State Department Significantly Reduces US Citizenship Renunciation Fee by Almost $2,000

The fee for Americans to officially renounce their citizenship has been significantly reduced by approximately 80%, according to the State Department.

Following prolonged legal disputes with various advocacy groups for Americans seeking to relinquish their citizenship, the department announced a new regulation in the Federal Register on Friday. The change lowers the fee from $2,350 to $450.

This revised fee, which became effective immediately on Friday, had been anticipated since 2023 but was not previously enacted. It reverts the cost to what it was when the State Department initially began charging for this service in 2010.

Giving up US citizenship involves a complex and often drawn-out process.

Those wishing to renounce must repeatedly affirm through multiple written and spoken declarations to a State Department consular officer that they fully grasp the consequences of their decision before they can formally recite an oath of renunciation. Subsequently, the case is reviewed by the department.

The fee increase from $450 to $2,350 back in 2015 was implemented to cover rising administrative costs as the number of individuals seeking to renounce surged. This rise in applications partly stemmed from new tax reporting mandates for American expatriates, which sparked widespread dissatisfaction.

That dramatic fee increase drew significant opposition from groups such as the France-based Association of Accidental Americans, which represents people mainly living abroad whose US citizenship is due purely to their having been born in the United States.

The association filed several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the fee, including one that remains pending that argues there should be no cost at all for renouncing one’s citizenship.

“The Association of Accidental Americans welcomes this decision, which acknowledges the necessity of making this fundamental right accessible to all,” its president, Fabien Lehagre, said in a statement. “This victory is the direct result of six years of relentless legal action and advocacy.”

In court, the association said since the 2023 announcement that the fee would be reduced at least 8,755 Americans had paid the full $2,350 to renounce their citizenship.

The State Department did not provide numbers for the total number of Americans who have renounced their citizenship.