Happy family

Find a legal form in minutes

Browse US Legal Forms’ largest database of 85k state and industry-specific legal forms.

Renouncing Citizenship

Renunciation of citizenship is a voluntary act of relinquishing one’s citizenship (or nationality).  Renunciation of citizenship generally takes place in cases of multiple citizenship, given that additional citizenships may be acquired automatically and may be undesirable.  Many countries have pragmatic policies that recognize the often arbitrary nature of citizenship claims of other countries and negative consequences, such as loss of security clearance, can mostly be expected only for actively exercising foreign citizenship, for instance by obtaining a foreign passport.  However, some people may wish to be free even of the purely theoretical obligations and appearance of dual loyalty that another citizenship implies.

Renunciation of citizenship may also take place in case of political refugees who may wish to renounce allegiance to the country they have escaped.  Renunciation of citizenship has also been used to avoid tax obligations, in particular in the United States which is one of the few countries that tax based on citizenship rather than residency.


Inside Renouncing Citizenship