A new bill that could ban dual citizenship was introduced to the Senate and would force naturalized citizens to choose between U.S. citizenship and the citizenship of their country of origin.
Heidi Olligmueller, an immigration lawyer, told Siouxland Public Media on Friday that the United States does not legally recognize dual citizenship.
“If you want to keep U.S. citizenship, you would have to go through legal steps to denounce or renounce citizenship in the other country,” she said.
Olligmueller said it’s common for people to keep their citizenship in their home country for multiple reasons, including tax benefits and retirement, and that people rarely give it up. This applies if their country of origin recognizes dual citizenship.
“If someone gave up their citizenship in the other country and risked denaturalization in the U.S., it would leave them stateless,” she said.
Olligmueller said that individuals should not renounce their foreign citizenship without fully understanding the consequences.