The Right to Renounce Citizenship

Fordham International Law Journal

Volume 42, Issue 5 2019 Article 8

Savannah Price

∗

2019 by the authors. Fordham International Law Journal is produced by The Berke-

ley Electronic Press (bepress). https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj

1547

NOTE

THE RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP

Savannah Price

ABSTRACT

Article 15(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

(“UDHR”) proclaims that no one can be “denied the right to change his

nationality.” Following the UDHR’s promulgation in 1948, the general

right to have a citizenship, and thus to preclude statelessness, was

developed substantially through several major international

agreements. However, the right to renounce citizenship—implicit in

the UDHR’s explicit promise of “the right to change” nationality—

remained underdeveloped. This Note surveys the contemporary state

of the norm.

Despite broad recognition in national laws of a right to renounce

citizenship, no international treaty defines the norm. Some countries

impose conditions on renouncing citizenship, both procedural steps and

substantive conditions such as continuing obligations to pay taxes and

to perform compulsory military. This Note proposes that there is a

customary international law core to the right to renounce citizenship,

with reference to the state practice of certain lead jurisdictions: The

United States, Singapore, India, European countries, Brazil, Russia,

China, and Japan. This Note also touches upon the related topic of dual

citizenship—a person’s “right to change” nationality by adding one or

more nationalities to the one he or she presently holds. In concluding,

this Note makes predictions and suggestions for the future. The right to

renounce citizenship is particularly salient today, both in the United

States specifically given drastic political polarization, and globally, as

a wealthy class of transnational persons engage in citizenship forum-

* J.D. Candidate, 2020, Fordham University School of Law; B.S., 2017, Florida State

University. I would like to thank Professor Thomas H. Lee for his guidance and encouragement

throughout writing this note. I also wish to thank Tricia Reilly and the rest of the Fordham

International Law Journal for their assistance and encouragement, and my friends and family

for their support in all that I do.

1548 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

shopping for such reasons as avoidance of taxes and military service.

ABSTRACT ............................................................................1547

I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................1548

II. THE RELEVANT LAW ..............................................1551

A. International Law of Citizenship ............................1551

B. International Law of Statelessness .........................1552

C. International Law of Renouncing Citizenship .......1554

III. OVERVIEW OF RIGHTS ...........................................1556

A. Survey of Jurisdictions ...........................................1556

1. United States ....................................................1556

2. Singapore .........................................................1560

3. India .................................................................1562

4. Europe ..............................................................1564

5. Brazil ................................................................1565

6. Russia ...............................................................1566

7. China ................................................................1567

8. Japan ................................................................1568

B. Concrete Rights ......................................................1570

C. Rights with Multiple Norms ...................................1573

D. Renunciation Procedures with No Singular Norm .1575

IV. TOWARD A CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW

RIGHT TO RENOUNCE .............................................1578

V. CONCLUSION ............................................................1581

I. INTRODUCTION

2018 was a monumental year for Crazy Rich Asians, a box-office

hit movie based on the first in a series of novels about the wealthiest

and most powerful families in Singapore, who spend their days

shopping for luxuries and jet-setting across the world.

The author of

the series, Kevin Kwan, based the book on his own experience growing

1. KEVIN KWAN, CRAZY RICH ASIANS (2013). See also David Sims, Hollywood Can’t

Ignore the Success of Crazy Rich Asians, T

HE ATLANTIC (Aug. 24, 2018),

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/08/crazy-rich-asians-box-office-

lessons/568405/ [https://perma.cc/26DA-XM36].

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1549

up in Singapore.

In an ironic twist that may have hit too close to home

for Kwan to write about, Singapore revealed that the author never

served his compulsive military service and was wanted in Singapore

for draft-dodging shortly after the film was released.

As many of the

characters in the book series find their success encumbered by

unwanted problems, Kwan’s success came with the reminder that he is

still unable to renounce his Singaporean citizenship, as Singaporean

law does not allow for renunciation to avoid military service, which is

preventing him from returning to his country of birth until the matter is

resolved.

Kwan was born in Singapore and moved to the United States at

age eleven.

He became an American citizen when he was eighteen.

After moving from Singapore and gaining US citizenship, he tried to

renounce his Singaporean citizenship without success.

The author was

obligated to register with the military service in 1990, but since he was

living in the United States at the time, he did not register; nor did he

apply for the requisite waiver for Singaporeans living abroad.

charge has been pending for draft-dodging since his failure to register.

There are reports that Kwan has reentered Singapore since, but the

Singaporean government has denied these fervently.

As it currently

stands, Kwan cannot reenter Singapore for any reason unless he returns

to serve his time in the military.

Otherwise, he will face a fine and

2. Elena Nicolau, Author Kevin Kwan on the World of Crazy Rich Asians, AKA the World

He Grew Up In, R

EFINERY 29 (July 24, 2018, 3:35 PM), https://www.refinery29.com/2018/07/

205258/kevin-kwan-crazy-rich-asians-singapore-real-people-inspiration

[https://perma.cc/667G-SFTK].

3. Austin Ramzy, Singapore Says ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Author Skipped Military Service,

N.Y.

TIMES (Aug. 22, 2018), https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/world/asia/kevin-kwan-

crazy-rich-asians-singapore-military.html [https://perma.cc/8ZWR-3VQP].

4. Id.

5. About the Author, K

EVIN KWAN BOOKS, http://www.kevinkwanbooks.com/

[https://perma.cc/S5TA-AY7T] (last visited Nov. 11, 2018).

6. See Ramzy, supra note 3.

7. Ramzy, supra note 3. Kwan tried to renounce his Singaporean citizenship in 1994, but

it was rejected and so were the appeals that followed.

8. Ramzy, supra note 3; see also Enlistment Act 2001, c. 93 (Sing.), available at

https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/EA1970 [https://perma.cc/UFZ7-MY8W].

9. Ramzy, supra note 3.

10. MHA doesn’t want to search its archives, says Kevin Kwan didn’t enter SG after 2000,

HE ONLINE CITIZEN (Aug. 29, 2018), https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2018/08/29/mha-

doesnt-want-to-search-its-archives-and-says-kevin-kwan-didnt-enter-sg-after-2000

[https://perma.cc/UD49-V48D].

11. See Ramzy, supra note 3.

1550 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

potential jail time for not fulfilling the service requirement.

At the

same time, he cannot renounce his Singaporean citizenship unless he

completes the military service requirement.

In other words, he has no

unconditional right to renounce his citizenship under Singaporean law.

The right to renounce one’s citizenship has also become an issue

in the United States recently.

Rebecca Mead, a writer for The New

Yorker, lived in the United States for thirty years and became a citizen

in 2011.

In August of 2018, Mead wrote about her choice to return to

the United Kingdom due to political changes happening in the United

States.

After spending decades building an identity as an American,

Mead chose to return to a home that had not been such for quite some

time.

While Mead wrote about moving back to the United Kingdom to

escape the current political landscape of the United States, she also

wrote that she did not intend to renounce her US citizenship as part of

this move.

While Mead has chosen to retain her US citizenship in the

hopes of potentially returning to live there if the political climate

changes, there are many US citizens who have chosen to go to the

length of renouncing their American citizenships.

While there is not

a mandatory service requirement in the United States as in Singapore,

there are still conditions and procedures a person in the United States

must satisfy prior to renouncing his or her citizenship.

This Note suggests that there is a customary international law core

to the right to renounce citizenship implicitly flagged by Article 15(1)

of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The discussion

proceeds in three Parts. Part II explores the international law that exists

surrounding rights related to citizenship with a specific eye to aspects

12. See Ramzy, supra note 3.

13. See Ramzy, supra note 3.

14. Lorie Konish, More Americans are considering cutting their ties with the US – here’s

why, CNBC (June 31, 2018, 11:24 AM), https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/27/more-americans-

are-considering-cutting-their-ties-with-the-us-heres.html [https://perma.cc/CET2-VJSR].

15. Rebecca Mead, A New Citizen Decides to Leave in the Tumult of Trump’s America,

HE NEW YORKER (Aug. 20, 2018), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/20/a-new-

citizen-decides-to-leave-the-tumult-of-trumps-america [https://perma.cc/76YM-L7F9].

16. Id.

17. Id.

18. Id.

19. See Konish, supra note 14.

20. 8 U.S.C. § 1481(a)(5) (2006).

21. G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 15(1) (Dec. 10,

1948) [hereinafter UDHR].

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1551

of changing nationality or renouncing citizenship. Part III examines the

processes through which major jurisdictions across the world allow

individuals to change nationalities, including norms concerning adding

a new nationality (“dual citizenship”), and reinstating citizenship after

renunciation. Given space constraints, the discussion will focus on the

relevant national laws of key jurisdictions, namely, the United States,

Singapore, India, the European Union, Brazil, Russia, China, and

Japan. Part IV asserts that the common state practices of these nations

form a nascent customary international law norm, makes predictions

for the future of renunciation globally, and queries what a discussion

of rights to renounce citizenship can say about citizenship more

broadly.

II. THE RELEVANT LAW

Multilateral international treaties touching upon individual rights

to national citizenship or freedom of movement have proliferated since

the mid-twentieth century.

Many of these agreements include specific

rights to citizenship or related topics, or references to self-

determination.

These instruments do not specifically address a right

to renounce citizenship, but they supply an instructive legal context.

