Renunciation and Relinquishment of United States Citizenship: Discussion thread (Ask your questions) Part Two
Ask your questions about Renunciation and Relinquishment of United States Citizenship and Certificates of Loss of Nationality.
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NB: This discussion is a continuation of an older discussion that became too large for our software to handle well. See Renunciation and Relinquishment of United States Citizenship: Discussion thread (Ask your questions) Part One
You probably won’t have a problem. For future peace of mind, you could apply for an Ontario Enhanced Driver’s License, which does not indicate your place of birth. I renounced a year ago and recently used this document to enter the U.S.; I had no trouble.
Bon courage and bon voyage!
Wyley
I am doing a happy dance! My CLN arrived in the mail today. I feel an enormous sense of relief. My story was posted over two years ago, so I will give a quick recap. I was born in the US to two Canadian parents. Less than 1 month after my birth my parents returned to Canada. I have lived here ever since and have done absolutely nothing to tie myself to the U.S. I decided to relinquish based on working for a Canadian Crown Corporation in 1976. I visited the US Consulate on April 24, 2014. This did not go well. I met with the same Consul as Canadiangirl and felt that
he treated me like a criminal. I believe that he delighted in my distress. He announced that he was not going to recommend that I qualify for a relinquishment. Thankfully the lawyers in Washington disagreed with him.
I have been very thankful for this website. You have provided with great information that was invaluable in making my decisions. It was good not to be alone.
@ Dianne Congratulations! Glad it all worked out for you.
Congratulations Dianne. So Happy for you. It is such a relief to know it is finally over.
@Dianne
YES! Congratulations, and may your story and the stories of others who’ve relinquished after being told they can’t serve as an inspiration to others!
@Dianne,
Congratulations!!!
Were you the one who worked for the Atomic Energy department? Can you remind us what the consul didn’t like about your claim that caused him to recommend against it?
Swanee. You probably won’t need to say a thing.
You probably won’t be asked.
If you are, simply tell them (briefly) what happened. ‘ I relinquished/ renounced, they kep’t my passport, I haven’t yet received my CLN’. Period.
@Swanee: I’ve previously posted my experiences in the “Your experiences– Entering the U.S.” section on the sidebar.
I’ve flown and driven to the U.S. multiple times in the past year entering on my Canadian passport while accompanying immediate family members who were entering with US passports. I’ve never been hassled. Only one agent asked me if I had a US passport– I told him I was Canadian and that was that. He was friendly and there were no hassles.
@Diane, Congratulations! Nice way to start off 2015. Be very happy.
@Swanee, to Duke of Devon’s comments I’ll just add “and here’s a letter to prove it.” That’s all you need to say.
@WhatAmI. Yes I did work for the Atomic Energy. The consul wanted to deny my claim for relinquishment based on intent. He said that because I thought that I lost my US citizenship when I became an adult he said that I could not have lost it when I started my job. He added “what would you have known at 18. I am sure you weren’t even thinking about your citizenship.” I replied that when I took the job I had no desire to remain an American, but he did not believe me. I told him that I was upset with his decision and would like him to reconsider. He kept asking me why I was upset. I felt that he was hoping to trap me into saying it was about taxes. I knew better than to say anything that could hurt my claim. It was a very unpleasant experience. I am so glad that I will not need to see that man again. If I was to do it over again I would not go to Calgary.
@Dianne
Congratulations! It feels wonderful doesn’t it?
thanks for your comments, Wondering and Duke of Devon. We haven’t visited the U.
Thanks for your comments, Duke of Devon and Wondering.
We would be perfectly happy to ignore the mean dog across the highway if our daughter and grandchildren weren’t living in back of him. She married an Othersider just before the dog started growling at us. He’s very friendly with them, and hasn’t tried to stop them from crossing the street to visit us, but it’s a difficult trip for them, and we’d like to cross the street ourselves sometimes to visit them.
Now that we each have a CLN we’ll be able to go across that scary street safely.
To celebrate I’ve sent another donation to ADCS.
I have an appointment to renounce on March 10, a time that I scheduled because that is past the 5 month processing time for a Canaian citizenship certificate. I applied for the certificate after reading several posts here that said I would be required to produce it at the US consulate. However, my letter from the US consulate said only that I shoudl bring my CAnadian passport (which I have) as proof of ID.
