Aussie thinking about becoming a US citizen?

Question

I'm a permanent resident of the United States and am Australian-born. I'm in the process of being naturalized here in the US, I decided to do this as Australia now allows it's citizens to hold "dual" citizenship. I also decided to do this so that I can vote and also have the same citizenship as my US-born children.

However, when I spoke to the US Immigration Dept at my civics interview yesterday, they said that the US does NOT recognize dual citizenship. Somehow I completely missed that piece of information and that has me worried.

I'm posting this question to any other Aussies here in the US who have been naturalized as US Citizens. If the United States doesn't acknowledge my Australian citizenship, will that cause complications for me in some way down the line?

I know the pros of becoming a US citizen: voting rights etc. But now I'm wondering whether there are significant disadvantages that I haven't yet researched.

Thanks for any help you can give me with this.

Answer 1

I am not from Australia, but from Germany. I am currently applying too get a permit (from Germany) to keep my German citizenship when I naturalize. Although the US says that they do not endorse dual citizenship, it is possible and perfectly legal. Even though US has the verbal oaths that state that all former citizenships are relinquished the oath is historical and has little legal power. In general, most countries that allow dual citizenship require very specific acts for you to relinquish your citizenship, and routine verbal oaths delivered in a foreign country are rarely considered valid. See: Action and Deltamar v. Rich, 951 F.2d 504 (2nd Cir. 1991) Rich assumed an oath in Spain would remove his US citizenship. The Spanish naturalization oath he took included an explicit renunciation of US citizenship. Due to a variety of circumstances the court judged that he was still a US citizen.

Thus, if your country of citizenship allows dual citizenship (and Australia does so now) you would actually have to officially renounce your Aussie citizenship to loose it, the US citizenship oath does not cause you to loose your citizenship.

The OFFICIAL US State Department's position is:
The U.S. Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does not encourage it as a matter of policy because of the problems it may cause.

There are just a lot of misinformed people out there that do not actually know the exact policy, including INS officers (sadly these are often the most uninformed).

BUT: your dual citizenship may bar you from certain jobs especially if they require top secret clearances etc.
You are also required as a US citizen to use your US passport whenever you leave or enter the country (not your Aussie passport).

Answer 2

Australia recognises dual citizenship when the other country does, but not with every country.
The U.S. is one country that does not have a dual citizenship relationship with Australia, therefore if you take US citizenship, you will no longer be an Australian.
Australia just gave "Aussie War Brides" who married US servicemen during WW-2 the right to hold dual citizenship if they wanted to -- but this is is restricted to only several hundred.

Answer 3

I agree with the German's answer.
On the Australian citizenship website it states that you can hold dual citizenship and Americans can hold dual US/AUS citizenship so it is a reciprocal agreement.

I am not sure however how this affects your travel. I know that America require you use a US passport when traveling in America (i.e leaving US to go overseas) and imagine its then most convenient to switch to your Aussie passport to enter Australia.

Answer 4

I am not a bloke, but maybe I can help a little. The USA does recognize certain dual citizens, but it don't sound like you are one of them.
I don't know how becoming a US citizen would affect Australian citizenship, but if you voted in Australia, it would void your American citizenship. You could not hold political office there either.

Answer 5

Unless this is something new, I have never known there to be a problem with dual citizenship. If that were true I don't think they would ask such questions regarding work, and money made from other countries on their tax forms if you are not in the military. But then again certain requirements may or may not apply in some cases.

Try these links, and see what you can find on them that might assist or help you.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

This search has many dual citizenship links for information in U.S.
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=U.S+dual+citizenship&FORM=MSNH

Good luck and welcome mate

Answer 6

I know an American who has dual citizenship with Australia. I would imagine it could work the other way around.

Answer 7

This can be complicated as there are many factors taken into consideration. There are too many variables to look at to be answered here.