A. International Law of Citizenship

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) was

adopted by all forty-eight countries that were members of the United

Nations in 1948, with the exception of the Soviet bloc nations.

The

UDHR lists thirty rights that were recommended as rights that should

be adopted by every country in the world so that they would be

guaranteed to every person on this earth.

Many of the rights specified

in the UDHR have been recognized as fundamental human rights and

22. International Human Rights Law, UNITED NATIONS OFF. OF THE HIGH

COMMISSIONER ON HUM. RTS., https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/Pages/

InternationalLaw.aspx [https://perma.cc/J7GB-PHEA] (last visited May, 1 2019).

23. William Thomas Worster, Human Rights Law and the Taxation Consequences for

Renouncing Citizenship, 62 S

T. LOUIS U. L.J. 85, 95 (2017).

24. Id.

25. See UDHR, supra note 21; see also History of the Document, U

NITED NATIONS,

http://www.un.org/en/sections/universal-declaration/history-document/index.html (last visited

May 1, 2019) [https://perma.cc/2F4P-2649].

26. See UDHR supra note 21.

1552 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

codified in later multilateral human rights treaties.

Article 15 of the

UDHR provides:

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality, nor

denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 15 was widely supported as an essential right of individual

self-determination.

Since the adoption of the UDHR, the right to

retain a citizenship has since been mentioned in several other major

treaties, including: the International Covenant on the Elimination of all

Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the

Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination

Against Women (“CEDAW”).

While citizenship is mentioned in

other binding international and regional agreements, nearly every state

in the world is party to at least one of the above agreements, if not all

three of them.

As a result of these developments, international law

recognizes the right to have a citizenship in a particular nation as a

fundamental human right.

The right to a citizenship is a logical

starting point for the right to change one’s citizenship, although it does

not necessarily follow from it.

B. International Law of Statelessness

Most of the laws of citizenship developed out of a desire to

prevent people from becoming stateless and the unique problems that

accompany stateless people.

As will be discussed later, there are often

procedures in place to prevent statelessness.

Those who are stateless

27. See UDHR, supra note 21.

28. See UDHR, supra note 21; see also Worster, supra note 23, at 89.

29. See UDHR, supra note 21; see also Worster, supra note 23, at 89.

30. Right to a Nationality and Statelessness, U

NITED NATIONS OFF. OF THE HIGH

COMMISSIONER ON HUM. RTS., https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/Nationality.aspx

[https://perma.cc/9KLQ-BVQE] (last visited May 1, 2019).

31. Status of Ratification Interactive Dashboard, U

NITED NATIONS OFF. OF THE HIGH

COMMISSIONER ON HUM. RTS., https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/Nationality.aspx

[https://perma.cc/8WAM-9T46] [hereinafter OHCHR Dashboard]. The United States is a

signatory to all three treaties mentioned but has only ratified the Convention on the Elimination

of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. Id.

32. See generally G

OÇALO MATIAS, CITIZENSHIP AS A HUMAN RIGHT: THE

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO A SPECIFIC CITIZENSHIP (2016)

33. Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Aug. 30, 1961, 989 U.N.T.S. 175

(entered into force Dec. 13, 1975) [hereinafter 1961 Statelessness Convention].

34. See UN Conventions on Statelessness infra note 50.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1553

often have difficulties accessing basic services and necessities within

any country.

Stateless individuals also lack the protection of not

belonging to a single nation, essentially leaving them vulnerable since

they have no place to call home and government obligated to extend

them the basic protection of their lives and property.

The international

legal remedy to this problem, guaranteeing citizenship to everyone in

the world through the UDHR, gave all citizens of the world the

protection of a country to call home and to view them as one of their

own.

Statelessness is not a problem that is unique to the modern

world.

Enslaved and subjected populations throughout history would

likely be classified as stateless in today’s terms.

But, this issue

became particularly salient in the late nineteenth and twentieth

centuries, in a world populated by sovereign nation-states of equal

stature.

Accordingly, the issue of statelessness was first addressed

with the Nansen International Office for Refugees in 1930, but the issue

of statelessness grew when the world recognized the need for

protections for refugees following World War II.

After the establishment of the United Nations following World

War II, the problem of stateless populations was brought to the

attention of the international community.

The first multilateral

convention specifically addressed to stateless persons was the 1951

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which was the first

measure to address the displaced people after World War II.

Coming

soon after the 1951 Refugee Convention, the United Nations developed

the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

The

35. Ending Statelessness, UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR

REFUGEES, http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/stateless-people.html [https://perma.cc/APC7-7PV6]

(last visited May 1, 2019).

36. See UN Conventions on Statelessness, infra note 50.

37. See UN Conventions on Statelessness, infra note 50.

38. A

LICE EDWARDS & LAURA VAN WAAS, NATIONALITY MATTERS: STATELESS UNDER

INTERNATIONAL LAW 10 (2008).

39. Id.

40. Id.

41. Id at 15.

42. Id.

43. See Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189

U.N.T.S. 137 (entered into force Apr. 22, 1954) [hereinafter 1951 Refugee Convention].

44. See Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, supra note 43; see

also Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Peoples, Sept. 28, 1954, 360 U.N.T.S. 117

(entered into force June 6, 1960) [hereinafter 1954 Statelessness Convention].

1554 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

1954 Convention on Statelessness was then followed up by the 1961

Convention of the Reduction of Statelessness, which is the most recent

UN measure designed to address statelessness.

Though there have been many international measures designed to

alleviate statelessness and the problems that accompany it, accession

to these Statelessness Conventions has been slow and fairly

unpopular.

This is unlike the widespread support that covenants

containing rights to citizenship have received over the past century.

By 1980, the 1954 Statelessness Convention had thirty-one parties to

the agreement and the 1961 Statelessness Convention had nine parties

to it.

As of 2014, there were eighty-three parties to the 1954

Statelessness Convention and sixty-one parties to the 1961

Statelessness Convention.

Despite a slow start and a lag behind other

major international agreements, the global trend is inching towards

protecting stateless individuals and joining these agreements.

Despite

all of these efforts, there are currently an estimated ten million stateless

people around the world.

C. International Law of Renouncing Citizenship

There is sharp contrast between the concrete nature behind the

right to have a citizenship, and the lack thereof for a right to renounce

a citizenship.

Following the promulgation of the UDHR, the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”), which

was signed and ratified by 172 countries, codified most of the rights

first found in the UDHR into international law, but it excluded the right

45. See 1954 Statelessness Convention, supra note 44; see also 1961 Statelessness

Convention, supra note 33.

46. See 1954 Statelessness Convention, supra note 44; see also 1961 Statelessness

Convention, supra note 46.

47. See Matias, supra note 32. Nearly every country in the world has signed and ratified a

major international agreement that contains a provision guaranteeing everyone in the world to

citizenship.

48. See 1954 Statelessness Convention, supra note 44; 1961 Statelessness Convention,

supra note 33.

49. UN Conventions on Statelessness, U

NITED NATIONS OFF. OF THE HIGH

COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES, http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/un-conventions-on-

statelessness.html (last visited May 1, 2019) [https://perma.cc/8VCP-ZRJ4].

50. Id.

51. Id.

52. See Worster, supra note 23.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1555

to change one’s own citizenship.

The ICCPR includes that any

individual “shall be free to leave any country, including his own.”

Not only does this not include any language on changing citizenship, it

also has limitations on all of the rights included in the treaty.

The

ICCPR contains extensive limitations including: protection of national

security and public order, protection of public health and morals, and

anything that would limit the freedom of others.

These limitations

allow nations to restrict the right to renounce citizenship and the

process through which an individual may renounce so long as the

restrictions are consistent with any part of the list.

Additionally, since

there is no human right to renounce codified in another treaty, these

limitations also allow a state to restrict or eliminate renunciation

rights.

The protection of national security, for example, could include

a country’s choice to implement a mandatory service requirement as a

prerequisite to renouncing citizenship in that country.

In addition to the ICCPR, there are several other major

international agreements that include rights similar to the right to

renounce one’s citizenship, but that do not quite reach the level of the

right codified in the UDHR.

The Convention of the Rights of the

Child, signed and ratified by every country in the world except the

United States, addresses the right of the child to form his or her own

identity, which has the potential to overlap with nationality.

addition to this, the International Convention on the Protection of the

Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

provides protections for migrant workers and their families to leave any

state, including their state of origin, with the same caveats found in the

53. See UDHR, supra note 21; see also International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights, Dec. 19, 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171 [hereinafter ICCPR]; See Worster, supra note 23, at

89.

54. See ICCPR, supra note 53; see also Worster, supra note 23, at 89.

55. See ICCPR, supra note 53; see also Worster, supra note 23, at 89.

56. See ICCPR, supra note 53.

57. Worster, supra note 22, at 89.

58. Worster, supra note 22.

59. Worster, supra note 22.

60. ICCPR, supra note 53. See also UDHR, supra note 21.

61. International Convention on the Rights of the Child, U

NITED NATIONS HUMAN

RIGHTS OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents

/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdf (last visited May 1, 2019) [hereinafter Convention on the Rights of

the Child].

1556 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

ICCPR.

Lastly, the Convention on the Rights of Migrants has fifty-

three states party to the agreement. The United States and nearly all of

Europe and Asia are not parties to the agreement.

