How can an American have dual citizenship? It means he has…

Good afternoon and welcome to justanswer.com. My name is ***** ***** I would be happy to help you with your question today. While people with dual citizenship owe allegiance to both the United States and the foreign country, this merely means that they are required to obey the laws of both countries, and either country has the right to enforce its laws. It does not necessarily mean that a person has loyalty to another country than the United States. A person could have been born in another country and then immigrated to the United States with his/her family at a young age and have no memory, or allegiance to, the country they were originally born into. Even adults who make the conscience choice to have dual citizenship do not necessarily have allegiance to the other country; there are many stories of individuals with dual citizenship who served in the armed forces to serve and protect their "second" country. The majority of Americans with dual citizenship have "birthright citizenship," meaning that they were born in the United States to immigrant parents. They automatically have dual citizenship with the U.S. and whatever country their parents immigrated from. Most Americans with birthright citizenship feel allegiance to America because this is the only country they have even known; it is the country they grew up in.

The United States actually does not formally recognize dual citizenship. However, it also has not taken any stand against it, either legally or politically. Typically, no American will forfeit his or her citizenship by undertaking the responsibilities of citizenship in another country. This is true even if the responsibilities include traveling with a foreign passport, voting in another country's election, or running for and/or serving in public office of another country. In most cases, it is unimportant to U.S. authorities whether another country also claims you as a citizen. However, dual citizenship can often cause several challenges for the people who have it. Claims of other countries upon U.S. dual-nationals often place them in situations where their obligations to one country are in conflict with the laws of the other. In addition, their dual nationality may hamper efforts of the U.S. Government to provide consular protection to them when they are abroad, especially when they are in the country of their second nationality.

If a person with dual citizenship committed an actual act of treason, they would lose their dual citizenship and would most likely be deported. However, treason is a very serious and specific crime, and the term "treason" should never be used lightly or be used to describe an act which is not actually treason, which is why treason is clearly defined in Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution.

I actually know several people personally with dual citizenship and I have never once questioned their allegiance to the United States. I would imagine that the number of Americans with dual citizenship living in the U.S. who actually feel allegiance to another country is quite small, but I can't find any actual statistics on that, so it's just a guess.

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