# Benifits of being a U.S. citizen?



## Dotsrus (Aug 15, 2010)

For a while now I have wanted to move abroad to Spain and apply for citizenship, but dual citizenship isn't permitted. If I relinquish my United States citizenship, what will I lose? Most importantly is the decision irrevocable?

I am 17 at the moment, so legally I can't renounce citizenship, but I'd like to know the implications of it if I decide to. I love my country (go USA), but I need a lifestyle change and the direction the country is headed seems to be for the worst.


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## jennifer_sita (Jul 22, 2010)

Dotsrus said:


> For a while now I have wanted to move abroad to Spain and apply for citizenship, but dual citizenship isn't permitted. If I relinquish my United States citizenship, what will I lose? Most importantly is the decision irrevocable?
> 
> I am 17 at the moment, so legally I can't renounce citizenship, but I'd like to know the implications of it if I decide to. I love my country (go USA), but I need a lifestyle change and the direction the country is headed seems to be for the worst.


I don't know how up-to-date this is, but the issue of renouncing US citizenship to become a Spanish national is discussed on other websites http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/information/spanish-citizenship-and-dual-nationality/. That website says,


> US citizens, if they do not intend to relinquish their US citizenship, may renounce their US citizenship to the Spanish government as required to obtain Spanish citizenship, but still retain their US citizenship anyway. Needless to say, Spain would not recognize the US nationality.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Basically, it's pretty difficult to renounce your US citizenship and, in fact, you can only do it from abroad. To renounce, you must go to a US consulate in the country where you are residing and formally renounce your nationality in front of a consular official.

What that means is that short of that, anything the Spanish government asks you to do to give up your prior nationality doesn't count unless you do the official renunciation at a US consulate.

There are also a few "issues" with renouncing your US citizenship. All US citizens must file US tax returns (assuming they meet the other filing requirements) based on their worldwide income no matter where they live in the world. If you are believed to be renouncing "for tax reasons" (as determined by the IRS - mostly if you fall into a certain income category), you will be required to continue to file tax returns for an additional 10 years after the date you renounce. (They've changed this slightly so that you actually file an "expatriation" return, which is a bit different from the regular returns.)

Back in 1996 or so they passed a law with various "penalties" for renouncing your US citizenship. It's one of those laws that say the penalties "may be" inflicted, not that they are mandatory. But one of those is that the Attorney General "may" deny any form of entry visa to the US to someone who has renounced their US citizenship. I have yet to hear of them using this one against anyone, but in theory it means they could deny you entry to the US for a simple visit on a VWP. 

Net-net, unless you've got huge mega-bucks riding on the tax side of things, it's not really worthwhile to consider formal renunciation.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Dotsrus said:


> For a while now I have wanted to move abroad to Spain and apply for citizenship, but dual citizenship isn't permitted. If I relinquish my United States citizenship, what will I lose? Most importantly is the decision irrevocable?
> 
> I am 17 at the moment, so legally I can't renounce citizenship, but I'd like to know the implications of it if I decide to. I love my country (go USA), but I need a lifestyle change and the direction the country is headed seems to be for the worst.


You need some basis to claim Spanish citizenship. You don't mention any.


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

Dotsrus said:


> For a while now I have wanted to move abroad to Spain and apply for citizenship, but dual citizenship isn't permitted. If I relinquish my United States citizenship, what will I lose? Most importantly is the decision irrevocable?
> 
> I am 17 at the moment, so legally I can't renounce citizenship, but I'd like to know the implications of it if I decide to. I love my country (go USA), but I need a lifestyle change and the direction the country is headed seems to be for the worst.


There are many benefits to being a US citizen and it's one of the most sought after citizenships in the world. You can live, work and study in one of the world's most desirable countries. You can vote. You can run for public office. Certain jobs require US citizenship. You can possibly bestow US citizenship on your children if they are born abroad. You can sponsor a foreign spouse to come to the US.

There are other ways to live, work or study in Spain without obtaining Spanish citizenship. Even obtaining Spanish citizenship may not necessarily mean that you lose US citizenship. The US may not recognize any statement of renunciation of US citizenship that you make if/when you become a citizen of Spain. When I became a US citizen, I had to state that I renounced all other allegiances but that statement means nothing to the other countries that I am also a citizen of - Canada, Ireland and the UK. Those countries each have formal processes that need to be followed in order to renounce their citizenships.

Also you are very young at just 17. Unless you have some other claim on Spanish citizenship that you haven't mentioned, I believe that you have to have lived in Spain for 10 years before you're even eligible to apply for Spanish citizenship - and if you're not already living there now, then the 10 year clock hasn't even started yet. That's a long time and you might not live there that long anyway. Or you may decide that you don't need Spanish citizenship in order to live there. Or you may discover that your US citizenship is not lost even if you do become a Spanish citizen. It's even possible that rules on citizenship may have changed by then anyway.


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