There are more

treaties that include similar notions on freedom of movement, but they

too are limited by the exceptions discussed earlier.

III. OVERVIEW OF RIGHTS

While the existing international law of citizenship does not

include the right to renounce citizenship, almost every country in the

world allows a process to renounce one’s citizenship.

Authoritarian

regimes may technically have processes in place, but often there are

external obstacles to initiating this process.

Additionally, dual

citizenship can sometimes cause a wrinkle, but over 200 nations have

chosen to allow their citizens to change their nationalities in some form

despite the lack of an international agreement requiring them to do so.

This Note surveys the procedures and requirements of influential major

jurisdictions across the globe and how they relate to one another. These

major jurisdictions include: the United States, Singapore, India, the

European Union, Brazil, Russia, China, and Japan.

A. Survey of Jurisdictions

1. United States

The United States has long been a proponent of the right to

renounce one’s citizenship on the international stage.

This does not

mean, however, that the United States does not also have a stringent set

of procedures in place to govern the renunciation of US citizenship.

62. G.A. Res. 45/158, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All

Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (Dec. 18, 1990) [hereinafter Convention on

the Rights of Migrants].

63. See OHCHR Dashboard, supra note 32.

64. See OHCHR Dashboard, supra note 32.

65. Every country in the world, except Costa Rica, has a process in place to renounce

citizenship. See generally Worster, supra note 23.

66. Worster, supra note 24.

67. Worster, supra note 24.

68. See Expatriation Act of 1868, 8 U.S.C § 1481 (1988). The United States first

recognized this right in 1868, eighty years before the adoption of the UDHR. See UDHR supra

note 21.

69. Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad, T

RAVEL.STATE.GOV, https://travel.state.

gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Renunciation-US-

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1557

In addition to the procedural safeguards, the United States also has a

series of warnings to an individual wanting to renounce his or her

citizenship and also a complicated tax scheme that the individual

choosing to renounce must be prepared to navigate.

Unlike the

complicated scheme that accompanies renunciation of citizenship, the

United States allows dual citizenship with no conditions beyond

continued loyalty to the United States.

The process by which an individual can renounce his or her US

citizenship is governed by Sections 5 and 6 of the Immigration and

Nationality Act (“INA”).

The INA was passed in 1952 and has been

in effect since then, giving the Department of Homeland Security

(“DHS”) and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

(“USCIS”) the power to preside over this process.

The basic

requirements of renouncing citizenship in the United States are as

follows: the citizen must choose to do so voluntarily, appear in person

before a US consular or diplomatic officer in a foreign country, and

sign an oath of renunciation.

There is also an application and

documentation required to officially renounce, but these are the basic

requirements for a US citizen to rid himself or herself of that title.

Departing from a global norm, the United States does not require

the individual who wants to renounce his or her citizenship to present

proof that he or she has obtained citizenship in a different country.

Instead, the government issues a warning about statelessness and the

negative consequences that may await a stateless person.

The USCIS

Nationality-Abroad.html#ExternalPopup [https://perma.cc/H7D3-XAEW] (last visited May 11,

2019).

70. Id.

71. Dual Nationality, T

RAVEL.STATE.GOV, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/

legal/travel-legal-considerations/Advice-about-Possible-Loss-of-US-Nationality-Dual-

Nationality/Dual-Nationality.html [https://perma.cc/UC65-6TN5] (last visited May 11, 2019).

72. 8 U.S.C. § 1481(a)(5), (6).

73. Id.

74. Id.

75. Id.

76. Id.

77. Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad, T

RAVEL.STATE.GOV, https://travel

.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Renunciation-US-

Nationality-Abroad.html [https://perma.cc/P99X-TH7V] (last visited May 1, 2019). As

mentioned earlier, there are two major international agreements designed to combat the issue of

statelessness, and a desire to prevent statelessness is generally agreed upon across the world.

However, the United States is not party to either the 1954 or the 1961 statelessness agreements.

So, while it may be a break with most other major jurisdictions surveyed in this Note, the choice

to allow a US citizen to renounce citizenship without acquiring another nationality is technically

1558 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

website and materials regarding renunciation also warn of taxation

consequences that may await the individual after he or she renounces,

which will be discussed more in depth later.

The United States is one of the few countries to tax based on

citizenship rather than residency, going so far as to apply an estate tax

to those who have renounced citizenships upon their deaths.

As a

result, this continued taxation of Americans abroad often leads them to

renounce their US citizenships and become expats.

However, while

the motivation to renounce may be to avoid taxation, the United States

also imposes an expatriation tax, known as the exit tax, on those who

complete the process of renouncing their citizenship.

While the

United States imposes more taxes on those who do not live within its

borders than any other country in the world, US citizenship is also the

most expensive citizenship to renounce.

The exit tax has changed

depending on when the individual chose to renounce citizenship, with

the most recent scheme applying to those who have officially

renounced on or after June 17, 2008.

The exit tax applies to those who

meet a certain median income threshold, have a net worth of over US$2

million at the time of renunciation, or who have failed to comply with

US federal tax obligations for the five years preceding the date of

renunciation.

The exit tax itself is a net capital gains tax on the property of the

individual.

As of April 2018, the maximum net capital gains tax rate

is twenty percent, but can at times surge to a twenty-five percent or

not in violation of US commitments to international law. UN Conventions on Statelessness,

supra note 49.

78. See Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad, supra note 69.

79. See Mead, supra note 15.

80. Ephraim Moss, Exposing the hidden tax costs of renouncing US citizenship, CNBC

(May 17, 2016, 7:50 AM), https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/17/exposing-the-hidden-tax-costs-

of-renouncing-us-citizenship.html [https://perma.cc/6AVN-CYAV].

81. Id.

82. Robert W. Wood, U.S. Has World’s Highest Fee to Renounce Citizenship, F

ORBES

(Oct. 23, 2015), https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/10/23/u-s-has-worlds-highest-

fee-to-renounce-citizenship/#6ff44b1347de [https://perma.cc/LB74-UYSG].

83. I.R.C. §§ 877, 877A (2008).

84. Id. Note, the income threshold is adjusted each year to account for inflation. The most

recent adjusted income on the IRS website is for 2015, where any individual whose income

exceeded US$160,000 would be subject to the expatriation tax. Id.

85. See Wood, supra note 82.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1559

twenty-eight percent rate.

The exit tax rate will also include the

federal net investment income tax added to the net capital gains rate,

which is currently 3.8%.

For those who have failed to comply with

tax laws in the past, delinquent taxes can add up to far beyond the above

rate and also cost the individual payments to a tax preparer to help them

sort out the different regulations.

Beyond the taxes paid upfront to renounce one’s citizenship in the

United States, the individual also may run into an issue with the US

estate tax.

While the estate tax only affects the transfer of an

individual’s property after death, there are significant differences

between the details of the estate tax for a US citizen and for a non-

citizen.

Under the current scheme, a US citizen is able to stop the

estate tax from applying to US$5.6 million of his or her US property,

or up to US$11 million for married couples.

Meanwhile, non-citizens

can apply this shield to up to US$60,000 worth of their US property.

The current estate tax rate is a maximum of forty percent, so US expats

could encounter large tax penalties in the United States long after

renouncing citizenship and after their deaths.

US laws on the renunciation of citizenship also depart from other

major jurisdictions because the renunciation of US citizenship is

permanent, save for a few narrow exceptions.

There is one exception

available to anyone who lost US citizenship prior to turning eighteen

years of age, where the individual has six months after his or her

eighteenth birthday to apply to reinstate his or her US citizenship or his

or her loss is irrevocable as well.

This exception applies to a narrow

set of the population, however, as the United States does not allow

86. Capital Gains and Losses – 10 Helpful Facts to Know, INTERNAL REVENUE SERV.,

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/capital-gains-and-losses-10-helpful-facts-to-know

[https://perma.cc/Q28E-69GL].

87. Id.

88. See I.R.C. §§ 877, 877A (2008).

89. See I.R.C. §§ 877, 877A (2008).

90. See I.R.C. §§ 877, 877A (2008).

91. Ashlea Ebeling, IRS Announces 2018 Estate and Gift Tax Limits: $11.2 Million,

ORBES (Oct. 19, 2017), https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2017/10/19/irs-

announces-2018-estate-and-gift-tax-limits-11-2-million-per-couple/#173f46fe4a4b

[https://perma.cc/D88P-KK5E].

92. Id.

93. Id.

94. See 8 U.S.C. § 1481(a)(5), (6).; see also Table 3 for how other major jurisdictions

approach the restoration of citizenship.

95. 8 U.S.C. §1483 (1981).

1560 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

parents to apply to renounce the US citizenships of their minor children

and children under the age of sixteen do not have the option to apply to

renounce.

2. Singapore

Singapore became an independent republic in 1965, reacting

against decades of colonialism and occupation.

After becoming the

Republic of Singapore, the nation quickly joined the United Nations,

but it never joined the ICCPR.

In 1990, Singapore signed and ratified

the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is the only major

international agreement it has joined that includes citizenship rights.

Of the eighteen major international human rights treaties, Singapore

has currently signed and ratified five of them.

100

Despite a reluctance to join major international human rights

treaties, Singapore was quick to pass legislation of its own regarding

citizenship.

