How to Renounce/Relinquish
Consulate Report Directory (Brockers Describe their Consulate Meetings) and CLN Delivery Time Chart
Department of State Forms, Procedure Manuals, and Contact Info
Expatriation Date, Form 8854 & Certificate of Loss of Nationality
Important if Relinquishing Act Prior to June 4, 2004
Very important for pre-2004 relinqishers to read, the posts/threads at this link also contain some useful information for those who relinquished after June 4, 2004, or are planning to do so.
Interactions between Department of State and IRS regarding Renunciation/Relinquishment
You can renounce (or apply for a relinquishment-based CLN) if you have not filed taxes. Here’s some general information, with source links, relating to that and the relation between DoS and IRS in the context of renunciation/relinquishment.
IRS Ruling on Relinquishment and Retroactivity, 92-109
Relinquishment and Renunciation Data
The actual “relinquishment and renunciation data” was integrated into the Appendix of the Consulate Report Directory in 2013 (tracking chart of people’s wait times from booking to consulate appointment to receipt of CLN) and is continually updated there. The thread itself , however, has remained open and popular.
Relinquishment by Persons-Born-Dual or Who Naturalised in a Foreign Country as a Minor
Although a person who is already a citizen obviously can’t relinquish by naturalisation, any adult can relinquish by taking employment with a foreign government (or its subdivisions) or by joining the military.
Relinquishment by Naturalisation (INA, s. 349(a)(1)) by Person Born in US to Canadian parents: Cheryl’s Story. Relinquishing act (naturalisation) was her registering her birth abroad with the Canadian government in 1977 when she was an adult.
Cheryl’s detailed story contains information of particular interest to Canadians and general information which may also be useful to those of other countries and those with slightly different fact sets as well.
Reports by Persons who Relinquished US Citizenship Upon Taking Government Employment, Immigration and Nationality Act, s. 349(a)(4)(A)
Self-Documented Relinquishment
The relinquishing act itself causes the citizenship loss. A CLN provides proof of it, but it’s not the only way to prove it.
Estate Matters for Former US Citizens
How the 877A Exit Tax May Apply to your Canadian Assets
This is a series of nine posts on different aspects of the exit tax. Much of it is relevant to persons in all countries.
Almost No US Citizenship Renunciation Appointments Left During 2016 in Dublin
The title highlights Dublin, but this post contains a chart of links to consulate websites’ and their info re renunciation appointments around the world, as well as ongoing discussion of the topic.
Hello, Duke of Devon. I live in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. I had no difficulty in arranging appointments. There may be fewer ex-pats in our region. I have heard of people leaving their home area in order to make appointments where they may be available. My impression is that Halifax has openings.
Thank you. We live on the west coast so a trip to Halifax is probably out of the question. I hear that rhe wait here might be as long as a year but I can’t get confirmation.
Just as I am about to start the process for myself (finally) and for child #2 who just turned 17 (child #1 who is 18 has her appointment in four weeks), with an email to the Calgary Consulate (we live in Alberta), I received the email reply below.
I’m not sure how long this change has been effect, but thought I’d pass it along. It appears we now need even MORE patience. Sigh.
I’ll post here once I (fingers crossed) get an appointment date, after completing “preliminary paperwork” with Vancouver. We may just have to plan a family holiday to Halifax…
——————-
From: Calgary_ACS
Date: Thu, May 5, 2016
Subject: CHANGE IN CERTIFICATE OF LOSS OF NATIONALITY PROCEDURES
There has been a change in procedures. Although you can still apply to have your interview at the U.S. Consulate here in Calgary, the scheduling and preliminary paperwork is now centralized at the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver. Therefore, please direct your request to CanadaCLNInquiries@state.gov
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Susan
Susan M. Smith
American Citizen Services LES Supervisor
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
This email is UNCLASSIFIED
@ Rebecca,
That’s relating to the change they made to coordinate procedure for their Canadian consulates/embassy in February. Tricia Moon did a post on it, New Instructions to Book Canada Appointments to Relinquish or Renounce US Citizenship, which has more information about it.
I like that they came up with the option to choose “next available appointment anywhere in Canada” when they set up this system. But with Canada being such a big country, a lot of people can’t afford the cost of such long distance travel. Wish they’d just simplify and speed up the process.
Ah, thank you, pacifica. I must have miss that.
Follow.
Just wanted to mention that the automatic return reply email I received today from CanadaCLNInquiries@state.gov does NOT include any mention whatsoever of DS-4079. Hmmm.
@ Rebecca,
Thanks for this news. Good to hear.
Dept of State didn’t require 4079 renunciations but didn’t forbid it either, although its use became more strongly discouraged in 2014. It was in widespread use in Canada, with some exception — I recall Calgary didn’t for a while (prior to them coordinating procedure of all the consulates in Canada in early 2016).
