Does America require you to give up your original citizenship if you become a U.S, citizen?  The answer is a very clear, “No!”  It is true that the U.S. citizenship oath requires that you say, “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.”  This sounds like you are giving up all other citizenships, but the U.S, courts have clearly held that it does not mean what it seems to mean.

You can only voluntarily surrender your U.S. citizenship if you fully and completely intend to renounce your U.S. citizenship.  They have applied this same logic to this statement.  The U.S. courts have held that this statement is about obtaining U.S. citizenship, it is not said with the intent of renouncing all other citizenships.

Therefore, there is no restriction under U.S. law in regard to keeping your foreign citizenship when you obtain U.S. citizenship.  Now, that doesn’t mean that another country won’t require you to give up their citizenship when you become a U.S. citizen, but that is outside the scope of this article.

I hope this is interesting and helpful.   Remember that this is not legal advice.  It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation.   I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong