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What happens to US citizenship on becoming Canadian citizen

cicuser

Star Member
Oct 11, 2017
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18
Hi,

My kids (minors) are US nationals by birth. I am starting my Canadian citizenship application. My question is what happens to my kids' US citizenship after they become Canadian citizens. I want them to retain their US citizenship - is there something that I should keep in mind. I tried searching online but did not get any official information. Any official links would be helpful.

Thanks
 

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
15,784
8,005
Hi,

My kids (minors) are US nationals by birth. I am starting my Canadian citizenship application. My question is what happens to my kids' US citizenship after they become Canadian citizens. I want them to retain their US citizenship - is there something that I should keep in mind. I tried searching online but did not get any official information. Any official links would be helpful.

Thanks
Nothing, no impact whatsoever.
 
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dpenabill

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Apr 2, 2010
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My kids (minors) are US nationals by birth. I am starting my Canadian citizenship application. My question is what happens to my kids' US citizenship after they become Canadian citizens. I want them to retain their US citizenship - is there something that I should keep in mind. I tried searching online but did not get any official information. Any official links would be helpful.
As @armoured commented, there is no impact on status.

The U.S. will continue to recognize them as U.S. citizens. However, the U.S. will not recognize their Canadian citizenship. Thus, for example, they will probably need U.S. passports (or equivalent, depending on mode of travel) to travel to the U.S.

I am not sure about details in passport applications for minors, but adults who are U.S. citizens who become a Canadian citizen may need to be careful about the verifications attested to when signing a U.S. passport application. Been a long time (well over a decade) since I was looking at this (and generally I do not follow the U.S. side of things much), but in the past those who acquired citizenship in addition to their U.S. citizenship needed to amend the verifications in regards to having obtained citizenship in another country.
 
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cicuser

Star Member
Oct 11, 2017
94
18
Thank you @dpenabill @armoured for your answers.

I has also sent this query to the US consulate and got the following cryptic response: "Dual nationality is permissible under U.S. law."
They did provide a link with more information which suggests essentially what you had said in your replies above - that nothing needs to be done and there is no fear of losing US nationality by gaining Canadian citizenship.

Posting the link here in case other people have similar concerns as mine.
http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-and-dual-nationality/dual-nationality.html
 

armoured

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Feb 1, 2015
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Thank you @dpenabill @armoured for your answers.

I has also sent this query to the US consulate and got the following cryptic response: "Dual nationality is permissible under U.S. law."
They did provide a link with more information which suggests essentially what you had said in your replies above - that nothing needs to be done and there is no fear of losing US nationality by gaining Canadian citizenship.

Posting the link here in case other people have similar concerns as mine.
http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-and-dual-nationality/dual-nationality.html
Funny there that about half of the verbiage is dedicated to dealing with the complicated distinction in US law between nationality and citizenship which is a barely-intelligible mess (short form: don't ask, something to do with having an empire).

The other point that is actually relevant to Canada (and many other countries): you can have more than one citizenship, while - at the same time - none of the countries involved need necessarily recognize 'dual citizenship' legally.

In this sense the US statement is actually a bit clearer: dual citizenship / nationality is not forbidden (is permissible), but basically after that, it's your own problem.
 

armoured

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Feb 1, 2015
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It's not that a country would not recognize the other citizenships;
Recognition of consular assistance rights is indeed one of the principal ways in which 'recognition' of the other citizenship would be meaningful, i.e. that's one of the things that I meant by saying 'recognizing' the other citizenship (recognize in a meaningful legal sense). And very much true, that if you're a citizen of eg Canada and you're visiting any other country in which you hold citizenship, Canada has technically no 'rights' by treaty for consular protection. (Sometimes other countries will allow as a courtesy).

(I believe consular protection/assistance rights under law is what would be the most current usage of 'diplomatic protection' referred to in that League of Nations treaty - although likely also cases where someone posted as a diplomat to a country while holding the host-country's citizenship would also not benefit from that diplomatic immunity, and possibly a few other corner cases not likely relevant here.)

But that's not the only context: some countries have, specifically, dual (multiple) citizenship statutes that outline specific rights, responsibilities, and restrictions about dual (multiple) citizenship - i.e. they do specifically 'recognize' dual citizenship under law, or sometimes only in certain circumstances, and this recognition (including permission to hold dual citizenship) might be limited to certain countries. Some countries might also only allow/recognize according to treaty (with certain other countries, usually friendly ones).

In this sense, Canada most certainly does not recognize dual citizenship, and I think that's true under US law as well. Canada doesn't forbid dual nationality, but for the most part it has no relevance to a citizen's rights/responsibilities vis a vis Canada.

In practice govt would have to 'recognize' that it can't provide consular assistance to a Canadian in a country where that citizen also holds nationality, and some other contexts, I suppose. Global Affairs does give consular warnings, sometimes, about issues that can arise for dual citizens, but that's basically just a courtesy.

Apart from the consular issue, the easiest way to boil it down is Canada doesn't care if you hold another citizenship, but the other country might - and it's up to the individual to figure that part out.
 
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