dual citizenship

[anca 0]

I apologize if this question has been asked before.

I had my citizenship interview on 10/13/09 and I passed, ia have my oath ceremony on 10/23/09 and I'm from Romania. I would like to have a dual citizenship but I don't know exactly how or what do I need to do.

Please help me if you have any ideas.

THANK YOU.

[Dakine 26]

I apologize if this question has been asked before.

I had my citizenship interview on 10/13/09 and I passed, ia have my oath ceremony on 10/23/09 and I'm from Romania. I would like to have a dual citizenship but I don't know exactly how or what do I need to do.

Please help me if you have any ideas.

THANK YOU.

Call your local Romanian consulate .

[Clarax 0]

If Romania allows you to have dual citizenship then you don't need to do anything. Once you have your oath ceremony here you will be a US citizen AND a Romanian citizen - i.e. you will have dual citizenship. However, if Romania does not allow you to have both then once you have the oath ceremony here you will no longer be a Romanian citizen.

[Chris_Жанна 11]

If Romania allows you to have dual citizenship then you don't need to do anything. Once you have your oath ceremony here you will be a US citizen AND a Romanian citizen - i.e. you will have dual citizenship. However, if Romania does not allow you to have both then once you have the oath ceremony here you will no longer be a Romanian citizen.

Do you have to pay tax in both countries?

[WhidbeyGirl 1]

I apologize if this question has been asked before.

I had my citizenship interview on 10/13/09 and I passed, ia have my oath ceremony on 10/23/09 and I'm from Romania. I would like to have a dual citizenship but I don't know exactly how or what do I need to do.

Please help me if you have any ideas.

THANK YOU.

I didn't think the US allowed people over 18 to have dual citizenship. I have a friend who had dual (Australian and US) while she was a child but once she turned 18 she had to choose. Maybe it's different now - that was 20 years ago.

[Clarax 0]

You only have to pay taxes if you earn money in that country, so if you are living and working in the US only, then you shouldn't have to pay taxes anywhere else - as far as I know. I don't pay taxes to the UK - only in the states.

The US doesn't recognise any other citizenship and in the oath you 'give up' your citizenship to your original country, BUT if you come from a country that allows you to have dual then you can still be both. For example the UK lets you have both but Sweden does not.

There is a list somewhere that tells you the countries that allow it. Can't remember where it is though. Maybe try to google it - I'm sure there will be some info on there.

Clara

[lucyrich 20]

I apologize if this question has been asked before.

I had my citizenship interview on 10/13/09 and I passed, ia have my oath ceremony on 10/23/09 and I'm from Romania. I would like to have a dual citizenship but I don't know exactly how or what do I need to do.

Please help me if you have any ideas.

THANK YOU.

I didn't think the US allowed people over 18 to have dual citizenship. I have a friend who had dual (Australian and US) while she was a child but once she turned 18 she had to choose. Maybe it's different now - that was 20 years ago.

US law only determines whether or not a person is a US citizen. The other country's law determines whether or not the person is also a citizen of the other country. US law doesn't care whether another country still considers you to be a citizen after the US considers you to be a citizen. But once you're a US citizen, US law doesn't give you extra privileges in the US for being a foreign citizen, too.

The US doesn't make you choose when you turn 18. But another country might force you to choose; either you renounce your US citizenship or they would revoke your citizenship in their country.

The dual citizenship FAQ goes over this and other points. It should probably be required reading for anyone in this forum.

http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

If Romania allows you to have dual citizenship then you don't need to do anything. Once you have your oath ceremony here you will be a US citizen AND a Romanian citizen - i.e. you will have dual citizenship. However, if Romania does not allow you to have both then once you have the oath ceremony here you will no longer be a Romanian citizen.

Dangerous advise, my friend, as every country handles this differently. If a German citizen were to follow your advise, for example, he would lose his citizenship for good despite the fact that Germany now allows dual citizenship. The require all of their citizens to submit an application of dual citizenship BEFORE becoming citizen of another country or bust.

Also . . . since the US requires applicants to take the oath of allegiance (hereby showing the erected middle finger to their former countries), the whole thing from the US perspective is more like the gays-in-the-military thing: don't tell, don't wanna know!

The issue hasn't been challenged yet, but one signature on an up-and-coming bill can change that in a heartbeat.

Edited October 18, 2009 by Just Bob

[olle 12]

For example the UK lets you have both but Sweden does not.

Since 2001 Sweden also accepts dual citizenship.

[venusfire503 54]

Dangerous advise, my friend, as every country handles this differently. If a German citizen were to follow your advise, for example, he would lose his citizenship for good despite the fact that Germany now allows dual citizenship. The require all of their citizens to submit an application of dual citizenship BEFORE becoming citizen of another country or bust.

The issue hasn't been challenged yet, but one signature on an up-and-coming bill can change that in a heartbeat.

Just Bob,

This might sound stupid, but .... how do we find out what any particular country requires to keep citizenship when naturalizing here? I tried googling, and got this link: http://www.800citizen.com/dualCitizenship.htm which says a German citizen would lose citizenship there when naturalizing here - no mention of anything that can be done to retain it. I thought maybe you'd have better information. I just want to double check to see if my husband will need to do anything next year.

Also, what bill (theoretical one, or actual one being considered, I mean), and what change would be made? Just curious. I know - I should be more aware of what is going on in the world...

venusfire

Edited October 19, 2009 by venusfire503

[WhidbeyGirl 1]

I apologize if this question has been asked before.

I had my citizenship interview on 10/13/09 and I passed, ia have my oath ceremony on 10/23/09 and I'm from Romania. I would like to have a dual citizenship but I don't know exactly how or what do I need to do.

Please help me if you have any ideas.

THANK YOU.

I didn't think the US allowed people over 18 to have dual citizenship. I have a friend who had dual (Australian and US) while she was a child but once she turned 18 she had to choose. Maybe it's different now - that was 20 years ago.

US law only determines whether or not a person is a US citizen. The other country's law determines whether or not the person is also a citizen of the other country. US law doesn't care whether another country still considers you to be a citizen after the US considers you to be a citizen. But once you're a US citizen, US law doesn't give you extra privileges in the US for being a foreign citizen, too.

The US doesn't make you choose when you turn 18. But another country might force you to choose; either you renounce your US citizenship or they would revoke your citizenship in their country.

The dual citizenship FAQ goes over this and other points. It should probably be required reading for anyone in this forum.

http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

Ah good to know. My friends parents are American and she was born in Austraila. She did have to choose one or the other when she turned 18 - not sure if it was the US or Austrailan government who made her do it. But the same thing happen for her brothers and sisters when they turned 18.

[Italian_in_NYC 259]

I have a friend who's dual US/Romanian citizen, so you should be ok.

Dual citizenship is a great asset/benefit. Do NOT give up your other citizenship unless you're forced to.

I think countries which don't allow dual citizenship today are a minority.

[NickD 202]

I really do not believe a legal term of "dual citizenship" even exists. Is certainly not even inferred when you take the oath for US citizenship, quite the contrary, you reject all allegiance to your former country.

Just feel the issue is, will your parent former country issue you a passport, if they do, don't even talk about dual citizenship, just have two or more passports.

[visacheck 3]

When someone becomes a USC, it is not always automatic that you retain your original citizenship. Filipinos who becomes a USC would have to re-acquire their filipino citizenship by going to the embassy/consulate, pay a fee, fill out a form and get another OATH. Re-acquiring ones citizenship actually makes sense to me because when somebody takes the oath of citizenship of the United States... that person is renouncing allegiance to his/her country . So i think it is only right to take another Oath for your home country.

To the OP, call your embassy/consulate to verify. Having two passports doesnt necessarily mean you have dual citizenship.

[freetv 7]

I just wanted to ask a question. Take China... a country that doesn't allow you to have dual citizenship... If you become an American the u.s. government isn't go to call the chinese embassy and inform them nor would you use an american passport to enter China..... nor would you even have the same name as that on your american passport (if your a girl). So if my wife leaves amerca on her american passport and uses her Chinese passport to enter China how would they know she is an american unless we say something? The chinese border police don't care about exit stamps and even if they do America doesn't have them so again how would they know? Now if I (the american) were to try and become chinese they would take my passport away (but couldn't I just say I lost it and need a new one at the american embassy... assuming that the chinese government doesn't say anything to them?). Now I know most countries in the world deal with each other a lot as far as people go, some share databases and others even hold coop war games together with the u.s. but china isn't one of them. There is no way the government in america could know if I did anything illegal in china because even the chinese government in beijing can't know if I did something illegal in say far west or south china (I know this for a fact after talking to chiefs of police and former miltary). So maybe in some rare situation you could get around dual citizenship.

Edited October 20, 2009 by freetv