Already a Dual Citizen - Can I Still Apply for Naturalization

[Boiler 45,499]

Most I have heard of is 6

 

3 is not that unusual

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

2 hours ago, arken said:

That has nothing to do with getting US citizenship. Holding Japanese passport doesn't affect in any way in getting US citizenship..

Japan does not allow its citizens above the age of 21 to have another country’s citizenship. Once a Japanese adults takes up US citizenship, they automatically renounce their Japanese citizenship.

[arken 4,197]

2 hours ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

Japan does not allow its citizens above the age of 21 to have another country’s citizenship. Once a Japanese adults takes up US citizenship, they automatically renounce their Japanese citizenship.

How does it affect the naturalization processing? Why would US IOs care about it if a person holding Japanese citizenship files for naturalization?

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

1 hour ago, arken said:

How does it affect the naturalization processing? Why would US IOs care about it if a person holding Japanese citizenship files for naturalization?

It is not thé US that cares but Japan. Japan law doesn’t allow their citizens over 22 (sorry I said 21 earlier, I was wrong) to have dual citizenship. As a Japanese under 22, you can have dual citizenship but have to choose one before you reach the age of 22. If you don’t, you automatically lose your Japanese citizenship.

 

I have a friend who was born in Japan with one parent being Japanese. She emigrated to thé US as a child. She eventually naturalised and became American. So she held dual citizenship (Japan and US until the age of 22), but because she didn’t choose to renounce her US citizenship before 22, she lost her Japanese citizenship.

[Cdn_Ali 11]

It really does depend on the rules of your original citizenship country, as previous posts have mentioned. I already had dual citizenship of two countries before applying for US citizenship, so I will have 3 passports once the US passport gets processed. (I previously lived in a European country that did not allow dual citizenships so I stayed as a legal resident while living there. I would never have surrendered my other citizenships to have only one passport for that country!) I love my citizenship countries and it doesn't make me any less loyal.

 

Just remember that when you enter/exit a country for which you have citizenship, you MUST use that country's passport. You cannot randomly pick which passport to produce at the border (I was told this by a border official!)

[arken 4,197]

17 hours ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

It is not thé US that cares but Japan. Japan law doesn’t allow their citizens over 22 (sorry I said 21 earlier, I was wrong) to have dual citizenship. As a Japanese under 22, you can have dual citizenship but have to choose one before you reach the age of 22. If you don’t, you automatically lose your Japanese citizenship.

 

I have a friend who was born in Japan with one parent being Japanese. She emigrated to thé US as a child. She eventually naturalised and became American. So she held dual citizenship (Japan and US until the age of 22), but because she didn’t choose to renounce her US citizenship before 22, she lost her Japanese citizenship.

The OP is asking about if US cares about holding multiple passports during naturalization and the answer is no, US doesn't care.

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

1 hour ago, arken said:

The OP is asking about if US cares about holding multiple passports during naturalization and the answer is no, US doesn't care.

I didn't disagree with you. The US doesn't care.

 

OP also brought up their acquaintance who is a Japanese- Columbian citizen and facing issues (according to OP) in getting US citizenship. So I was clarifying, in that case, it is Japan that has an issue with their citizens taking up ANY other citizenship. Basically explaining that the other person's case can't be taken as any precedent to the OP's as it is a different situation.

Edited July 13, 2021 by From_CAN_2_US

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

On 7/12/2021 at 10:06 AM, SMK 89 said:

Canada and Hungary (EU Passport). Pretty sure neither of those has issues with more than two (I can do digging). I just wanted to see if anyone knows whether or not the U.S. would be like "you can't apply for naturalization and then a passport as you already hold two from other countries..."

I couldn't find anything online saying that but then a coworker said something about them having issues obtaining a U.S. passport since they already hold a passport from Japan and Columbia...

Not from the US’s perspective. I know a few people who already had two nationalities before they took on US citizenship. You always need to look into other country requirements (my birth country for example requires you apply to retain citizenship before you take on a new, one and you need to do a new application before each new nationality you might apply for) but the US has no particular requirements and doesn’t care how many others you hold.

[HRQX 4,145]

On 7/12/2021 at 8:47 PM, From_CAN_2_US said:

she lost her Japanese citizenship.

There are about 925,000 Japanese (22 years old or older) in Japan who continue to hold two or more passports per a 2018 estimate by the Justice Ministry. Individuals who choose to keep their Japanese nationality are only "obliged to make an effort" to give up other citizenships.

Edited July 18, 2021 by HRQX

[HRQX 4,145]

***I have moved this topic to US Citizenship General Discussion*****

Edited July 18, 2021 by HRQX

[bing10 114]

On 7/13/2021 at 1:28 PM, Cdn_Ali said:

Just remember that when you enter/exit a country for which you have citizenship, you MUST use that country's passport. You cannot randomly pick which passport to produce at the border (I was told this by a border official!)

 

This actually depends on the rules of the country you are entering. I know the US, Canada and Australia follow this rule, but the UK does not.

[Mike E 11,739]

2 minutes ago, bing10 said:

 

This actually depends on the rules of the country you are entering. I know the US, Canada and Australia follow this rule, but the UK does not.

PSA:

Pre-Covid Canada had  an exception for dual citizens of the USA / Canada.  Such people could fly to Canada and enter Canada with their US passports, but still had to identify themselves as Canadian to CBSA: https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/documents/dual-citizenship

 

That exception has been de-facto rescinded:

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/dual-canadian-citizens-visit-canada.html

[Locito 85]

Following this thread. Thank you for the information provided so far. I know I am upping this old topic in a manner that is not usually appreciated at VJ.

 

If I choose to apply for US citizenship in the future (My RoC was just approved), I would be in a similar situation as described in this thread—I am already a dual citizen (in this case, a citizen of two EU countries), and I have been pondering if I would have to be renouncing one of my citizenships in order to apply for US citizenship.

[Mike E 11,739]

48 minutes ago, Locito said:

Following this thread. Thank you for the information provided so far. I know I am upping this old topic in a manner that is not usually appreciated at VJ.

 

If I choose to apply for US citizenship in the future (My RoC was just approved), I would be in a similar situation as described in this thread—I am already a dual citizen (in this case, a citizen of two EU countries), and I have been pondering if I would have to be renouncing one of my citizenships in order to apply for US citizenship.

In don’t know what your other citizenship of Europe is, but Sweden and the USA don’t care if you have 3 or 300  multiple citizenships.  See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_citizenship

[SalishSea 17,829]

1 hour ago, Locito said:

Following this thread. Thank you for the information provided so far. I know I am upping this old topic in a manner that is not usually appreciated at VJ.

 

If I choose to apply for US citizenship in the future (My RoC was just approved), I would be in a similar situation as described in this thread—I am already a dual citizen (in this case, a citizen of two EU countries), and I have been pondering if I would have to be renouncing one of my citizenships in order to apply for US citizenship.

Why would you?