Really irrelevant for renunciation, and lengthy to fill out, so I’m glad they’ve finally axed it in Canada.
Auckland (NZ) is currently requiring DS4079 for renunciations, while Sydney (Australia) is not.
Anyone know the current (June 2016) forecast for wait times for Montréal? Thank you.
My apologies is this question has been answered elsewhere: my husband and I both plan on renouncing our US citizenship. Can we submit our applications together, and ask for appointments at the same consulate/same day? Has anyone had experience with this?
@Anne.
That should not be a problem Just email the Consulate near to where you live and ask for appointments for you and your husband together. They will let you know the proceedure and which documents you may need to send ahead of time.
@ Anne
Here’s where you start:
https://ca.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/loss-of-nationality/
Anne,
We just renounced in Sydney Australia. We sent a single email requesting three appointments at the same time (me, husband, adult daughter). We submitted all our documentation together and got a single appointment for the three of us.
re: Completing DOS docs required for renunciation appointment:
Does anyone know how to fill in ALL the fields in the Loss of Nationality Questionnaire?
I keep getting halfway through and then boxes will not show check marks and doc says “locked for edit”. (I’m not “editing”, I’m trying to fill it in.) (I am not saving and returning, either.)
Help will be much appreciated.
Duchesse Typical! It used to be a simple non-fillable form that you filled by hand and scanned and returned. Now it doesn’t work.
If you aren’t saving or returning it , why do you need it.
@ Duchesse
My husband had trouble with his first attempt too. It was all filled in when he sent it but it arrived at the consulate with blanks they said. He had to reinstall and update Adobe Reader to get it through successfully. I don’t know if that helps or not.
@EmBee- After hours of frustration I finally saved it in another format, which allowed me to fill in all fields. I could not restore it to the original Word format so just PDF’d it. Thank you!
DoD: I am in fact e-mailing the Loss of Nationality Questionnaire to the DOS along with the other required docs that allow a person to receive an appointment to renounce. The DOS automated e-mail states that all required docs must be supplied (and properly filled out). Until you supply them, no appointment.
@ Duchesse
I can confirm that. It wasn’t until the consulate had received the completed forms that they assigned an appointment date to my husband. Perfect timing (sarcasm), it turned out to be one of the coldest days of that year with a ground blizzard to “entertain” us on the 200 km drive to the big city.
Duchesse Well done. I hope you have better luck than us. We submitted all the forms in early Sept. So far , not a peep. Maybe I didn’t fill one out to their satisfaction.
I received my CLN 21 December, after my renunciation appointment in Auckland, New Zealand 17 August 2016. I was told it would be 6-8 weeks, but a nice Christmas present even though it took 4 months. Just need to sort the 8854 form and my final tax return. What a year; from getting a FATCA letter, to discovering FBAR and streamlined to finally getting my NZ citizenship (swearing allegiance to the Queen!) to renouncing US citizenship and getting my freedom from the US – CLN. Big learning curve, and thanks to all for posting advice and detailed info. Happy New Year!
@Jay Noone
Congratulations on receiving your CLN. I know what a relief it is when it finally comes. I renounced the same day as you August 17th but in London UK but received my CLN on September 26th. My year was almost exactly the same as yours except I was already a dual citizen, Fatca letter, OMG moment, streamlined filing and then the final step renunciation on August 17th.
The year started dark but ended light. I agree about the help and invaluable information on this website. Just wish I had found Isaac Brock sooner as it would have helped when I first spoke to accountants.
@Jay Noone – What a year! We also renounced this year and have to deal with 8854 and final filing. For us it’s a bit more complicated as we were both USC and cannot file a joint return for 2016 – now to figure out how to allocate all those joint carryovers (FTC, Capital losses). Fortunately, I don’t think they will make much of a difference to the final numbers, just want to avoid any red flags.
DoD: Please let us know when you hear. We are paying enough, once we hand over that fee, for someone to respond if your paperwork needs your attention.
Summary: If you have problems with the LON Questionnaire, convert to another format ( I used rtf), fill the applicable fields, then save as PDF.
On my system (Mac OS Sierra) the docx format Questionnaire will not fill from about halfway through to the end; the message is “…the document is locked for edit.” On a whim, I sent issue to the CanadaCLNInquiries@state.gov address (even though it states “no replies”) and asked what to do.
A day later, the Canada CLN Processing Centre sent me another copy. Didn’t work either, but when I opened it in rtf, I could fill in all fields and then save as PDF. (Result looks exactly like their docx version.)
I then e-mailed to inquire if that’s OK and got an •immediate• answer from the same person: Yes.