# US/UK Dual Citizenship



## jonridings (Feb 4, 2013)

Does anyone know the official US position regarding dual citizenship . Am UK citizen with permanent residence permit for US. Am considering becoming a US citizen ( have lived in US for 22 yrs) and was wondering if the US would require me to relinquish UK citizenship or give up my UK passport.
I believe the rules have been relaxed recently, but cannot find a definitive answer.
Thanks
Jon


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## bellakem (May 20, 2012)

Nope, they would not. Many people have dual citizenship.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

The rules have been pretty loose since about 1990 or so. Basically, the US doesn't "recognize" dual citizenship (which only means they pretty much ignore your other citizenship if it conflicts with your US responsibilities), but they don't prohibit it.

And even for countries that do ask you to surrender your old passport to take nationality, the UK has been known to just send it back, saying "someone found your passport and turned it in" or something like that. It's pretty tough to lose your UK nationality.
Cheers,
Bev


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## jonridings (Feb 4, 2013)

Thx for the reply - do you know if there would be difficulties involved if, during a trip to the UK, I entered the UK on my UK passport and when returning to the US used my US passport. The US passport would not have a stamp showing entry to another country, and was wondering if this would cause a problem - or would immigration just accept that I used my UK passport for entry to UK. 
Obviously I could just use the American passport for all travel, but on a purely logistical level it's easier to enter the UK using a British passport ( and some other countries I visit for work ).


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## bellakem (May 20, 2012)

There would be no difficulty at all. When you leave the U.S, they only care that you have the proper passport to enter the country you are going to, in your case, the U.K one and on the return, the airline wants to see your proper one (U.S) to return. The INS has all that stuff anyway. I do it all the time with my passports, as does my husband with his .


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## jonridings (Feb 4, 2013)

Thank you all for the information - it makes my decision to become a US citizen easier


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## jcmft (Mar 11, 2013)

In my experience, having both British and US passports, I was told by US customs that I should use the same passport leaving the US into the UK as I do when returning to the US from the UK. One time, I used my British passport as you described for ease of entering the UK (shorter line with a EU passport) and from there on traveling around Europe--when I returned to LAX, I received a stern talk from customs. I've seen posts regarding this issue on other forums and they tend to agree with the US Customs agent. Just my two cents. If you find out otherwise, please post the information.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Weird - I've never heard of anyone having any problem entering the US on a US passport, no matter what passport they've used overseas. And frankly, I basically only use my US passport to enter the US (and to check in for my return flight back to Europe - for simplicity's sake). 

It's possible that something is changing over there. But I don't plan to change my current habits, unless that means just not going back to the US to visit anymore.
Cheers,
Bev


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