Preventing losing citizenship in home country (merged topics)

[wornoutcowboy 6]

Not sure if that title fits my question really but here goes. My partner is a citizen of Laos. Laos does not allow dual citizenship.If he becomes American he is suppose to forfeit Lao citizenship. My question is if he does become an American how would the Laotians even know that? Do the Americans inform the Laotians?

Ideally he would have both and perhaps never inform the Lao.

Has anyone done this?

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

To travel there you would have to take both passports. THe US one to reenter the US and the Laos one to enter there . What is the penatity there for getting caught with both ?

[JimmyHou 611]

Not sure if that title fits my question really but here goes. My partner is a citizen of Laos. Laos does not allow dual citizenship.If he becomes American he is suppose to forfeit Lao citizenship. My question is if he does become an American how would the Laotians even know that? Do the Americans inform the Laotians?

Ideally he would have both and perhaps never inform the Lao.

Has anyone done this?

The Americans won't inform the Laotian government. If he has no further dealings with Laos and never visits there again, then the issue will probably never come up.

However, it wouldn't take much for them to figure this out. All they have to do is ask where he lives, where he's going next or where he's coming from. With no US visas on his Laotian passport and no green card to show, they'll know he must have another passport.

It's not a good idea to intentionally break any nation's immigration laws. Some countries have severe penalties for claiming citizenship when you are not entitled to do so. Other countries will charge you with entering the country illegally if you enter with a passport that you are no longer entitled to use.

Your partner is in the same situation as Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Saudi citizens (and others); he'll have to decide which citizenship he wants to maintain.

[Jungle2013 0]

OP, not sure why your partner would still want to keep the Lao passport once a US citizen? I assume this is for travel back to Laos?

I agree with JimmyHou...how will you explain the lack of visa stamps on the passports? If you use your Lao passport to leave Laos they will want to see a US visa stamp. When you return to the US and you use your US passport they would want to see a Lao visa stamp, if you use your Lao passport they would want to see a green card.

If you don't plan to travel back to Laos why keep renewing a passport you will never use?

Edited August 25, 2016 by Jungle2013

[lost_at_sea 995]

It's not just about whether he has a Laos passport or not - the OP asked about his citizenship there. He may be surrendering his Laos citizenship by naturalising in another country.

He'll fall under the bracket of "grounds for involuntary loss of citizenship", which means that although he did not go to Laos and say "I'm giving up my citizenship here", the act of obtaining a foreign naturalisation document makes that probably true.

He can contact the Laos embassy in the United States if he'd like to enquire more about the ramifications of him losing his Laos citizenship or taking up a US one: http://www.laoembassy.com/visa&applications..html

More on Lao nationality: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4f014.html

And re: why someone would want two passports? Well, different passports allow differing travel abilities. The US passport isn't welcome everywhere.

[B and H 18]

When you return to the US and you use your US passport they would want to see a Lao visa stamp.

Not that it matters for this thread, but why would the US side care if you show stamps from a Laotian passport while returning as a US passport holder? We neither recognize nor reject multiple citizenship, so why not show both to get back in if they demand to see how you made the trip?

More related to this thread, if the person ever intends to travel back to Laos, I cannot recommend strongly enough against trying to hide US citizenship.

[L and T 9]

The problem might start once you try to renew your Laotian passport. At least in my case, when I renew my passport at the German consulate, I need to provide proof of legal residence in the U.S., i.e. Green Card or US Passport. Once you become a citizen, you give up your Green Card, and if the Laotian embassy requires proof of legal residence in the US, they would find out at that point.

[Dhow 0]

They (Lao PDR) wont know until you try to re-enter the country using your Laos passport (which you might do to try to avoid the visa on demand fee). They will figure out immediately that you are traveling on a US passport. They will then demand you show both passports, give you a stern look, charge you the visa on demand fee, give you back your US passport and confiscate your Laos passport.

If you just show up as an American traveling on a US passport, they probably wont know that you still have a Laos passport.

[sk88888 0]

Newbie-

How much is the fee and now often your partner visit Laos per year? If he/ she can afford it, don't you think it is safer just to use US passport to enter Laos? Is it worth doing something that is illegal to save a small fee? Unless there are more reasons other than the fee.

[wornoutcowboy 6]

I asked this question a few years back and never got a real answer.  My partner is from Laos.  A country that does not allow dual citizenship.  He has talked of becoming an American citizen now for a long while but doesn't want to give up with native citizenship.  My question is this.  If he became an American citizen who would the Laotians ever know?  Does the USA government inform them.  Couldn't he become a USA citizen while keeping his Lao passport?  How would the Laotians even know he became a USA citizen? Has anyone dealt with this situation?  

[Verrou 1,949]

Same thing with indonesia. They don’t allow dual citizenship. But yet I know some people who still have 2 passport ( one is US passport )  Is it legal ? No ! But people still doing it. They just didn’t surrender their passport in their home country 

[VinnyH 59]

In practice, because under U.S. laws, you are technically allowed to keep your former citizenship (in the eyes of the U.S. however you are only a U.S. citizen), whatever happens with respect to your previous/native country after taking the Oath to be naturalized is between your native country and you. The U.S. will generally not do anything to inform your native country. Some countries explicitly forbid dual/multiple citizenships, explicitly allow it, or their laws don't say anything. There are therefore several options for those that do not allow:

 

- some countries will not revoke automatically your citizenship upon naturalization unless you explicitly engage in the procedure of renunciation

 

- some countries that do not allow dual citizenships will revoke your citizenship without a formal renunciation but by merely being notified (either by you or if they learn of it).

 

Despite the U.S. not actively/deliberately notifying your native country, in practice nowadays with the exchange of information and databases between countries for security reasons, there is a strong chance that your Lao partner, upon being naturalized and obtaining his U.S. passport, his new U.S. passport info be shared to international databases when he travels abroad. With the name, DOB etc... it is easy to cross-check info.

 

A Singaporean friend of mine (Singapore forbids dual citizenship) who got naturalized a U.S. citizen, flew back to Singapore and showed her Singaporean passport. The agent asked her whether she carries another passport (apparently they knew somehow she has a U.S. passport) and she had to come clean and be honest about it. Subsequently, she had to renounce her Singaporean citizenship and relinquish her SG passport.

 

Not sure how much international information the Lao government is receiving/sharing on account of cooperating with other countries, so maybe they will never catch it. It also depends whether it is considered a crime or offense not to disclose to the Lao government acquisition of another nationality. I can only but advising you to follow the laws, and any action on your side is your own responsibility and doing.

 

Cheers

VinnyH

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by VinnyH
typos

[Adventine 3,189]

This is not specifically Laos-related, but it could be discovered if he chooses to renew his passport at one of the Laos consulates in the US.

 

When I recently renewed my PH passport at my embassy, the form specifically asked "Are you a citizen of any other country?". I also needed to present proof of my legal status in the US. Laos could have similar processes in place.

 

If your Laotian partner chooses to become a US citizen and if the Laos consulate requires to see proof of legal US residence for any kind of consular transaction, he won't have a valid green card or anything like that to present.

[Ryan H 3,810]

~~~Similar topics merged~~~

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

There are a number of people on VJ who just stay on green cards for decades because their countries do not allow dual citizenship and they don’t want to give up their existing nationality. That is always an option if your spouse wants to abide by the laws of his homeland.  If your spouse becomes a US citizen, even if he tries to hide it there is always the chance (possibly a good chance) Laos does find it and rescinds his citizenship there. So it is really all about his tolerance for the risk of that happening vs the benefits of citizenship in the US.