101

The National Service Amendment (“NS”) was passed in

1967, less than two years after Singapore declared its independence,

requiring all Singaporean citizens to serve in the Singaporean

military.

102

The NS was later supplemented by the 1970 Enlistment

Act, which subjects Singaporean citizens to military law during their

time enlisted in the Singaporean forces.

103

The NS is still in force today,

making Singapore one of thirty-two countries to have a mandatory

service requirement.

104

While some of these nations have either relaxed

the service requirements over time or have deferment and exemption

96. Id.

97. Singapore country profile, BBC (July 20, 2018), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-

asia-15961759 [https://perma.cc/2CGH-ML72].

98. Member States, U

NITED NATIONS, http://www.un.org/en/member-states/

[https://perma.cc/E4KG-LMV4] (last visited May 1, 2019); see also OHCHR Dashboard, supra

note 32.

99. See G.A. Res. 44/25, Convention on the Rights of the Child (Nov. 20, 1989).

100. See OHCHR Dashboard, supra note 32.

101. Singapore National Service (Amendment) Bill (Feb. 27, 1967),

https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Bills-Supp/3-1967/Published/19670301?DocDate=19670301

[https://perma.cc/4YXY-YWWC].

102. Id.; see also Ramzy, supra note 4.

103. Singapore Enlistment Act (Dec. 31, 2001), https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/EA1970

[https://perma.cc/UFZ7-MY8W].

104. Id.; see also Hall, infra note 196.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1561

options available, Singapore has continued to hold to the original

mandatory service law.

105

Under the Enlistment Act and National Service Amendment,

Singaporean men are required to register for military service when they

turn sixteen and a half years old, but they do not have to report for duty

until they are eighteen years of age.

106

Those who are living abroad

must apply for an exit permit upon turning thirteen in order to confirm

that they will return to Singapore and fulfill their military service

obligation when they become of age.

107

In Singapore, an individual must be twenty-one years old in order

to apply to renounce his or her Singaporean citizenship.

108

The

applicant must include his or her birth certificate, original Singaporean

passport, and a certified true copy of the applicant’s new foreign

passport, among other documents.

109

The application also includes a

section to inform the Singaporean government why the applicant wants

to renounce his or her citizenship. The application also requires that the

applicant declare his or her military status, which answers the question

of the national service requirement that Kevin Kwan struggled with.

110

Additionally, there is a fee of US$25 to process the application.

111

Singapore does not permit dual citizenship.

112

Children who

acquire more than one citizenship at birth, or others who voluntarily

acquire a second citizenship prior, will have to choose which

citizenship they will retain once they turn twenty-one years old.

113

The

105. See NS Amendment, supra note 101. Ben Davis, an eighteen-year-old footballer with

a contract to play in England’s Premier League and for the Singaporean National Team was

denied on his application to defer his military service due to his burgeoning athletic career. This

shows how Singapore’s military service requirements have remained strict even for international

athletes. Supra note 4.

106. See NS Amendment, supra note 101.

107. Exit Permit and Bond, M

INISTRY OF DEFENCE, https://www.cmpb.gov.sg/web/

portal/cmpb/home/before-ns/pre-enlistment-process/exit-permit-and-bond

[https://perma.cc/X3GR-4CCW] (last updated Oct. 24, 2018).

108. Renunciation, I

MMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY (Jan. 08, 2019),

https://www.ica.gov.sg/citizen/citizenship/citizen_citizenship_renunciation [https://perma.cc/

JE7C-JRGE].

109. Id.

110. Id.; see also Ramzy supra note 4.

111. See Renunciation, supra note 108.

112. Dual Nationality, U.S.

EMBASSY IN SINGAPORE, https://sg.usembassy.gov/u-s-

citizen-services/dual-nationality/ [https://perma.cc/Q4R7-WLR6] (last visited May 1, 2019) .

113. Id.

1562 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

government of Singapore has recently considered allowing dual

citizenship, but has not yet made the change.

114

3. India

Like most other major jurisdictions discussed in this Note, India

also has a process for the renunciation of citizenship.

115

India does not

allow dual citizenship, so Indian nationals who acquires foreign

nationalities automatically loses their Indian citizenships and are

required to surrender their Indian passports.

116

Obtaining another

nationality without applying for renunciation in India can lead to a

severe financial penalty on the individual should he or she travel back

to India and can also delay and impact said travel.

117

There is also

potential penalty of jail time for traveling on an Indian passport that is

deemed illegal.

118

The application requirements for renunciation of Indian

citizenship change depending on the date of the individual’s

naturalization in his or her new country.

119

The most recent application

requirements, applying to those who were naturalized after 2010,

include: completing renunciation certificates and providing copies to

the government, surrendering one’s original Indian passport and copies

and proof of naturalization, and acquiring residence in another

country.

120

There may be additional requirements for families with

minor children or those who are no longer in possession of their

original Indian passports.

121

There is also a fee that accompanies the

114. Elgin Toh, Is Singapore ready for dual citizenship?, THE STRAITS TIMES (Oct. 8

2017), https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/is-singapore-ready-for-dual-citizenship [https://

perma.cc/627G-8LNS].

115. Renunciation, C

OX & KINGS GLOBAL SERV., https://www.in.ckgs.us/renunciation/

[https://perma.cc/3RXY-TGAD] (last visited May 1, 2019).

116. Id.

117. Mandatory Renunciation of Indian Citizenship,

WORLD ASS’N FOR CHILD. &

PARENTS, https://www.wacap.org/Portals/0/Documents/Profiles/India%20Renunciation%20

of%20Indian%20Citizenship.pdf [https://perma.cc/2E39-QU5G].

118. Renunciation of Indian Citizenship and Obtaining Surrender Certificate,

IMMIHELP,

https://www.immihelp.com/nri/indian-citizenship-renunciation-surrender-certificate/

[https://perma.cc/ZR7B-TR44] (last visited May 11, 2019).

119. See Renunciation, supra note 115.

120. See Renunciation, supra note 115.

121. See Renunciation, supra note 115.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1563

application to renounce, the amount depending on the details of the

individual’s case.

122

In India, if an individual applies for renunciation of citizenship,

his or her minor children may also lose their citizenships.

123

However,

if a minor who lost his or her citizenship as a result of his or her parents’

desires to reinstate his or her Indian citizenship, he or she can do so

upon becoming an adult when he or she turns eighteen years old.

124

Unlike the United States, there are some avenues through which an

adult can reinstate his or her Indian citizenship after renouncing it, but

the process requires that the individual renounce the citizenship of the

country he or she left India for and also that he or she be a holder of an

Overseas Citizen of India card.

125

To encourage those who choose to switch to a non-Indian passport

to maintain their ties with India, the Overseas Citizen of India (“OCI”)

scheme was introduced in 2005.

126

This scheme allows those of Indian

origin to possess an OCI card for easier and lifetime entry into India,

and also comes with significant economic benefits.

127

This system was

introduced as a way around the Indian constitution’s prohibition of dual

citizenship.

128

While the holder of an OCI card is not an Indian citizen

and cannot vote in India, it provides the holder with other privileges

held by citizens and allows him or her to access his or her home country

with greater ease.

129

Individuals of Indian origin who now hold

passports from either Bangladesh or Pakistan are not eligible to apply

for OCI cards.

130

122. See Renunciation of Indian Citizenship and Obtaining Surrender Certificate, supra

note 118. The general fee for anyone who renounces his or her citizenship after June 2010 and

possesses all the requisite documentation is US$175. Supra note 115.

123. Citizenship Act, No. 57 of 1955, I

NDIA CODE (1955).

124. Id.

125. Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder, B

UREAU OF IMMIGRATION,

https://boi.gov.in/content/overseas-citizen-india-oci-cardholder [https://perma.cc/9HSA-

UMA2] (last updated Sept. 27, 2018).

126. Ruchika Tulshyan, When Indians Renounce Their Citizenship: An Expat Explains,

ALL STREET J. (Mar. 20, 2015), https://blogs.wsj.com/expat/2015/03/20/when-indians-

renounce-their-citizenship-an-expat-explains/ [https://perma.cc/PT9S-9546].

127. Id.

128. Id.

129. See Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder, supra note 125.

130. See Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder, supra note 125.

1564 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

4. Europe

Most countries in Europe allow renunciation, and the countries of

continental Europe are mixed as to allowing and prohibiting dual

citizenship.

131

As with the rest of the world, every country has a

procedure in place for citizens to renounce citizenship that is specific

to that country.

132

For example, Finnish citizens are not allowed to

renounce their citizenships if they are still residing in Finland.

133

However, with the EU passport, it may not be necessary for many

Europeans to renounce given the rights and mobility granted to them

through an EU passport.

134

While EU citizens have EU passports for

easier travel throughout the continent, there is no such thing as EU

citizenship that can be recognized or renounced separately from the

individual’s citizenship to a specific state.

135

France and the United Kingdom are included specifically in this

survey due to their permanent seats on the UN Security Council and

the impact of that standing on the international legal landscape.

136

The

United Kingdom allows dual citizenship.

137

In the United Kingdom,

individuals may apply to renounce their British citizenships if they

already have acquired another nationality or if it is clear that they will

acquire a new nationality soon after renunciation in the United

Kingdom.

