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I'm currently active Duty military, USAF. I'm married to a Japanese citizen, our daughter (born this year) has dual citizenship until she turns 21. At that point she will have to choose Japan or the US as Japan offers no other form of dual citizenship/forces you to choose. I will be finishing my military career in about 10 years. One of our current post-military plans right now is to move to back Japan once I retire from the military. If this happens, my goal is to keep my US citizenship despite living off my pension in Japan.

Thankfully I will not lose my VA benefits or pension if we do this, so this will not be a concern for me. However, everything I have found on keeping your citizenship while abroad is not so clear-cut. Every source so far states things like maintaining strong ties to the US through regular visits, financial ties, and continued involvement in US affairs, filing tax returns in the US, keeping a US passport, and registering with the local embassy. I have not found anything that is black-and-white on what would cause you to lose your citizenship apart from straight up renouncing your citizenship/ obtaining another. Some sources touched on being looked at/questioned by immigration if I'm "out of country for too long" on if I truly am a citizen an plan to remain a citizen and how can I prove it. Other sources saying that I could be looked upon as abandoning my citizenship if gone for more than a year at a time. This whole scenario seems to be one big grey zone.

Has anyone retired abroad or is anyone currently living abroad while keeping their US citizenship? In your experience how has it worked, what have you had to do and what challenges have you had to overcome? I'm just thinking about and planning for the future so any meaningful advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you! --Joe

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  • Which sources have you looked at? I’m no expert on US citizenship law but most of what you say seems applicable only to a naturalised US citizen. Is that your situation? If you were a US citizen at birth you can live outside the US for as long as you like without any effect on your citizenship
    – Traveller
    Commented Jul 12 at 7:06
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    @Traveller first time I'm seeing such a ridiculous claim. This is probably some lawyer trying to get billable hours from "advising expats". There's absolutely no legal basis for this and the SCOTUS ruling is pretty clear. Afroyim was in fact a naturalized citizen.
    – littleadv
    Commented Jul 12 at 8:32
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    The worries you describe sound like what I've seen in connection with US permanent resident aliens, not US citizens. Maybe you've seen the phrase "permanent resident" and thought it meant anyone who lives in the US permanently. It's really short for "permanent resident alien" AKA green card holder. As for the daughter, probably best to talk to an immigration lawyer closer to the time she has to choose; the rules may have changed by then.
    – Gerard Ashton
    Commented Jul 12 at 13:13
  • "At that point she will have to choose Japan or the US as Japan offers no other form of dual citizenship/forces you to choose." According to Japan's nationality law, if she fails to choose, nothing automatically happens (e.g. she doesn't automatically lose Japanese nationality), unless and until the government, by written notice, requires her to make the choice, in which case she will have one month to choose, and only if she fails to do that will she lose Japanese nationality.
    – user102008
    Commented Jul 12 at 16:33
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    @josef you probably know the ".. but the horse might talk" story. 21 years is a LONG time for countries, anything could happen by then. i know a number of "dual" JP/US citizens; half of them gave up one citizenship, and subsequently found that very annoying, and the other half of them gave up the other citizenship, and subsequently found THAT very annoying! There is no good choice.
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 12 at 23:49

3 Answers 3

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You cannot "lose" your US citizenship unless in the extreme of circumstances. A long time ago voting in foreign elections or serving in a foreign military was grounds for loss of citizenship, but not since Afroyim v. Rusk in which the US Supreme Court ruled that you can only explicitly renounce your own citizenship, not lose it through implicit action.

At that point she will have to choose Japan or the US as Japan offers no other form of dual citizenship/forces you to choose

I'm not entirely sure what the Japanese requirements are, but the US government couldn't care less if she chose Japanese citizenship and it wouldn't affect her US citizenship unless she formally renounces it in front of the consular officer.

All the comments you've found probably refer to US permanent residents (green card holders). That can in fact be lost if they don't keep ties to the US and stay out of the country for too long.

In one of the comments there's a link to a lawyer mentioning something in the spirit of the claims you referred to, but that lawyer provides no references to explain on what basis they are making the claims and to the best of my knowledge there's no legal authority for that.

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  • (+1) Might also be worth addressing the second apparent misconception in the question, regarding the OP’s daughter. Choosing Japanese nationality has no affect on U.S. citizenship.
    – Traveller
    Commented Jul 12 at 9:26
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    Right, for the same reason.
    – littleadv
    Commented Jul 12 at 9:30
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    @Traveller The issue here is not what the U.S. does but what Japan does, iiuc. We had the same issue here in Germany in 2005 with Turkish immigrants who reclaimed their Turkish citizenship which they had given up as a requirement for obtaining the German one. When the German authorities learned about that through a ruse, they took away the German citizenship.
    – Peter - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 12 at 14:08
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    @Peter-ReinstateMonica It would be nice to think that by the time the OP’s daughter is 20, Japan will have joined the majority of countries that do allow dual nationality. Meanwhile, if this news report is correct, it appears there are currently no consequences for failing to submit the relevant documents and, more generally, for not giving up Japanese nationality.
    – Traveller
    Commented Jul 12 at 14:22
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    "you can only explicitly renounce your own citizenship, not lose it through implicit action." You can lose US citizenship by performing the potentially expatriating acts in INA 349 other than explicitly renouncing it, but you have to perform the act with the intention of relinquishing US citizenship. Now, the intention cannot presumed by the act alone; it must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence, but my point is it is possible for this to happen without explicit renunciation.
    – user102008
    Commented Jul 12 at 16:30
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I lived in Japan for 7 years, was married there and had my first child there. While living/starting a family there I looked into many of the things you're concerned about. I explored living there for the long haul (life).

