The Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN) is a form of the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the United States Department of State which is completed by American citizens seeking renunciation of citizenship. The form is prescribed by the Secretary of State under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
In order for a renunciation of citizenship to be proper, three of the criteria that must be met are that:
- The citizen has unequivocally admitted in writing an intent to lose U.S. citizenship
- The renunciation was made at a U.S. diplomatic office outside the U.S. before a U.S. diplomatic officer
- The renunciation must be made voluntarily. Grounds for arguing that renunciation was not voluntary are financial hardship (e.g., the need to get a job in another country) or family pressure.
Alternatively, the State Department may argue that U.S. citizenship has been surrendered due to the person making an oath of allegiance to a foreign state voluntarily and with the intent to relinquish U.S. citizenship, such that:
- The person has signed an oath of allegiance to the foreign state, renouncing allegiance to all other states.
- The person is clear that they know exactly what they are doing.
CLNs are issued at a U.S. embassy and citizens who receive a CLN surrender their United States passport. In order to be successful, renunciations should meet all criteria and ideally be sworn by official witnesses to have occurred. Case law shows that in order to avoid legal complications it is vital to obtain a CLN and not just meet the criteria.
It is not clear if an embassy would issue a CLN if consular officers believed that a citizen was avoiding conscription. An additional factor is that the United States allows its citizens to hold dual citizenship with other states.
Famous quotes containing the words certificate, loss and/or nationality:
“God gave the righteous man a certificate entitling him to food and raiment, but the unrighteous man found a facsimile of the same in God’s coffers, and appropriated it, and obtained food and raiment like the former. It is one of the most extensive systems of counterfeiting that the world has seen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Unthinking people will often try to teach you how to do the things which you can do better than you can be taught to do them. If you are sure of all this, you can start to add to your value as a mother by learning the things that can be taught, for the best of our civilization and culture offers much that is of value, if you can take it without loss of what comes to you naturally.”
—D.W. Winnicott (20th century)
“Rarely do American parents deliberately teach their children to hate members of another racial, religious, or nationality group. Many parents, however, communicate the prevailing racial attitudes to their children in subtle and sometimes unconscious ways.”
—Kenneth MacKenzie Clark (20th century)