MichaelScott

I am an American citizen who has recently been honorably discharged (albeit not voluntarily) from the military. Most of my service was in the UK (13 yrs total, 8yrs 1 tour, 5yrs another) and in that time I established a life there that, although not lucrative or awe-inspiring was a life nonetheless; a life that I was forced to leave. Now I have spent ages trying find a way to go home (as this is what Britain has become for me) and t seems that the only way to get there is by becoming a British citzen.

I love my country, and this where my parents and sisters and grandmother live, but they realize, just as I do, that I don't really belong here anymore; that my son and the woman I love and the culture that I've lived in for so long is not here, but in England.

My question is this: Would there be a way for me to obtain dual citizenship or would I have to completely give up my US citizenship? Although ultimately it is something I may have to do, I've no complete desire to give up the freedoms and ideals that I have served my country to protect, but I so greatly miss my home too...

Can anyone help me out on this?

Lala

If you take up citizenship in another country, then the U.S. will consider you no longer a citizen. Incidentally, the same is not necessarily true the other way around. If a person of another country becomes a U.S. citizen then, depending upon the laws of the home country, that country may still consider her/him to be a citizen. There are situations where the U.S. may recognize dual citizenship. For example, a person may have acquired U.S. citizenship through a parent and still be a citizen of another country. The dual citizenship situations generally pertain to citizenship-by-birth, not when the U.S. citizen naturalizes in another country.

shakesrear

Umm, what lala says is wrong. It's nearly impossible to renounce your U.S. citizenship. Simply taking on another citizenship is not enough. You have to formally renounce it in order for it to be legal. Here is what the U.S. government has to say about it:

On renouncing citizenship
http://travel.state.gov/law/citizens...nship_776.html

On dual citizenship
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1753.html

Lala

Shakesrear, I lifted that info directly from a US attorney's website.

Also, from the second paragraph in your second link:

However, a person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship.

As I said in my original response .. there are situations where the U.S. may recognize dual citizenship.

shakesrear

Yes, but you make it sound like they are unusual cases. It's not really that the U.S. needs to recognize dual citizenship; the important point is that you don't automatically lose U.S. citizenship if you take on another. The fact is, they have to prove that you intended to give up your citizenship, so it's not really automatic and you can take on another citizenship of your own free will without losing U.S. citizenship.

If you are lifting something from a website, you should provide the link or in some other way give your references.

Lala

Sorry. On checking again, it wasn't an attorney's site, it was http://www.uscitizenship.info/citize...brary-dual.htm

Check out question 2 on dual citizenship .. this would disagree with you. Although perhaps you are more qualified to answer this question? Or perhaps the law has been changed?