The US is not going to abandon you, especially if you're military. How much more can they ask from you?

You've surely found out by now that obtaining Japanese citizenship is difficult, and that's the only time I've found where the US wants to change your citizenship status: if you become a citizen of another country.

While the specifics escape me, you'll find many adults maintain dual citizenship (think of your daughter in the future) and know that they can't force you to give up one citizenship or the other, while the rumors were that both governments would try to force the issue. While I'm not a legal expert that seemed like a gray area but people pull it off. Know that it's not a foregone conclusion your daughter has to choose at 21, many people get around this and I plan on advising my kids to do the same when they come of age.

The 'gray' area is the only part I'd have potential concerns about, but you yourself losing citizenship? I wouldn't loose a wink of sleep.

Update based on comments:

Support for concept of losing citizenship when becoming a citizen of another country found here:

However, a person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship.

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    "and that's the only time I've found where the US wants to change your citizenship status: if you become a citizen of another country" this is 100% incorrect
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 13 at 12:27
  • To the downvoter, why?
    – Programming_Learner_DK
    Commented Jul 13 at 13:36
  • cheers, I'm afraid this sentence I've found where the US wants to change your citizenship status: if you become a citizen of another country is just quite wrong my man, as I already said in a comment explaining the downvote. Just BTW note that this site is packed with downvoters, since "expatriate-ism" is a topic that folks with very little knowledge or experience like to think they are knowledgeable in. (I rarely bother downvoting anything on forums, since I have a life :) , but I didn't want your sentence there to mislead anyone in the future.)
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 13 at 13:43
  • @Fattie, I have updated my answer.
    – Programming_Learner_DK
    Commented Jul 13 at 14:22
  • in short - as that sentence from the state dept. says "a person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it..." can lose it in various obscuritanist circumstances. This is completely, utterly, totally irrelevant to the question. note that anyway there have been like 3 cases ever of the US unilaterally eliminating a citizenship of a foreign person who applied for and became a citizen, famous cause celebre cases of wanted terrorists etc. This has absolutely nothing, at all, to do with the OP who is a "normal" born US citizen and I'm afraid makes the answer doubly
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 13 at 15:10
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  • There is utterly no problem with YOU keeping your US citizenship.

  • The great majority of countries - including the US - are totally unopposed to multiple citizenships.

  • It is completely commonplace that US citizens have extra citizenships

  • Indeed it is thought that about five percent of all US citizens have other citizenships!

  • OP, you are not even talking about getting an extra citizenship! It is absolutely inconceivable, and there is no legal process, whatsoever, in any way by which you could "lose your citizenship" because you live overseas.

  • Indeed note that roughly 10-15 million US citizens live overseas permanently!!

Anything you read to the contrary is just confused internet fluff.

You will never, ever, ever have your citizenship removed for any reason.

It's trivial to renew your passport (every 10 yrs or such) if you happen to be overseas at the time. If you happen to let it lapse it's trivial to get a new one.

(If you happen to be a, say, Criminal, it can be harder to renew your passport, but, it is no more-or-less hard if you happen to be overseas.)

You will never, ever, ever have your citizenship removed for any reason.

Anything you read to the contrary is just confused internet fluff.

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  • It's very uncommon for a US citizen to loose his/her citizenship involuntarily. But there are circumstances where a passport won't be issued until the issue is straightened out, such as unpaid child support.
    – Gerard Ashton
    Commented Jul 13 at 12:00
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    @GerardAshton while that is an interesting, totally unrelated point, could it just be adding confusion to an already confusing QA? the fact that the passport office in the US generally won't issue a passport if you owe back taxes, didn't pay child support, and couple of other reasons, has absolutely no relationship to the fact that you have other citizenships. And do note that anyway, getting a passport has no relationship to being a citizen. (Many people "can't get a passport" simply because they - say - can't afford it, utterly no connection to citizenship.)
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 13 at 13:56
  • The issue is the statement "It's trivial to renew your passport...if you happen to be overseas at the time." Renewing at all isn't trivial for some people, and I have no experience to say if renewing overseas is as easy as renewing while in the US.
    – Gerard Ashton
    Commented Jul 13 at 16:12
  • "I have no experience to say if renewing overseas is as easy as renewing while in the US" It's very easy these days; it's only slightly more of a pain than if you're in the US. (As a curiosity, in my experience comparing the passport - issuing - skills of different competing nations, the UK takes the cake for both easiest "if you're in the country" and easiest "if you are not in the country" !! Although, expensive.)
    – Fattie
    Commented Jul 13 at 16:39

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