I Lost my US Citizenship a Few Years Ago, Can I Get it Reinstated?
Yes it¿s possible if you wanted to keep US status at the time you got a foreign country¿s citizenship. The State Department¿s guidelines for determining intent to keep US citizenship are applicable retroactively to past cases. To initiate such a case you should contact a US embassy or consulate or write the State Department Office of American Citizens Services. What Are the Situations When I Most Certainly Can Get it Back?
It will probably be possible to ask the State Department to reinstate your US status if you told the State Department that you intended to keep it when getting a foreign citizenship and they revoked your US status anyway and the other country didn¿t require you to sign or swear away your US citizenship. Anther situation when you might get it reinstated is if you asked a US consulate if dual citizenship was possible and you were told it was not, but you still went ahead because you felt you needed to get that other citizenship. How about if I Made a Renunciatory Declaration?
If you did give a renunciatory declaration in a foreign naturalization oath it might still be ok. The State Department is nowadays pretty relaxed about such declarations and it might be ok if you took it because you needed a foreign citizenship and taking the renunciatory oath was the only way to do that and you had rather not made that declaration. Do I Need a Lawyer?
If your situation isn¿t straightforward you may wish to consult a lawyer before initiating a case to get your citizenship back. There have been situations when cases have been put forth unsuccessfully. It may also be vise to consult a lawyer if you have previously appealed a loss of citizenship to the State Department and lost the case there. You should also check with the other country you¿re a citizen of, since it might have its own policies. An immigration lawyer can help you with this. |
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