138

Additionally, the applicant must be eighteen years of age

131. Grace McGill, Which EU Countries Allow for Dual Citizenship, MCGILL & CO. (June

6, 2017),

https://www.mcgillandco.co.uk/blog/brexit-eu-migration/which-eu-countries-allow-

for-dual-citizenship.html [https://perma.cc/C72K-NE6X].

132. Id.

133. Release from Finnish citizenship, M

AAHANMUUTTOVIRASTO MIGRATIONSVERKET

INNISH IMMIGRATION SERVICE], https://migri.fi/en/release-from-citizenship

[https://perma.cc/BQB4-DGUX] ( last visited May 4, 2019).

134. EU citizenship, E

UROPEAN UNION, https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/eu-

citizenship_en [https://perma.cc/PWB9-QD7R] (last visited May 4, 2019).

135. Geoff Pritchard, British nationals have no say over their EU citizenship, T

TELEGRAPH (July 1, 2012), https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/9365757/British-

nationals-have-no-say-over-their-EU-citizenship.html [https://perma.cc/UAV7-6QBM]. This

question became particularly popular recently as pro-Brexit British citizens were looking to

renounce their EU “citizenships” as the United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union.

However, these individuals cannot do so without also renouncing their British citizenships. Id.

136. The UN Security Council, C

OUNCIL ON FOREIGN REL., https://www.cfr.org/

backgrounder/un-security-council [https://perma.cc/6ZDR-QQV8] (last updated Sept. 24,

2018).

137. Dual citizenship, GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/dual-citizenship [https://perma.cc/

MA4T-5MLW] (last visited May 4, 2019).

138. Id. If the individual applying is anticipating acquiring another nationality after he or

she has renounced his or her British citizenship, he or she must have clear proof from the foreign

government that he or she is guaranteed citizenship to avoid the problem of statelessness. Id.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1565

or older and of sound mind.

139

To apply, the individual must gather

proof of current British citizenship and proof of future citizenship

elsewhere.

140

The United Kingdom is one of the few countries that

allows citizens to go through this process remotely, as applicants can

send their materials via mail or an online portal.

141

Additionally, there

is currently a fee of UK£372 to apply for renunciation in the United

Kingdom.

142

France, too, permits its citizens to renounce their citizenships.

143

France requires proof of an alternative citizenship for an applicant to

proceed with the process.

144

The applicant additionally must explain

why he or she wants to rid himself or herself of his or her French

citizenship and announce that he or she “[has] a lack of family and

professional ties in France.”

145

5. Brazil

Brazil too allows citizens to apply to renounce their Brazilian

citizenships.

146

The application for renunciation in Brazil requires

proof of another citizenship (and a translation of the naturalization

certificate if necessary), an explanation as to why the individual wants

to renounce his or her citizenship, and a birth certificate or marriage

certificate if the individual acquired Brazilian citizenship through

marriage.

147

Applications for renunciation in Brazil pass through the

Ministry of Justice.

148

The Brazilian government also allows

139. Id.

140. Id.

141. Give Up (renounce) British Citizenship or Nationality, GOV.UK,

https://www.gov.uk/renounce-british-nationality (last visited May 4, 2019)

142. Id.

143. Michael Lokesson, How to Renounce Your Citizenship, N

AT’L GEOGRAPHIC (Aug.

3, 2013), https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130822-ted-cruz-howto-

renounce-citizenship/ [https://perma.cc/336E-KZ2H].

144. Id.

145. Id.

146. Processo para Perda da Nacionalidade Brasileira [Process for the Loss of Brazilian

Nationality], C

ONSULADO-GERAL DO BRASIL EM SÃO FRANCISCO [CONSULATE GENERAL OF

BRAZIL IN SAN FRANCISCO] (May 30, 2018), http://saofrancisco.itamaraty.gov.br/pt-

br/perda_de_nacionalidade.xml.

147. Nacionalidade e Naturalização [Nationality and Naturalization], M

INISTÉRIO DA

JUSTIÇA E SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA [MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SECURITY],

http://www.justica.gov.br/seus-direitos/migracoes/nacionalidade#perda

[https://perma.cc/GH6R-P5HA] (last visited May 4, 2019).

148. Id.

1566 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

individuals to apply to reinstate their citizenships after they renounce

them.

149

Brazil also technically does not allow for dual citizenship, but as

time has passed, the government has become more lenient in not

revoking citizenships from Brazilian nationals abroad.

150

Since 1994,

Brazilian nationality law allows two exceptions for keeping dual

nationalities: when the second nationality came to the Brazilian citizen

through birth or descent, instead of voluntary naturalization, or when it

was necessary for the Brazilian citizen to acquire a foreign citizenship

to participate in the exercise of civil rights in his or her new country.

151

This amendment was added to Brazilian nationality law in 1994, and

since then the government has been increasingly reluctant to revoke

citizenships from Brazilian nationals simply because they acquired

another citizenship.

152

6. Russia

Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, there was no option for

renunciation in Russia, however there now is a process to renounce

one’s Russian citizenship.

153

Russia requires that anyone who wants to

renounce have citizenship in another country avoid statelessness.

154

The applicant for renunciation must include proof of Russian

citizenship, which might cause an issue for Russians who have lived

abroad for extended periods of time and who may need an up to date

passport.

155

An application for renunciation of Russian citizenship

must also include official documentation that the applicant is up to date

149. Id.

150. Ana Farah, Dual Citizenship in Brazil, T

HE BRAZIL BUS. (May 22, 2013)

https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/dual-citizenship-in-brazil [https://perma.cc/EZ2P-5CN9].

151. Marisa Barbosa, Brasileiro pode perder a nacionalidade de origem ao se tornar

cidadão de outro país [Brazilian May Lose His or Her Nationality by Becoming Citizen of

Another Country], G

AZETA NEWS (Apr. 20, 2017), https://gazetanews.com/brasileiro-pode-

perder-nacionalidade-de-origem-ao-se-tornar-cidadao-de-outro-pais/ [https://perma.cc/K2Y9-

7GJK].

152. Perda da nacionalidade [Loss of nationality], P

ORTAL CONSULAR MINISTÉRIO DAS

RELAÇÕES EXTERIORES [CONSULAR PORTAL MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS],

http://www.portalconsular.itamaraty.gov.br/perda-da-nacionalidade [https://perma.cc/V9PA-

GRPN].

153. Renunciation of Russian Citizenship, R

USSIAN NAT’L TOURIST OFF.,

https://www.visitrussia.org.uk/russian-service-centre/renunciation-of-russian-citizenship/

[https://perma.cc/6N5D-LVZ4] (last visited May 4, 2019).

154. See id.

155. Id.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1567

on all taxes owed to the Russian government.

156

Any document that is

submitted as part of an application for a minor to renounce citizenship

must also be notarized.

157

There is a fee that accompanies this process

and it takes a minimum of six months for it to be completed, and the

process often takes longer.

158

Russia allows individuals to have dual citizenship, but failure to

disclose said dual citizenship to the government is a crime in Russia

and can result in imprisonment.

159

Russia also has country-specific

agreements with other nations that make it easier for citizens of the two

countries to move between them or make it easier for residents of those

nations to also gain citizenship in Russia, thus gaining a second

citizenship.

160

The countries that Russia has specific agreements with

include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan, and

Turkmenistan.

161

Russia has these agreements with Kazakhstan and

Belarus through the Treaty of the Eurasian Economic Union, a treaty

that also strives to encourage economic integration throughout those

nations.

162

7. China

In China, there are limitations on who can renounce their

citizenships, but most Chinese nationals are able to apply for

renunciation.

163

Excluded from those able to renounce are active

military personnel and state functionaries.

164

In addition to this, there

are limitations on why an individual can renounce his or her Chinese

nationality. Accepted reasons include an individual having close

156. Id.

157. Id.

158. Id. Getting the official documents to show that the individual has paid all of his or

her taxes due will likely take considerable time given Russia’s bureaucracy, so retrieving the

required documents before starting the process will likely add to the total time that this process

will take. Id.

159. Carl Schreck, Russian Expats Wrestle With Dual-Citizenship Dilemma, R

ADIO FREE

EUROPE (June 23, 2014), https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-expatriates-dual-citizenship-law/

25432010.html [https://perma.cc/Z6WK-QVFN].

160. Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, Belr.-Kaz.-Russ., Nov. 18, 2011, available

at https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/kaz_e/WTACCKAZ85_LEG_1.pdf [https://

perma.cc/88H7-7V49].

161. Id.

162. Id.

163. Gary Chodorow, Applying to Renounce Chinese Citizenship, C

HODOROW L. OFFS.

(June 10, 2014), http://lawandborder.com/renunciation-chinese-citizenship/ [https://perma.cc/

4TLY-RSCJ].

164. Id.

1568 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

relatives who are foreign nationals, an individual already being settled

abroad, or an individual having another “legitimate reason”.

165

If an

application for renunciation is approved, the applicant loses his or her

Chinese citizenship immediately.

166

Like India, China does not allow dual citizenship, so if a Chinese

national has acquired a foreign citizenship, he or she will automatically

lose his or her Chinese citizenship and an application for renunciation

is not necessary.

167

There is no requirement that an individual have and

present proof of a foreign citizenship in the application for

renunciation, which breaks with international law on statelessness.

168

Despite this, an applicant for renunciation in China must have a litany

of paperwork with him or her to complete the application.

