How much time do I have to be in US to remain a citizen?

I'm marrying a UK citizen and settling there early next year. I've heard that in order to retain my US citizenship, I have to return to the US for a certain amount of time per year. Is this true, and if so, how long do I need to be in the country total? Thanks!

that's completely untrue.  If you're a US citizen, you can live out of the country for the rest of your life and never return, and you'd still maintain your citizenship.

That's not true -- you won't lose your citizenship by being out of the country.

you'll retain your US citizenship whether you like it or not.... you'll still have to file taxes & if you have a son who's entitled to US citizenship you're supose to register him for the "draft" (not what it's offically called but someone will quickly correct me I'm sure).  joys of having US citizenship!

meggles- it's "Selective Service"

thanks andrea- as i'm not a boy i've never had to worry about this.  quite glad.

thanks andrea- as i'm not a boy i've never had to worry about this.  quite glad.

me too!

It really surprises me how common that mis-perception is.  Almost everyone I know who I mentioned that I will try and get my UK citizenship in three years of moving over says "Oh, won't you lose you American citizenship."  It is really a huge urban legend these days.  Taking on another citizenship did cause issues back in the late 70's early 80's but all that stuff has been worked out now.

There are only two things that "might" make you lose your citizenship, but even then they are somewhat gray areas.  First is serving in voluntarily in a foreign military, or taking public office where you set foreign policy.  The only way to be assured of losing your citizenship is to go to a US embassy, hand over your passport and denounce your citizenship.

Now you can lose your permanent residence status by staying outside of the US for a certain period of time.

Of course there is the whole issue of where you are domiciled does have an effect on matters of inheritance and can be effected by how long you have been out of the US, but you can easily be a non-domiciled US citizen.  Of course lets hope you haven't gotten quite yet to the matter of estate planning!

I doubt this affects many people on here, but there's also the fact that 9 times out of 10 if you go and work for the State Dept. (or UK equivilant), you must renounce your 2nd citizenship for security reasons.  I just know that in trying to become a Foreign Service Officer, it's a big deal if you have loyalties to other countries.

You have  to keep paying your taxes to the US and  found out that even if you denounce your citizenship you still have to keep paying taxes to the US for ten years.  My family came to the US in the late 60s and everyone  had to give up their  citizenship at that time  for a US passport.  I recently got my ILR and was  told I can apply for  Brit citizenship  in a year  but that I should file early so I'll have it in a year and can be  a   free agent  if I want to live abroad.

I doubt this affects many people on here, but there's also the fact that 9 times out of 10 if you go and work for the State Dept. (or UK equivilant), you must renounce your 2nd citizenship for security reasons.  I just know that in trying to become a Foreign Service Officer, it's a big deal if you have loyalties to other countries.

I was actually looking into becoming a Foreign Service Officer once upon a time, until I realized this.  There's no way you'd ever get me to renounce the citizenship of the country I was born in, even though I'm never going to move back there to live.

Taking on another citizenship did cause issues back in the late 70's early 80's but all that stuff has been worked out now.

Actually, this may not be entirely true regarding all countries, at least not as far as I understand it. I have a friend who is of Chinese ancestry (though he was born in the US and is an American citizen.) He currently lives in Beijing and was trying to obtain dual-citizenship between the US and China, until the American Embassy there told him that if he obtained Chinese citizenship he would have to surrender his American passport, thereby giving up his citizenship to the US. So, he decided not to try for it after all. But, I have also known a Chinese born American citizen who did have dual citizenship. So, I guess the issue with him is that he was American born and wanted to voluntarily take up Chinese citizenship? . . .Since this is heresay, I can't totally vouch for it. But I guess it does make sense. . . .

Actually, this may not be entirely true regarding all countries, at least not as far as I understand it. I have a friend who is of Chinese ancestry (though he was born in the US and is an American citizen.) He currently lives in Beijing and was trying to obtain dual-citizenship between the US and China, until the American Embassy there told him that if he obtained Chinese citizenship he would have to surrender his American passport, thereby giving up his citizenship to the US. So, he decided not to try for it after all. But, I have also known a Chinese born American citizen who did have dual citizenship. So, I guess the issue with him is that he was American born and wanted to voluntarily take up Chinese citizenship? . . .Since this is heresay, I can't totally vouch for it. But I guess it does make sense. . . .

Actually, I think the problem is with the other country.  If you have to denounce your previous citizenship in order to obtain another one, you may run into problems.  China may very well require you to denounce any other citizenship and hand return any foreign passports to become a citizen.  The US strictly does not recognize dual citizens.  Either you are an American citizen or you are not.  If you are a citizen of another country, the US doesn't officially recognize it.  Now if you return you passport to them and denounce your citizenship, they will gladly oblige.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html


US State Department page on dual nationality

even if you denounce, you have to pay US taxes  for the next  ten years.