Unfortunately for me, CIC would not accept my notarized Registration of Birth Abroad and required that I submit the original. Two weeks after accepting the appiclication, I received a form letter saying my application was delayed. I called today as the 5 month processing was passed and was told that because it was delayed, they couldn’t initiate an inquiry as to the delay and that they had up to 2 years to process before an inquiry could be made. I asked what proportion of all applications were delayed (as I think it just gets CIC off the hook of their own turnaround times; of course, there was no idea. If there is an urgent need, one can write to CIC and see if they will expedite processing.
So my question is – how receptive do you think CIC would be to expediting my request so I can renounce my US citizenship? Am I risking being stateless if I go ahead and renounce using my passport?
My comment/recommendation is that if you don’t have a Canadian citizenship certificate, don’t apply for one before you renounce.
@DM: So, you don’t have any doubts about your Canadian citizenship, right? You have a passport that was issued to you as a citizen?
Well, that should definitely be sufficient for the Consulate. I just recently renounced (still need to write up my account for the archive), and the only proof of Canadian citizenship I brought was my Canadian passport, even though I was born in the US. (I have a copy of my “Registration of Birth Abroad”, but didn’t want to confuse the Consulate, so I only gave them what they asked for.)
Certainly the Toronto consulate was very polite, professional, and matter of fact. I had no issues at all with the process.
@OddlyNamed Yes, I do have a passport that I obtained using my Registration of Birth Abroad, which I have now, unfortunately, surrendered to Canadian Immigration who has, for some reason, delayed my application for a certificate. So, is my Canadian citizenship in doubt?? Who knows – I suspect they delay it simply to deal with volume but I wonder if since I no longer have my copy of Registration of Birth Abroad, is there any basis on which Canada could say I am not a citizen?
And, just to reinforce what you said – all you need is your Canadian passport to renounce. Don’t get into the long line up for a Canadian certificate and confuse yourself as I have done!
Duke of Devon, thanks very much…I know I’m just anxious. I’ll post when I receive my CLN, which sounds like it’ll be late summer at the earliest.
swanee
@DM
Even without your registration of birth abroad certificate, you may still qualify for Canadian citizenship through descent when Canada changed its Citizenship Act in 2009:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules_2009.asp
@Bubble: Yep, that change helped me, because it changed the status of “Canadian through registration” to “Canadian at birth.”
MODS: An earlier comment of mine in this thread today used the wrong e-mail. Can you either remove the identity or remove the comment entirely? Thanks! I’ll be more careful in the future. (And yes, I really dislike Gravatar!)
Me again – I know that I am a Canadian from birth because I was registered as a birth abroad by my Canadian parent. I’m just wondering now if I have to wait to renounce until this bloody certificate from CIC comes through. I don’t really expect anyone here to be able to tell me though if someone has had this exact same experience, I would like to know that.
I would also like to suggest that no one apply for a Canadian citizenship certificate if they have their passport (as I was advised to do): you don’t need it and it will may take 2 years to get, screwing up your freedom aka renunciation plans.
DM Hold the phone. They may have told you that you only need a passport. Unfortunately, when you get there, they will very likely tell you that you need a citizenship certificate as well. Several people have had the same problem. I even had it when applying for a Nexus card. I was told a passport was enough. when I got there the very obnoxious border lady told me to go home and get a citizenship cert. as well. Sorry if I’ve rained on your parade.
@Ann @Cheryl. I dealt with Calgary. Staff was nice and friendly. Cannot say the same about the vice counsel. He denied my request for a back dated CLN. Questioned me like a criminal. Had him send my stuff to Washington. Received my back dated CLN in 6 months by mail.
Does anyone know how to contact by phone or email the Department of State for the Western Hemisphere (Canada) in Washington D.C.? Thanks.
http://www.state.gov/contact/
@ Cheryl,
It’s:
Clay Adler,
Division Chief
Western Hemisphere Affairs
202-485-6289
This is from the Dept of State telephone directory page OD-17. Mailing address (snail or courier only) is also there.
There’s a link to the phone book through the sidebar under “Important Information” – “How to Renounce/Relinquish” – “Dept of State Forms, Procedure Manuals and Contact Info.”
I think I’ll tinker a bit with the list in the “Important Information” box– I compressed it some recently, so as not to hog too much space on the sidebar, but right now it’s not obvious where certain links, such as this, are.
@Pacifica and Medea Fleecestealer Thanks so much. You guys are totally awesome!!!