john_ny

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John

chong

Thanks for the article, John. It makes sense to me. As a naturalized citizen, I know what I had to go through to obtain citizenship. Even now, my wife remains a foreigner because in spite of three tries to pass the written and verbal examinations, she has been unsuccessful. And she speaks English fluently, having attended a close (she lived there while in school) American School from grade school through high school. Even I had to go through English examinations when I applied for citizenship. (Coincidentally, I was an English instructor at a trade school at the time.) But now, I guess the English language is no longer a requirement.

Jack Daw

Where are you from, Chong?

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john_ny

Hi, Chong,

Thank you for your reply. My mother came from Norway, got married here and, about a year later, I was born. She did not go through Ellis Island but, several years later, when she applied for citizeneship, she had to take whatever test they were giving at the time, and she passed it. However, in order to get her US citizenship, she had to renounce her Norwegian citizenship.
I don't know if this is still the procedure; it seems if you have a foreign citizenship, you must renounce it in order to become a US citizen, however if you are a US citizen, and some foreign country grants you citizenship, you can have both. This is wrong. If you want to take a foreign citizenship, you should have to renounce your US citizenship. We have too many people who have dual citzenship who, after commiting a crime here, flee to their other citzensip country, most frequently Israel, and there is no way we can get them back

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John

chong

Hello Jack,
We're from the Philippines.

Chong

chong

Hello John,
Yes, it is still required that you renounce your foreign citizenship when you swear to become a US citizen. Some, if not most, European countries, especially UK and also Israel, do not recognize the individual renunciation, and thereby remain citizens of those countries. The Philippines recognizes this, although a couple of years ago they decided to repatriate those who were willing to apply for their previous citizenship, without relinquishing the US citizenship. It can be helpful for some people who might want to retire over there, or just to be able to own property there. Also, some people have the strong urgency to participate in the voting process when they feel that they want to defeat a corrupt politician.

I know about the crime thing. But generally 99% plus of these dual citizens here are pretty much law abiding people. This is where I think the government should be more cognizant because this majority of law abiding naturalized citizens and legal immigrants came here because they believe in and do conform to the culture and laws here. I can speak for myself and my extended family. And believe me, there are many of us here. There are even several relatives who have been given a hard time with their immigration process, through the INS negligence and/or oversight. We didn't complain nor even spoke harshly about the system. We just went with the flow and produced whatever document they wanted.

I am grateful that they honored my father's request for citizenship as soon as he arrived here as a legal immigrant. He served with the US Armed Forces in the Far East as a Lieutenant during WWII, survived the Bataan Death March, and was a POW at the concentration camp in Bataan for a year.

There are well meaning people who are in favor of amnesty for illegals, but they ignore the hardships and heartache of those who have tried to emigrate here legally, who have either waited for over 25 years or were denied. I know of numerous visitors with legal visas who were held at the airport detention center here at SeaTac for over two weeks then sent back home with their own return tickets. They were and are being sent back merely because they are suspected of coming solely to look for work. Yet, now, when they raid the shops in L. A. and arrest illegals, they just record their names, and then let them go anyway. While they don't go back to the place that they were arrested, they go on to other shops in the area.

Yeah, the system is broken. The government is very selective when they want to enforce the law, especially with those that are willing to abide by them. In most cases, it is simply their lack of enforcing it.

Have you talked to your Mom about how she feels about this issue?

Thanks and regards,

Chong

jeffreyp

John I still think people can flee to other countries I don't think dual citizenship hampers that.

mbfirey

Strangely enough when my wife (now a US citizen) goes to Colombia- they still insist in seeing here Colombian passport, when they see that the US passport says "Birthplace: Colombia" Additionally it's hard to do much there without here Cedula (or Colombian Citizenship card)- they ask for it when you make a purchase, or use a credit card.
As to the passport you just can't reason with the Colombian immigration officials- she shouldn't need a Colombian passport as a US citizen, but they wouldn't let us through with out it. So now we have to maintain both the Colombian and US passports.

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jeffreyp

Switzerland comes to mind, if you are not a swiss citizen and have your child in switzerland that child will not be a swiss citizen.