
Mexico requires renunciation of all other citizenships as a condition of naturalization. Israel, on the other hand, does not require renunciation of other citizenships as a precondition to running for public office.
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. In Japan
, a formal report is required from the renouncing person to be submitted at an embassy. Germany actively investigates whether its citizens living abroad have naturalized there when they apply for a passport, for instance in Canada German passport applicants have to submit a search of citizenship record.
The United States requires that an individual must go in person to a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the U.S. and sign before a consular officer an oath or affirmation that he intends to renounce his citizenship, although exceptions are legally permitted in times of war and under special circumstances. 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.
The formal confirmation of the loss of U.S. citizenship is provided by the Certificate of Loss of Nationality
and is received by the renunciant a number of months later. Renunciation of U.S. citizenship was free until July, 2010, at which time a new fee of $450 was imposed.
Although many countries require citizenship of another nation before allowing renunciation, the United States does not and an individual may legally renounce U.S. 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 without protection of any government.
Canada and Australia are signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and renunciation is possible only if it will not result in statelessness http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/guides/CIT0302ETOC.html http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/128.pdf. Applications for renunciation of citizenship need to be submitted in those countries with a waiting time of several months until approval.
, various radical organizations and individuals, sometimes collectively called the sovereign citizen movement
, attempt to renounce U.S. citizenship while remaining "common law" citizens of their states or counties. This is typically done to avoid payment of debts or taxes, as a form of tax protest
. They claim various legal bases for doing so; these typically involve claims that the Fourteenth Amendment
created a new and more onerous form of national citizenship that can be renounced by U.S. citizens, or that the U.S. government has enslaved its citizens by using them as collateral for foreign debts, but that through various documentary maneuvers you can "redeem" yourself from this servitude.
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
(or nationality
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
). It is the opposite of naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
whereby a person voluntarily acquires a citizenship, and related to denaturalization where the loss of citizenship is not voluntary, but forced by a state.
Historic practices
The old common lawCommon law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
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 19th century.
The refusal of many states to recognize expatriation became problematic for the United States, which had a large immigrant population. The War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
was caused partly by Britain's impressment
Impressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...
of British-born U.S. citizens into the British Navy. Immigrants to the U.S. were sometimes held to the obligations of their foreign citizenship when they visited their home countries. In response, the U.S. Government sought to pass laws and conclude treaties recognizing the right to expatriate.
In modern law
Renunciation of citizenship is particularly relevant in cases of multiple citizenshipMultiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenships exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements...
, 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
Security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal...
, can mostly be expected only for actively exercising foreign citizenship, for instance by obtaining a foreign passport. However, some people - in particular politicians and government officials - may wish to be free even of the purely theoretical obligations and appearance of dual loyalty
Dual loyalty
In politics, dual loyalty is loyalty to two separate interests that potentially conflict with each other.-Inherently controversial:While nearly all examples of alleged "dual loyalty" are considered highly controversial, these examples point to the inherent difficulty in distinguishing between what...
that another citizenship implies. Boris Johnson, currently the Mayor of London, renounced in 2006 the US citizenship he had acquired through being born in New York. He said ‘What I want is the right not to have an American passport.’
Another relevant case may be political refugees who may wish to renounce allegiance
Allegiance
An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or sovereign.-Etymology:From Middle English ligeaunce . The al- prefix was probably added through confusion with another legal term, allegeance, an "allegation"...
to the country they have escaped.
Renunciation of citizenship is the only way to eliminate the lifetime tax obligation of countries which tax based on citizenship rather than residency. Currently, the United States is the only major country which taxes based on citizenship rather than residency. A 1995 study by the U.S. Congress found that at the time only the U.S., the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
tax based on citizenship rather than residency. The Philippines switched to a residency-based system the following year, thereby not taxing its citizens on worldwide income.
