Renouncing foreign citizenship (IF required). One or all?

[fathamburger]

Hi,

 

Simple question. IF for whatever reason it did eventually come up and I had to do it, do they ask for one particular citizenship/passport to be renounced? or all? I'm Australian but effectively that country is dead to me and US and Thai are the key passports I'm looking for. UK, Europe and some other latin countries have caught my eye too to buy into but those are just nice to haves.  If you have to renounce all, it would make sense to acquire the Thai one first vs last. Otherwise I'm still largely going after the US one first. If I had to I'm more than willing to sacrifice the Australian citizenship assuming i had something else like US or UK instead.

I've also read elsewhere on the forum that the actual renunciation process is agreeing to do it at a later date but no one follows up and this is effectively how people do dual citizenship. Is that true? 

[BritTim]

In most cases, when claiming the right to Thai nationality, the issue of renouncing other nationalities is no longer relevant. Are you entitled to Thai nationality on the basis of a Thai parent, or are you planning to try to get Thai nationality in some other way?

 

Similarly, in most cases, the right to other nationalities depends on quite specific criteria, with it being very difficult to acquire that nationality unless you have an automatic right to it. Some countries do not allow dual nationality period (Thailand is not one of these). If claiming your rights to be a national of such a country, you will need to accept that you cannot legally hold another passport.

[Eff1n2ret]

Nationality isn't something you go shopping for. Apart from the one you are born with (or maybe more than one according to the circumstances of your birth) almost the only way you acquire another one is by being allowed to live and work in that country for a number of years. If you're immensely rich (or talented) that's easily possible even in countries like the US and the UK. There are a few countries in Latin America and elsewhere who sell their passports relatively cheaply, but these are rightly regarded with suspicion by the immigration authorities in some other countries.

 

Maybe you're just looking for residence in another country rather than citizenship. Personally, I am puzzled why anyone would want to renounce Australian citizenship. I have a great admiration for Australia and its citizens.

[JackThompson]

17 hours ago, fathamburger said:

US and Thai are the key passports I'm looking for ...

Be aware that citizenship in the USA means being taxed on your world-wide income no matter where you live.  I believe only China has a similar policy.  I'd renounce mine and trade it for Aussie-citizenship (or any Euro nation) in a heartbeat, if it were easy to do.

 

17 hours ago, fathamburger said:

UK, Europe and some other latin countries have caught my eye too to buy into but those are just nice to haves

Paraguay is the easiest.  You deposit $5K USD in a Paraguay-bank, fill out some forms, and have Instant Permanent Residency.  You can then withdraw the money.  A few years later, regardless of where you lived in the meantime, you can apply for citizenship/passport.   

[Rhys]

...if you give up your American Passport/citizenship in Thailand, you need to have the new country's passport in place...they will not let you give up your passport unless you have citizenship in order in another country... so I am told...

 

Applying for Thai citizenship is a long process full of twist and turns..

[Arkady]

If you have a Thai parent, you only need to register as Thai and they don't ask you to renounce any other citizenship.  If you are applying for naturalisation as a Thai, you will be asked to declare your willingness to renounce whatever nationality you have travelled to Thailand as and disclosed on your application.  This is to take effect after you have been granted Thai nationality.  Since the Thai Nationality Act is neither explicitly supports nor prohibits dual nationality but the ministry favours an interpretation that it is prohibited, this step has been included in the process since 2010, as an encouragement or a discouragement, however you prefer to look at it.  Since you have declared your intention to renounce at your country's embassy, the ministry then feels justified in writing to your embassy to inform that they have just granted you Thai citizenship.  If you are Chinese, Indian (which accounts for the majority of applicants), Korean, Singaporean, Malaysian, Laotian, German & etc, the ministry can count on the other country to do the job for them, which may well be the real purpose of this.   

 

If you don't have a Thai parent and weren't born to foreign parents in Thailand before December 1971, you will need to working in Thailand and either have a Thai spouse or permanent residence to apply for Thai citizenship.  It is not one of those banana republic passports you can purchase.  It is a long and onerous path to Thai citizenship and not something to undertake lightly.