State Department cuts fee to renounce U.S. citizenship by about 80%

The U.S. State Department has slashed by about 80% the fee Americans pay to formally renounce their U.S. citizenship, cutting the cost from $2,350 to $450, according to a final rule published in the Federal Register.

The reduced fee is effective April 13, after the department previously had promised the change in 2023 but had not implemented it, the Associated Press reported.

The State Department said the $450 fee is the same amount it charged when it first started levying a renunciation fee in 2010. Renouncing U.S. citizenship, the AP report said, is a process that can take significant time and involves multiple steps, including repeated written and verbal attestations to a consular officer.

Under the process described by AP, applicants must repeatedly confirm in multiple written and verbal attestations that they understand the implications of renunciation before they are allowed to take a formal oath of renunciation. After the oath, the renunciation is reviewed by the State Department.

The fee had been raised in 2015 from $450 to $2,350, AP said, to cover administrative expenses as the number of people seeking to renounce increased, in part amid new U.S. tax reporting requirements for American expatriates that angered many.

Opposition to that higher fee came from groups including the France-based Association of Accidental Americans, which AP described as representing people mainly living abroad whose U.S. citizenship is due to having been born in the United States.

AP said the association filed several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the fee. One of those suits remains pending, and it argues that renouncing citizenship should have no cost.

In a statement, Fabien Lehagre, the association’s president, said the group welcomed the decision. “The Association of Accidental Americans welcomes this decision, which acknowledges the necessity of making this fundamental right accessible to all,” Lehagre said.

Lehagre also said the change was achieved through years of legal effort, saying, “This victory is the direct result of six years of relentless legal action and advocacy.”

In court, AP reported, the association said that since the 2023 announcement at least 8,755 Americans had paid the full $2,350 fee to renounce their citizenship. The State Department, AP said, did not provide numbers for the total number of Americans who have renounced their citizenship.