janet said:
my 11 years old son is an american citizen, i might get a chance to become an a u.s. citizent..I am planning to apply for an immigran visa in canada..will there be a conflict i become a canadian citizen and an american citizen...or is it possible to acquire 3 citizenships like canadian, american and filipino at the same time? please advise...thank you
The answer is, "yes."
If you are able to acquire 2 other citizenships plus that of your original nationality (Filipino), then neither the U.S. or Canada has a problem with that. The US considers dual nationals to be US citizens and ignores the citizenship laws of the other countries. Canada does the same.
Also, if your country of origin accepts your U.S. citizenship - no matter the oath you have to take for U.S. Naturalization renouncing your country - you are okay.
The U.S. State Department has NOT been seen chasing all the Canadians and British having dual U.S. citizenship and triple citizenship to include citizenship from Caribbean countries like Antigua -
why would they chase a Filipino?
Here is what a U.S. lawyer, Carl Shusterman, has to say with regard to your question, which is paraphrased on the website as:
Question #5: Does the USA allow dual citizenship? How about triple citizenship?
Carl Shusterman: They must, since my son is a dual citizen! Actually, the US considers dual nationals to be US citizens and ignores the citizenship laws of other countries. So if you are a US citizen, the last thing you should do is to try to enter the United States using a foreign passport.
I have represented clients who are citizens of 3, 4 or even 5 different countries. . . .
Quoted from:
http://immigration.about.com/library/weekly/aa102599.htm
Here is another testament of this scenario from the web site of Lawyer, David Ingram in Canada
Dear David,
I am a Canadian and British Citizen with living in the US with a Green Card. I am thinking of becoming a US Citizen, but am confused as to the advantages/disadvantages to doing this. The only advantage I can see to becoming a US Citizen is that with a Green Card I can only spend 180 days outside the US at a time. Do I have to pay taxes to the US as a Green Card holder working outside the US?
Is it even possible to hold triple citizenship with these 3 countries?
Thank you in advance.
-Hoping to be Triple
==================================
david ingram replies:
You can certainly hold all three citizenships. I have several clients that do and one ex associate who was all three and a CA, CPA and Lawyer at the same time.
The possession of a green card means that you are taxable on your world income for as long as you keep it. If you did intend to leave the US for any significant time, you can apply for permission to be out for a year and return. The Longest I have ever seen someone stay out and renew his extension (congratulations PB) was eight years. That person has since returned to the US and he and his family are all US citizens now but he was in Canada from 1990 to 1998.
The advantage of the citizenship is that you will be able to move around the world and go back at any time. Just remember one thing. You can give up your green card and will not have to fill out a US tax return for the rest of your life. Once you take out US citizenship, you will have to fill out UIS returns no matter where you live and no matter where the money comes from. You will not likely have to pay any tax (you can earn $80,000 US a year before you have to worry about foreign tax credits) but you will have to fill out the tax returns. And, if you give up the US citizenship to escape US tax, you can not EVER return to the US for a visit or on business.
Just in case you are thinking the following:
But I thought US law didn't permit one to be a dual citizen -- that if you were (by birth or otherwise), you either had to give up the other citizenship when you came of age, or else you'd lose your US status. And that if you became a citizen of another country, you'd automatically lose your US citizenship. So what's all this talk about dual citizenship?
See the answer to this as well as question 1 on U.S. attorney Carl Shusterman's website (Click on
Questions and Answers and
then # 2):
http://shusterman.com/cgi-bin/ex-link.pl?www.richw.org/dualcit/