169

This

includes: recent photos, a written statement detailing the reasons for

renunciation, a resume and a copy of his or her Chinese passport,

among other requirements.

170

China is one of the few countries in the

world that does not treat the renunciation of citizenship as a permanent

event, as individuals with legitimate reasons can apply to restore their

Chinese citizenships.

171

8. Japan

In Japan, citizens must apply to the Minister of Justice and be

granted approval to renounce their Japanese nationalities.

172

There is

an option to reinstate citizenship later on if the individual returns to

Japan and intends to live there long term.

173

165. Id.

166. [Nationality Law] (promulgated by Order No. 8 of the Chairman of the Standing

Comm. of the Nat’l People’s Cong., effective Sept. 10, 1980) Standing Comm. Nat’l People’s

Cong. Gaz. (China), available at http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-

12/13/content_1384056.htm [https://perma.cc/5MDJ-42MC].

167. Id.

168. See Chodorow, supra note 163. China is a party to the 1954 Statelessness Convention,

but put the limitation on the agreement that it only applies to Hong Kong and not the People’s

Republic of China. See 1954 Statelessness Convention, supra note 44, art. 3.

169. See Chodorow, supra note 163.

170. See Chodorow, supra note 163.

171. See Chodorow, supra note 163.

172. The Choice of Nationality, T

HE MINISTRY OF JUST., http://www.moj.go.jp/

ENGLISH/information/tcon-01.html [https://perma.cc/C8C9-LLJW] (last visited May 11,

2019).

173. Keiko K., How to Get Your Japanese Citizenship Back, D

ISCOVER NIKKEI (Nov. 14,

2016), http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2016/11/14/japanese-citizenship-back/ [https:

//perma.cc/PP6T-P7JF].

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1569

Japan does not allow dual citizenship.

174

Japanese nationals who

hold multiple citizenship must make a declaration of choice as to

citizenship when they are young.

175

If they choose to maintain Japanese

citizenship, they must make an effort to renounce the other

nationality.

176

A Japanese national who acquires citizenship abroad is

assumed to have renounced his or her Japanese citizenship upon

naturalization in another country.

177

If a citizen fails to abide by the

whole choice procedure, the Minister of Justice could revoke the

citizen’s Japanese citizenship.

178

Outside of the potential for having

Japanese citizenship revoked, there is no other penalty that

accompanies having two citizenships in Japan.

179

If an individual

acquires another citizenship involuntarily (i.e., marrying a Japanese

citizen), then he or she is allowed to have dual citizenship, but the

Japanese government only recognizes the Japanese citizenship.

180

174. See The Choice of Nationality, supra note 172.

175. See The Choice of Nationality, supra note 172.

176. See The Choice of Nationality, supra note 172.

177. See The Choice of Nationality, supra note 172.

178. See The Choice of Nationality , supra note 172..

179. Cory Baird & Sakura Murakami, What does Japan’s Nationality Act really mean for

its dual citizens?, J

APAN TIMES (Sept. 19, 2018), https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/

2018/09/19/how-tos/japans-nationality-act-really-mean-dual-citizens/#.XKd4XOtKi9Y

[https://perma.cc/87WQ-7FRU].

180. Supra note 179.

Country Allows

Renunciation?

Military

Service

Requirement

of Other

Citizenship

Tax

Responsibilities

Age

Requirement

United States Yes. No. No. Yes. Yes.

Singapore Yes. Yes. Yes. No. Yes.

Brazil

Yes.

No.

China Yes. No. Yes. No. No, but

parents must

apply on

behalf of

their minors.

Japan

Yes.

No.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

India Yes. No. Yes. No. No, but

parents have

1570 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

Table 1

B. Concrete Rights

Though there is no right to renounce in a binding international

treaty, nearly every country in the world allows its citizens to renounce

their citizenships.

181

This includes every major jurisdiction across the

world and emerging major jurisdictions.

182

The procedures in each

country may differ slightly and must be followed to renounce that

particular country’s citizenship, but all of these procedures address

similar concerns prior to allowing someone to renounce his or her

citizenship and end with a similar results.

183

Despite differences in

procedure, each one ends with renunciation of citizenship if the

requirements are followed.

184

While these procedures demonstrate that there is a right to

renounce citizenship across the world, there are also several caveats

that may prevent an individual from renouncing his or her citizenship

that are also recognized nearly uniformly across the world.

185

discussed earlier, there are several treaties and international agreements

that require signatories to combat the problem of statelessness.

186

As a

result of these agreements and the general consensus to avoid having a

population of stateless individuals across the world, nearly every

country across the world requires an individual to have acquired

181. See generally supra note 24.

182. See generally supra note 24.All of the countries that occupy permanent seats on the

UN Security Council allow their citizens to renounce citizenship, lending support to the later

argument that there is a customary right to renounce since all major world powers support

renunciation. See McGill, supra note 131.

183. See Table 1.

184. Id.

185. Id.

186. See 1954 Statelessness Convention, supra note 45.

to apply on

behalf of

minors.

Russia

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Continental

Europe

Yes. Depends on

the nation.

Yes. Some EU

countries have

exit taxes.

Yes, specific

age depends

on the

country.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1571

citizenship in another country before he or she can renounce his or her

original citizenship.

187

The United States does not require applicants to have acquired a

second citizenship at the time of applying to renounce citizenship.

188

However, US nationals who wish to renounce their citizenships may

only do so through applying at a US consulate in a foreign country.

189

Since it is impossible to renounce US citizenship while within US

territory, it is generally assumed that the individual seeking

renunciation has some sort of permission to be in the foreign country

since he or she is present there at the time of renunciation.

190

While this

likely means that most applicants will have already acquired new

citizenships in whichever countries they now reside, the US process

leaves open the possibility that former US citizens could render

themselves stateless.

191

The United Kingdom also has a system to address the

statelessness problem without requiring individuals to concretely have

another nationality at the time of renouncing British citizenship.

192

The

United Kingdom requires that the individual either have another

nationality at the time he or she renounces or “nearly have acquired”

another nationality.

193

Like the US procedure, the UK procedural

requirements dance around addressing the problem of statelessness

without completely putting procedures into place to prevent it.

194

Additionally, China does not require renouncing individuals to have

new citizenships.

195

187. See 1954 Statelessness Convention, supra note 45. .

188. See Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad , supra note 69.

189. See Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad , supra note 69..

190. See Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad, supra note 69.

191. See Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad, supra note 69.

192. See Dual Citizenship, supra note 137.

193. See Dual Citizenship, supra note 137.

194. See Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad, supra note 69.; see also Dual

Citizenship supra note 137.

195. See [Nationality Law] (promulgated by Order No. 8 of the Chairman of the Standing

Comm. of the Nat’l People’s Cong., effective Sept. 10, 1980) Standing Comm. Nat’l People’s

Cong. Gaz. (China), available at http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-

12/13/content_1384056.htm [https://perma.cc/5MDJ-42MC]. There is no indication as to why

Chinese laws on renouncing citizenship allow for a situation in which the person renouncing

becomes stateless. However, China is one of the few countries where an individual can get his

or her citizenship back after renunciation. So, China may not be concerned with the problem of

stateless former Chinese citizens since the option of taking the citizenship is available. See

Nationality Law of the People’s Republic of China supra note 166.

1572 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

Forced conscription and military service requirements have been

on the decline since the United States ended conscription and moved to

an all-volunteer military in 1973.

196

Though most countries no longer

have mandatory military service requirements, it is widely recognized

that failure to serve mandatory service may prevent an individual from

completing the process of renunciation.

197

Several nations who retain

military service requirements, like Brazil and Russia, have developed

many exceptions to the rule that allow people to get out of serving.

198

It is also generally recognized that tax, financial, or criminal

liability in the state which the individual wants to renounce can prevent

a successful application for citizenship renunciation.

199

Most nations

have a fee that accompanies the application to renounce, and the fee

varies by jurisdiction.

200

Since most nations tax based on residency and

not on citizenship, those who have already moved from the country

they intend to renounce citizenship from in generally will not have a

financial liability unless there is a tax issue outstanding from when they

were domiciled there.

201

The United States, however, does tax based on citizenship instead

of residence.

202

This means that anyone attempting to renounce

citizenship in the United States may encounter more difficult financial

process compared to the processes in other countries.

203

Not only is the

United States the outlier in this arena of renouncing citizenship, but

many former US citizens chose to embrace a foreign citizenship

because of the US tax scheme.

204

While there may be several obstacles in the way of renouncing

citizenship depending on the jurisdiction that the individual is within,

it is clear that there is a pathway forward to renunciation across the

196. Joshua C. Hall, The Worldwide Decline in Conscription, A Victory for Economics?,

IBR. ECON. & LIBERTY (Oct. 3, 2011), https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2011/

Hallconscription.html [https://perma.cc/3JLD-HFRN].

197. Id. As a result, it is unlikely that Kwan will ever be able to renounce his Singaporean

citizenship unless there is a major shift in international law on this topic or Singapore changes

their laws. It is equally as unlikely that either of these things occur within Kwan’s lifetime. See

Mead, supra note 15.

198. See Hall, supra note 196.

199. See Table 1.

200. Id.

201. Id.

202. I.R.C. §§ 877, 877A (2008).

203. Id.

204. Id.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1573

world.

