# Anyone US Citizen Renounce-Problems at the Border?



## dann

I am a Canadian and have always traveled on my Canadian passport however, I was born in the US and unfortunately, that makes me a US citizen by default. When crossing into the US I always go into the non-US citizen line with my Canadian passport. Well almost every time, as soon as they notice I was born in the US, they start drilling me with the usual questions...Are you a US citizen? Why did you leave the US? etc. 

I am very curious as to what the experience is when they see you were born in the US and you start telling them that you are actually not a US citizen because you renounced. Anyone have any experiences? Negative or otherwise?

Thanks for any replies.


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## Bevdeforges

We had some problems a while ago with folks coming through actively advocating that American livings abroad renounce their US citizenship, so we've decided to kind of discourage long, elaborate discussions of the topic here.

I can tell you, however, that if you tell them at the border that you have renounced, they are very likely to ask you for your "renunciation certificate" - which is a piece of paper you get after the whole, long process is complete (including your name being published in an official journal, and that can take some time). Should you decide to renounce, it's probably a good idea to carry your renunciation certificate with you to show along with your passport on entry to the US.
Cheers,
Bev


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## quincy

dann said:


> I am a Canadian and have always traveled on my Canadian passport however, I was born in the US and unfortunately, that makes me a US citizen by default. When crossing into the US I always go into the non-US citizen line with my Canadian passport. Well almost every time, as soon as they notice I was born in the US, they start drilling me with the usual questions...Are you a US citizen? Why did you leave the US? etc.
> 
> I am very curious as to what the experience is when they see you were born in the US and you start telling them that you are actually not a US citizen because you renounced. Anyone have any experiences? Negative or otherwise?
> 
> Thanks for any replies.


I know of several people (through an online blog) that have renounced and have had no trouble crossing the border. Some have received their certificate of loss of nationality (CLN) and some are still waiting. Some have reported that the consulate told them that the border patrol can confirm by computer that you have renounced even if you haven't received your CLN. All of the people that I'm talking about have driven over.


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## RødGrød

I renounced in February, flew into Newark in May, and had no problems. The immigration guy asked me the reason for my visit, I said I was a former citizen there to visit family, and I tried to show him my CLN but he said "That's ok, don't worry about it" and that was that.

I think that the border control's main job is to keep people from trying to immigrate illegally. A renunciant is likely seen as "low risk" in that sense.


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