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  • Dual Citizenship issues.

    From Nick Odell@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 31 07:26:00 2024
    I'm interested in the extent to which the US will protect US Dual
    Citizens when they fall under the laws of the country of their dual-citizenship.

    My British Passport makes perfectly clear that the UK Government
    cannot provide diplomatic assistance to UK dual citizens while they
    are in the country of that dual citizenship (although there are
    obvious exceptions such as the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case) and I'd appreciate confirmation or denial that the same or similar is true for
    US citizens.

    I am acquainted, through a forum for foreigners in Argentina, with a single-citizenship US citizen who is living there as an undocumented
    migrant. (Bit ironic that, since he is exactly the sort of person one
    would expect to rail against undocumented migrants living in the USA)
    He has an Argentine wife and they have children together who were born
    in the USA. Under Argentine law that makes his children Argentine
    every bit as much as US law makes his children American but he is
    insisting that because they only have American passports, they must
    only be recognised as Americans.

    That's not how Argentine law works. If and when the sh*t hits the fan,
    will consular assistance be offered to his wife and children?

    Argentina very rarely deports people but commonly refuses re-entry to foreigners they have issues with. Because of anti-trafficking laws,
    Argentine children must be properly documented to pass out through
    Argentina's borders. The most likely SHtF scenario however is of them
    returning from a trip abroad and the wife and children being admitted
    as Argentine citizens with every right to stay and he being refused
    for having abused their systems in the past.

    My opinion is that if he were to regularize his own residency in
    Argentina (a very simple process if you have Argentine children or
    spouse) all his problems would melt away. For his own reasons he is
    opposed to this suggestion or we wouldn't be having this conversation.

    Thanks,

    Nick

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  • From micky@21:1/5 to Odell on Thu Aug 1 06:59:29 2024
    In misc.legal.moderated, on Wed, 31 Jul 2024 07:26:00 -0700 (PDT), Nick
    Odell <nickodell49@yahoo.ca> wrote:

    I'm interested in the extent to which the US will protect US Dual
    Citizens when they fall under the laws of the country of their >dual-citizenship.

    I recently posted here (but only about birth certificates, nothing to
    help you), because my nephew wanted to establish/register his Mexican citizenship. Neither he nor his mother are what I would call organized
    or competent so I went looking for the disadvantages for an American
    citizen to have Mexican cit. too, and several webpages brought up just
    what you have. They said that USA consular help would not be available
    to him in Mexico. One or two other people said that was not true. So
    there you go. See my .sig.

    This seems like the kind of question the Dept. of State (Consular
    Affairs) would know the answer to and could give you a pretty clear
    answer on the phone. However, LOL, only a mailing address here: https://www.state.gov/contact-us-bureau-of-consular-affairs/
    This seems like a slow moving problem so maybe writing a letter is good
    enough.

    OTOH, this is for emergencies, but if they're in a good mood, maybe they
    can give you a non-emergency email address or phone number: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/contact-us/Emergencies-Abroad.html Emergencies Abroad
    Getting Help in an Emergency
    What can you do to get help in an emergency?
    Contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate, or call these numbers in
    the United States:
    From the U.S. & Canada - 1-888-407-4747
    From Overseas - +1 202-501-4444

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=will+usa+consular+services+help+someone+with+dual+citizenship
    Among others maybe, this look good. https://www.reddit.com/r/PassportPorn/comments/10od827/consular_support_for_dual_us_citizens/
    although I don't think his analogy with the IRS is very compelling.
    OTOH, one post says that in the US passport it says " Dual citizens
    who encounter problems abroad should contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.” " That's encouraging.

    Another says "The biggest issue with dual citizens comes with things
    like being arrested or imprisoned. The Vienna Convention says you have
    to notify the Embassy/Consulate of a detained foreign national within a specific period of time and allow them access, but if you're a dual
    citizen, then you're treated solely as a citizen of the host nation and
    those notification and access requirements no longer apply."

    --
    I think you can tell, but just to be sure:
    I am not a lawyer.

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