205

Despite a lack international legal agreements to support the

right to renounce citizenship, it has developed nonetheless as seen by

the above analysis across major jurisdictions.

206

In this case, the

customary right to renounce has developed alongside the international

agreements designed to advance the right to possess a citizenship.

C. Rights with Multiple Norms

Country

Allows Dual Citizenship?

United States

Yes.

Singapore

No.

Brazil

No.

China

No.

Japan

No.

India

No.

Russia

Yes.

Continental Europe

Depends on the nation.

Table 2

The right to renounce citizenship may be recognized across the

world, but other citizenship rights, like dual citizenship, are recognized

through several international norms.

207

Dual citizenship, specifically,

is recognized in a few different nations.

208

Several nations allow dual

citizenship without any restrictions,

209

including France, the United

Kingdom, and the United States.

210

Meanwhile, many countries limit

dual citizenship, but allow a few exceptions through which people may

retain two or more citizenships.

211

In contrast, some countries refuse to

acknowledge more than one citizenship and have mechanisms in place

to trigger the renunciation of one citizenship upon the acceptance of

205. See Table 1.

206. Id.

207. See generally Table 2.

208. Id.

209. Scott Podvin, Second Passports: Some Countries Permit Dual Citizenship, L

INKEDIN

(July 6, 2015), https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/second-passports-some-countries-permit-dual-

spodvin-post-harvard-edu/ [https://perma.cc/Z48Z-HCSV].

210. See Dual Nationality, supra note 71; Dual citizenship, supra note 137; Lokesson,

supra note 143.

211. See generally Yossi Harpaz & Pablo Mateos, Strategic Citizenship: Negotiating

Membership in the Age of Dual Nationality,

45 J. ETHNIC & MIGRATION STUD. 843 (2018).

1574 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

another.

212

Meanwhile, in this middle of this spectrum, there are some

countries that have developed such wide reaching exceptions in

allowing dual citizenship that they nearly recognize it in every case.

213

Many countries allow dual citizenship in specific circumstances

or have created systems where dual citizenship is allowed, but not fully

recognized.

214

For example, some nations allow dual citizenship for

specific groups of people, usually those who are native citizens in that

country who have since gained a second nationality.

215

Other countries

technically allow dual citizenship, but do not recognize the second

citizenship as they recognize the first.

216

For example, dual citizenship

is accepted in Russia, though the Russian government only recognizes

the Russian citizenship of an individual who possesses two or more

citizenships.

217

There is also a norm among several nations who do not allow dual

citizenship at all.

218

China, Japan, and Singapore do not allow dual

citizenship in any form.

219

Nations that do not allow citizens to

maintain more than one citizenship differ in the way in which they

approach only allowing one citizenship.

220

Some nations require

individuals to formally declare allegiance to one citizenship versus

another, while others automatically assume that the individual has

renounced his or her original citizenship upon becoming naturalized in

another country.

221

212. Id.

213. Id. Brazil is an example of this trend; despite being a nation that technically does not

allow dual citizenship, it approves it in nearly every case. See Farah, supra note 150.

214. Id.

215. See Harpaz & Mateos, supra note 211.

216. See Harpaz & Mateos, supra note 211.

217. See Schreck, supra note 159.

218. See Table 2.

219. See [Nationality Law] (promulgated by Order No. 8 of the Chairman of the Standing

Comm. of the Nat’l People’s Cong., effective Sept. 10, 1980) Standing Comm. Nat’l People’s

Cong. Gaz. (China), available at http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-

12/13/content_1384056.htm [https://perma.cc/5MDJ-42MC]; The Choice of Nationality, supra

note 172; Renunciation, I

MMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY (Jan. 08, 2019),

https://www.ica.gov.sg/citizen/citizenship/citizen_citizenship_renunciation.

220. See Harpaz and Mateos, supra at 211.

221. See Harpaz and Mateos, supra at 211. Singapore, for example, does both of these

procedures regarding dual citizenship. When an individual becomes naturalized in Singapore, it

is assumed that he or she has given up any foreign citizenship. If a child is born with Singaporean

citizenship and a foreign citizenship, he or she has until his or her twenty-second birthday to

formally declare which nationality he or she intends to keep. See supra note 108.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1575

Despite clear-cut norms surrounding the right to renounce

citizenship and some restrictions that may come along with the process,

dual citizenship essentially splits across three different norms

depending on the jurisdiction. Additionally, within these norms there

are further divisions. For example, countries that allow dual citizenship

in specific circumstances can differ on what those specific

circumstances are.

222

Dual citizenship can either be recognized with no

restrictions, recognized sometimes or denied in full.

223

In conclusion,

the international community is in a bit of disarray when it comes to the

concept of dual citizenships and how to approach them.

D. Renunciation Procedures with No Singular Norm

Country

Right to Restore

Citizenship

Semi-Citizenship

Rights

United States

No.

Singapore

No.

Brazil

No.

China

Yes.

No.

Japan

Yes.

No.

India

No.

Yes.

Russia

No.

Continental Europe

No.

Yes, with EU

membership.

Table 3

While some aspects of renouncing citizenship across the world are

settled or more varied across a few different norms, there are some

issues that have come about recently that have no singular norms to

govern them. This includes the choice to reinstate citizenship rights

sometime after previously renounced citizenship in that country and the

ability to retain a sort of semi-citizenship benefit in a country despite

having renounced complete citizenship there.

224

These trends are not

universally recognized but may become more prevalent as time

passes.

225

222. See Table 2.

223. Id.

224. See Table 3.

225. Id.

1576 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

The idea that renunciation of a particular citizenship does not have

to be permanent is fairly new and not widely recognized. Both China

and Japan are major powers that allow individuals to reinstate their

citizenships if they return to establishing a domicile in either of these

respective countries at some point in their lives.

226

China added

reacquisition of citizenship to its nationality laws in 1980.

227

Meanwhile, Japan has had this choice as part of its nationality laws

since 1950.

228

While China and Japan are currently the only two major powers

to allow individuals to reinstate their citizenships, there are several

other nations that also have the process available.

229

There are currently

options to reinstate or reacquire citizenship in several other countries

from the nations that are specifically included in this survey.

230

Most

of these countries make the option of reinstatement available to only

individuals who were born in that specific nation, voluntarily

renounced their citizenships, and then later returned to live in their

home country.

231

However, as there is no single norm with this new

226. See [Nationality Law] (promulgated by Order No. 8 of the Chairman of the Standing

Comm. of the Nat’l People’s Cong., effective Sept. 10, 1980) Standing Comm. Nat’l People’s

Cong. Gaz. (China), available at http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-

12/13/content_1384056.htm [https://perma.cc/5MDJ-42MC]; see Keiko, supra note 173.

227. Responses to Information Requests, I

MMIGRATION AND REFUGEE BOARD OF

CANADA, https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/pages/attachments/2016/07/07/chn105410

.e.pdf [https://perma.cc/2FND-MB5V] (last updated Jan. 5, 2016).

228. [Nationality Act] Law No. 147 of 1950, as amended by Law No. 88 of 2008 (Japan),

available at http://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/law/detail/?ft=1&re=01&dn=1&co

=01&ky=%E5%9B%BD%E7%B1%8D%E6%B3%95&page=1 [https://perma.cc/P5EQ-

2QBL].

229. Id.; see [Nationality Law] (promulgated by Order No. 8 of the Chairman of the

Standing Comm. of the Nat’l People’s Cong., effective Sept. 10, 1980) Standing Comm. Nat’l

People’s Cong. Gaz. (China), available at http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-

12/13/content_1384056.htm [https://perma.cc/5MDJ-42MC].see also Keiko, supra note 173.

230. There are currently options to restore citizenship rights in several other nations,

including: Ireland, see Renounce or Reacquire Irish Citizenship, D

EPARTMENT OF JUST. &

EQUALITY (Dec. 20, 2016) http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/citizenship-renounce-reclaim,

the Netherlands, see How Can You Regain Your Dutch Citizenship, M

INISTRY OF JUST. &

SECURITY, https://ind.nl/en/Forms/8074.pdf (last visited May 5. 2019), Australia, see Become

an Australian Citizen Again (Resuming Australian Citizenship), D

EP’T OF HOME AFFS.

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/become-a-citizen/become-citizen-again#HowTo

(last visited May 5, 2019), and South Africa, see Retention of South African Citizenship, S

OUTH

AFRICAN HIGH COMMISSION LONDON, http://southafricahouseuk.com/civic/citret.php (last

visited May 5, 2019).

231. See Become an Australian Citizen Again (Resuming Australian Citizenship), D

EP’T

HOME AFFS. https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/become-a-citizen/become-citizen-

again#HowTo (last visited May 5, 2019)

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1577

option of a sort of “take-back,” some nations, like Australia, do not

require the individual to have been born there originally.

232

Similar to the provisions of reinstating citizenship rights, there are

also some countries that allow individuals who have renounced their

citizenships to retain a set of semi-citizenship rights to give them easier

access to travel and business in that country.

233

Those who retain this

status have fewer rights in the specific country than those who are

citizens, but still have an advantage over non-citizens.

234

This trend is

also fairly recent and not recognized in a single norm across the

world.

235

These semi-citizenship rights are primarily seen in India through

its OCI visa program. The OCI visa allows former Indian citizens to

have easier travel to and throughout India and to share in economic

benefits provided to Indian citizens who do not reside in India.

