Question Regarding "Dual Citizenship"

[otohara]

my son has dual citizenship - does he lose this when he turns 18? which of course is the draft age -

I was told by local embasy, that he would have to renounce his US citizenship and move to the other country and live there for a certain amount of time.

Does this sound right???

[Lucky Luciano]

1. I am no lawyer,

but I do believe that depending on the country, he can keep both, but he is subject to the laws of both. So when one want to do military conscription, there is little he can do unless he renounces one of the citizenships. I am about to get my Irish dual at the age of 31 because my grandparents were born there. I have all the paperwork and I am about to hand it in.

[otohara]

3. I Get The Part About Renouncing

but I don't understand why this would have to be done when he turns 18 -

[Longhorn]

2. My brother-in-law was born in Japan while his dad was in the Air Force.

At either 18 or 21 (I can't remember which) he had to declare as a citizen of one country or the other. I remember it involved a trip to San Antonio to file paperwork -- it was not automatic.

My son-in-law is Lebanese and becoming a U.S. citizen next spring. Apparently, he thought he would have to renounce his Lebanese citizenship but found out that is no longer true.

This leads me to believe that the rules may be different depending on the other country of citizenship. I'd definitely make some phone calls to both U.S. immigration and the other country's embassy.

[AP]

4. Nope. It's my understanding that you can hold two passports...

...and you don't have to renounce your American citizenship unless you swear allegiance to a foreign government.

I think the old rule was that you have to make a choice at age 18.

One thing to note: when you don't make a choice of citizenship, you have to pay taxes to both countries. The US taxes your worldwide income. However, most other countries only tax income you realize while within that country (a nice tip of the hat for colonialism). So, if you are a citizen of two countries that both tax your worldwide income and you can't get a credit for the taxes you pay to one with regard to the other, you might have a big financial incentive in chosing to be a citizen of only one of the two countries.

If your question is what you have to do to avoid a draft, check with a lawyer. If you renounce the US citizenship, I don't know why you'd have to move as well.

[Swamp Rat]

5. Depends on the country and the rules may have recently changed.

Contact the embassy of the other country. Some countries have mandatory conscription, which may preclude him from serving in the U.S. military, unless the country in question is a "coalition "member.

boa sorte :)