The previous fee was enacted in 2015 as expats chose citizenship revocation to avoid tax reporting.
The State Department has reduced the fee for the Administrative Processing of a Request for a Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States from $2,350 down to $450. The higher fee was enacted in 2015 to cover administrative costs as American expatriates began renouncing citizenship in response to new tax reporting regulations under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
Natives from other countries who happened to have been born in the U.S. strenuously opposed the fee increase, and many legal challenges regarding its constitutionality were filed. The State Department had pledged to reduce the fee in 2023, but had not followed through. The fee is now the same as it was when the department first began charging for citizenship revocation in 2010.
“In the years since the fee was increased, members of the public have continued to raise concerns about the cost of the fee and the impact of the fee on their ability to renounce their citizenship,” the State Department explained in its filing with the Federal Register.
“After significant deliberation, taking into account both the affected public’s concerns regarding the cost of the fee and the not insignificant anecdotal evidence regarding the difficulties many U.S. nationals residing abroad are encountering at least in part because of FATCA, the Department has made a policy decision to help alleviate at least the cost burden for those individuals who decide for whatever reason to request CLN services by returning to the below-cost fee of $450.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Secretary Rubio and State Department officials as they revert the citizenship renunciation fee to its previous level.
- For the secretary of state and U.S. ambassadors around the world as they seek to ensure American citizens abroad receive assistance with various issues.
Sources: Fox News, CNN, LA Times, AP News