236

Former Indian citizens do not have the option to reinstate their

citizenships as some of the countries discussed above, but the option of

the OCI visa allows them to retain many of the benefits of keeping

Indian citizenship in the first place.

237

Out of the major jurisdictions surveyed, India is the only nation to

currently have anything like this visa system in place.

238

However, US

citizens have the ability to retain their US, passports while they undergo

the renunciation process.

239

Since the US process is generally more

complicated given the US exit tax regime, this creates a potential time

where a future former US citizen has retained some semi-citizenship

rights.

240

While it does not rise to the level of a quasi-citizenship right,

it is another instance where citizenship rights are unclear.

The renunciation process varies throughout continental Europe

depending on the specific country, but membership in the European

232. Become an Australian citizen again (resuming Australian citizenship), AUSTRALIAN

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS, https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/

become-a-citizen/become-citizen-again#HowTo [https://perma.cc/24Y2-P7AU] (last visited

May 4, 2019).

233. See Table 3.

234. Harpaz & Mateos, supra note 211.

235. Harpaz & Mateos, supra note 211.

236. See Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder, supra note 125.

237. See Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder, supra note 125.

238. See Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder, supra note 125.

239. Robert W. Woods, Give Up Citizenship, Keep Your Passport, F

ORBES (Mar. 11,

2015, 9:39 AM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/03/11/give-up-citizenship-

keep-your-passport/#78e4d258e1f9 [https://perma.cc/42G2-QCJW].

240. Id. See also I.R.C. §§ 877, 877A (2008).

1578 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

Union creates a sort of semi-citizenship right for people who renounce

citizenship in one EU member state in favor of another EU member

state.

241

Retaining an EU passport in this scenario would grant the

individual the right to travel freely and work in the country of his or

her former citizenship, which allows the individual who renounced to

keep some rights that are generally associated with a citizen of that

country.

242

This also does not quite rise to the level of OCI visa

available in India, but is another instance of the choice to maintain a

sort of semi-citizenship right after renouncing citizenship in a

particular country.

243

While several norms have developed regarding the process of

renunciation, this Note has also shown that more recent practices

related to renunciation have not yet reached the point of settled norms

across the world.

244

As time passes, however, more countries have

chosen to add reinstatement of citizenship or semi-citizenship rights

despite settled norms in these topics.

245

These developments show that

this topic will likely continue to progress and develop as the world

continues to become more globalized and interconnected.

246

IV. TOWARD A CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW RIGHT TO

RENOUNCE

International customary law is one of the two sources of

international law, the other being the law that is codified through

different conventions and treaties.

247

International customary law is

created through “general and consistent practice of states.”

248

The

consistent use of certain practices by the international community

creates an obligation for states to continue to follow these practices.

249

241. EU citizenship, EUROPEAN UNION, https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/eu-

citizenship_en [https://perma.cc/A4ZQ-AVXH] (last updated June 25, 2018).

242. Id.

243. See id.

244. See Table 3.

245. See generally supra note 230.

246. See Worster, supra note 22.

247. See Customary International Law, C

ORNELL L. SCH. LEGAL INFO. INST.,

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/customary_international_law [https://perma.cc/UAT6-ZJZF]

(last visited May 4, 2019).

248. Id.

249. Id.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1579

As a result, this obligation becomes international law by way of the

customary use.

250

While the data presented in the survey in Part III establishes a

sufficient practice of granting a right of renunciation to reach the

standard of a customary international legal right, it is important to

engage in a larger discussion about citizenship rights to analyze this

data as it stands and as it is further developing in citizenship rights

beyond the right to renounce citizenship.

251

As discussed in Part II, the

foundation behind the right to renounce citizenship is the fundamental,

codified right to have a citizenship in the first place to prevent against

statelessness, conceptually akin to homelessness on a worldwide level.

Since Article 15 of the UDHR addresses the issue of statelessness, the

right to renounce grows out of this topic tangentially and becomes a

voluntary positive right to choose one’s nationality that was facilitated

through the establishment of a right to have a citizenship at all times.

252

The contours of this right manifest into two separate categories:

substantive and procedural limitations, as seen in the survey of Part III.

Some jurisdictions attach military service requirements or complicated

tax schemes as substantive hurdles to clear in order to renounce

citizenship.

253

Most countries do not impose these limitations, instead

choosing to impose paperwork, proof of another citizenship, and

sometimes providing the original country of citizenship with the reason

as to why the person is choosing to claim citizenship elsewhere. As

discussed previously, there are some nations, including the United

States, that do not impose a requirement of showing proof of

citizenship in another nation prior to allowing renunciation.

254

Given

that the foundation of renunciation is the right to possess a citizenship

and the commitment of the international community to work against

statelessness, it may be helpful to add concrete requirements of a

second passport in these nations.

Every seat on the UN Security Council has a process through

which its citizens may renounce their nationalities in favor of

250. Id.

251. Seeinfra Part III.

252. See UDHR, supra note 21. One of the topics emphasized in the UDHR is mobility,

so the right to renounce grows out of the citizenship rights included in the UDHR, and also has

roots in this fundamental concept of control over one’s own movements. See UDHR, supra note

21.

253. See Table 1.

254. See Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad, supra note 69.

1580 FORDHAM INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 42:5

citizenship in a new nation.

255

In addition to this, the four nations

widely recognized as the world’s greatest emerging markets, Brazil,

Russia, India, and China, each also allow individuals to renounce their

citizenships if they so choose.

256

Finally, Singapore, a small nation that

is quickly growing in to an economic power and consequently, a

destination for those who want to renounce their citizenships, also has

a procedure in place.

257

While the right to renounce citizenship may not

be found in any particular international treaty, it has clear support

across the entire globe.

258

The trend in this area is the expansion of rights in general, whether

it be expanded access to renouncing citizenships, more nations

allowing dual citizenships or more countries adding a procedure to

allow reinstatement of citizenship.

259

As seen in the survey in Part III,

not every country is in accordance with allowing dual citizenship

rights.

260

As international travel continues to become easier and more

accessible, it is likely that people will continue to engage in choosing

and changing their citizenships.

261

This may someday lead to the

development of uniform customary law on the issue of dual citizenship,

but it does not exist yet.

There is even less agreement regarding how the international

community will proceed on new trends such as allowing the

reinstatement of citizenship after renunciation or allowing people to

retain a sort of quasi-citizenship right after they have renounced, as

seen in the last part of the survey.

262

This is potentially the future of the

development of citizenship rights as the world becomes increasingly

more globalized and high net worth individuals try to take advantage

255. UN Security Council, supra note 136; see also Table 1.

256. See Table 1.

257. See Renunciation, supra note 108.

258. See Table 1.

259. See Harpaz & Mateos, supra note 211.

260. See infra Part III.

261. Id. This trend of shopping for citizenship in a forum most hospitable to high net worth

individuals is already being seen in some individual cases. For example, Eduardo Saverin, one

of the co-founders of Facebook, renounced his US citizenship in 2012 in favor of obtaining

citizenship in Singapore. See Naazneen Karmali, Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin

Becomes Singapore’s Richest Person, F

ORBES (Dec. 8, 2017, 5:54 AM),

https://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenkarmali/2017/12/08/facebook-co-founder-eduardo-

saverin-becomes-singapores-richest-person/#2ebe50e16a8e [https://perma.cc/7HG3-2DJV].

262. See infra Part III.C.

2019] RIGHT TO RENOUNCE CITIZENSHIP 1581

of laws to essentially shop for the forum most hospitable to their

money.

263

At the same time, as the world refugee crisis continues to grow

more dire, it increases the number of people who are becoming

displaced and may need to address changing or renouncing a

citizenship. Universally implemented procedures to reestablished

renounced citizenships could help avoid statelessness completely,

whether it be a wealthy individual who somehow got lost in the web of

manipulating citizenship laws to take advantage of a tax have or an

individual who was forcibly displaced or maybe even someone

somewhere in between. Regardless of what is to come, allowing

citizenships to be taken back is the next logical step in the progression

of these rights.

While the survey in Part III leads to a discussion on international

norms of citizenship-related rights, the first thing the survey reveals is

no country has a blanket prohibition on the renunciation of

citizenship.

264

International customary law comes to be through the

existing practices of states, and there is a process for renouncing

citizenship in nearly every country, including all major jurisdiction

across the world.

265

All of the ingredients are there, the procedures of

the world are just ahead of the international laws that govern it.

V. CONCLUSION

The right to renounce citizenship is not found in any major

binding international agreement.

266

Yet, there are procedures to

renounce citizenship in nearly every country across the world,

including every major jurisdiction.

267

The prevalence of this process

across the globe supports the argument that this has become an

international customary right in line with the rights that find themselves

within the pages of international treaties. Renunciation of citizenship,

and related practices, will likely become more popular as the world

becomes even smaller, so this practice will continue to develop and

take its place among global norms.

263. Eric Barton, The people moving to countries that fit their politics, BBC (Feb. 16,

2017), http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170216-the-people-moving-to-countries-that-fit-

their-politics [https://perma.cc/2DG5-AJEN].

264. See Worster, supra at 23.

265. See Customary International Law, supra at 247.

266. See Worster, supra at 23.

267. See Worster, supra at 23.

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