In 1996, the U.S. changed its immigration law to include a provision to "name and shame" renunciants. The Department of the Treasury became obligated to publish quarterly in the Federal Register the names of those citizens who renounce their citizenship. Only the names are published, but by counting the number of names in each list, media organizations are able to infer the number of renunciants each quarter. According to the New York Times, there were 235 renunciants in 2008 and 743 in 2009. However, the lists published in the Federal Register have been found to have numerous errors including missing names, exact same names repeated two or three times in the same list or across multiple lists, and the same name published multiple times with different spelling or punctuation. Accounting for the errors, a more accurate total of renunciants is 226 in 2008, 731 in 2009, and 1485 in 2010.
The same 1996 law included a provision 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.” There is no known case of this provision, known as the Reed Amendment, having ever been enforced. In 2008 Congress enacted the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Act that imposes a penalty, often called an "exit tax," on certain persons who give up their US citizenship or long-term permanent residence.
In one case (Vincent Cate), an encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
expert living in Anguilla
Anguilla
Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...
chose to renounce his US citizenship to avoid the possibility of violating US laws that may prohibit US citizens from "exporting" encryption software.
Regulations in different countries
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 renunciation of citizenship or establish administrative procedures that are essentially impossible to complete.
Mexico requires renunciation of all other citizenships as a condition of naturalization. Israel, on the other hand, does not require renunciation of other citizenships as a precondition to running for public office.
Renunciation of citizenship is most straightforward in those countries which recognize and strictly enforce a single citizenship. Thus, voluntary naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
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. In Japan
Japanese nationality law
Japanese nationality is a legal designation and set of rights granted to those people who have met the federal criteria for citizenship by parentage or by naturalization...
, a formal report is required from the renouncing person to be submitted at an embassy. Germany actively investigates whether its citizens living abroad have naturalized there when they apply for a passport, for instance in Canada German passport applicants have to submit a search of citizenship record.
The United States requires that an individual must go in person to a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the U.S. and sign before a consular officer an oath or affirmation that he intends to renounce his citizenship, although exceptions are legally permitted in times of war and under special circumstances. 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.
The formal confirmation of the loss of U.S. citizenship is provided by the Certificate of Loss of Nationality
Certificate of Loss of Nationality
The Certificate of Loss of Nationality is a form of the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the United States Department of State which is completed by American citizens seeking renunciation of citizenship...
and is received by the renunciant a number of months later. Renunciation of U.S. citizenship was free until July, 2010, at which time a new fee of $450 was imposed.
Although many countries require citizenship of another nation before allowing renunciation, the United States does not and an individual may legally renounce U.S. citizenship and become stateless. Nonetheless, the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
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 without protection of any government.
Canada and Australia are signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and renunciation is possible only if it will not result in statelessness http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/guides/CIT0302ETOC.html http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/128.pdf. Applications for renunciation of citizenship need to be submitted in those countries with a waiting time of several months until approval.
Political radicals and tax avoidance
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, various radical organizations and individuals, sometimes collectively called the sovereign citizen movement
Sovereign citizen movement
The sovereign citizen movement is a loose network of American litigants, commentators and financial scheme promoters, classified as an "extremist anti-government group" by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation....
, attempt to renounce U.S. citizenship while remaining "common law" citizens of their states or counties. This is typically done to avoid payment of debts or taxes, as a form of tax protest
Tax protester (United States)
A tax protester is someone who refuses to pay a tax on constitutional or legal grounds, typically because he or she believes that the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid...
. They claim various legal bases for doing so; these typically involve claims that the Fourteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
created a new and more onerous form of national citizenship that can be renounced by U.S. citizens, or that the U.S. government has enslaved its citizens by using them as collateral for foreign debts, but that through various documentary maneuvers you can "redeem" yourself from this servitude.
External links
- Renunciation of U.S. Citizenship: A Web Guide A website about renunciation of U.S. citizenship created by individuals who renounced U.S. citizenship, with detailed coverage about the step-by-step process of renunciation, the tax implications, and the legal and political history of renunciation.