To ask you to explain why someone would renounce citizenship of a country?

[InTheBox]

This is more out of curiosity than anything in particular. I'm under the impression that it's possible to hold citizenship for more than one country, so what would be the point in renouncing one's citizenship if it didn't really make a difference iyswim?

It's just been changed in the last few years, but if my OH had wanted to acquire British citizenship (to gain the right to vote in national elections) he would have had to give up his Danish citizenship

really lionsledge? He's not registered with the embassy or anything so has no social security number or anything like that. He has no contact with his dad so it would actually be a bit of a rigmarole to claim his US citizenship. He's only 19 and a full time student right now so his only income is student finance anyway but he was considering applying for post grad study in the US in 2019 so would need to register then, would he get into trouble for not registering sooner?

India is a country that doesn't allow it. Instead, Indian's can apply for NIR status (non resident indian) or I believe there's one other status (I can't for the life remember what it is).

A relative of mine has given up British citizenship as they want to play sport internationally and can't do so for GB.

Ooh to get out of military service at 18 might be another one?
I suppose people might do it for symbolic reasons as well for e.g. If they'd escaped perseculation/been in a war etc.

You can't renounce your citizenship if doing so makes you stateless. When you make an application to renounce, you have to submit documents to proove that you have another citizenship.

Some countries require you to serve in the military and renouncing nationality is a way to avoid that.

I don't agree with the way immigrants are treated by my birth country - I have no intention of ever going back there so I renounced my citizenship so one of the immigrants could have it.

Not all countries make you prove you are a citizen of somewhere else before renouncing your citizenship. But the UK does.

DS has just renounced citizenship of his father's country. (He had dual nationality). His main reason was to avoid either doing military service in that country or paying to the tune of several thousand pounds for the privilege of doing a shorter military service as an 'ex pat.'

It was that or never being able to visit that country again in case he was arrested for avoiding the army.

My hubby could have had dual citizenship as his dad is Dutch, but they had conscription for military service, so he's just British :)

My children have triple citizenship, USA, UK and Italian. Great quality of life, good lamb and awesome food....they have it all covered.

To avoid the draft (if relevant).

To avoid being a US person for tax purposes (which under FATCA can be a monumental pain in the arse).

Oh and I guess for sport reasons, but I'd imagine that's pretty damned rare.

When I was in Latvia for work I was told that Latvia would not give passports (therefore EU rights) to Russians living in Latvia from soviet times unless they renounced their russian passport.
There was bad feeling between Latvian Latvians and Russian Latvians at independence and I think this was an attempt to sort the residents Russians into those who really wanted to be new Latvians and those who didn't.

If someone renounced their citizenship (thanks for explaining possible reasons why they would), would their dcs have the option of having that citizenship automatically regardless of the fact that their parent had renounced the citizenship?

Or actually..., I'll try and ask that question with a bit more coherence: Would the renunciation of citizenship preclude future or already existing dcs from attaining that citizenship?

I have dual now and wouldn't want to give either up. My Japanese friend doesn't have a choice as Japan doesn't allow dual nationality. I think her children have to decide when they reach adulthood. I wonder if there's a difference between if the children were born to a Japanese citizen who THEN gave up their nationality or if their DM gave it up before she gave birth. Because even if she gave it up now, they would still have been born to a Japanese citizen IYSWIM.

I believe if you are a U.S. citizen and sell a house in the UK, you have to pay capital gains tax in the U.S.

Dh was born in Kenya to British expat parents, so could have applied for dual nationality post 18. However this would have meant that he'd have had to do a year's national service in Kenya. Not very appealing...

if you have an American parent, you're American by birth, regardless of if you register, etc

So if a British woman was to get pregnant tomorrow by an American then that child world have to pay tax to the USA even though they never met their father or lived in the US?

Another question. What happens if both parents have dual nationality?

DS is one of about 30 people from his country of birth that is allowed dual citizenship. He will have to decide at 18 though which he wants to be a citizen of (I'm guessing uk as the other has conscription and he doesn;t speak the official language!)

My DDs are dual Dutch/US citizens. We will be encouraging them to renounce because of tax reasons. The US and Eritrea are the only countries who chase their citizens for double taxes. It is immoral.

if you have an American parent, you're American by birth, regardless of if you register, etc

It's not that simple; it also depends on whether the parents were married whether it establishes citizenship at birth.

travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-child-born-abroad.html

You don't necessarily have to pay double taxes to the U.S. You need to file US taxes but in many (most?) cases, because of the earned income allowance etc, you won't end up actually owing money. The filing is this unbelievably complicated mess if you have anything beyond a bog standard bank account, hence my reasons for renouncing.