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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

Yes. The US used to be quite strict about this. It still is if you acquire US citizenship by naturalization.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen"

The deal for people who are already US citizens is easier.

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> It still is if you acquire US citizenship by naturalization.

No. Notwithstanding the strong language, US law does not require you to relinquish your old citizenship when you naturalize. https://www.usa.gov/become-us-citizen

The US does not require you to give up any other citizenship if you get US citizenship by naturalization.

This. I personally know of multiple instances of Canadians being able to retain their Canadian citizenship after becoming a naturalized US citizen.

No it doesn’t. Although, the oath does place limits on the exercise of any foreign citizenship. For instance a Brit who is a naturalized US Citizenship can’t run for Parliament because it would require them to give an oath of loyalty to the Queen.

There are fun workarounds around that oath. But the point is true in general: as a Member of Parliament, one must put priority to their duty to the country they represent. One might ask whether MPs with sole citizenship perform well in that regard, but it is quite easier to raise doubts in case of MP with additional citizenships.

How did Boris Johnson get around that, I wonder?

He was a US Citizen by birth so never took the oath.

> There are fun workarounds around that oath

What are the workarounds?

I'm curious about what goes through the minds of people who take that oath while retaining another citizenship. To them is it just meaningless words they have to say to get a check mark on paperwork? Do they regard any oath or agreement that isn't enforced by legal consequences as something they can ignore? Do they think of it as unfair and hence not worth feeling bad about?

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