Giving up Canadian citizenship?

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dalyo
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:01 pm

Giving up Canadian citizenship?

Post by dalyo »

Hello,

I have been in the US for about 12 years now - I moved soon after graduating.

I got my US green card, and eventually citizenship, and I have since also married my American girlfriend.

Now I got a job offer from a defence contractor in the DC area, and its a great job - the only thing is, I would have to give up my Canadian citizenship (dual citizens can't get the security clearance needed for this job).

I am torn - I really love the job, its the exact career move I want to make, and it will leverage all my engineering and MBA skills. And I honestly have not thought of going back since I moved.

So tell me - what are the down sides? Has anyone on this board "renounced" their Canadian citizenship? Have you thought of going back? Why woud you not do this if you were in my position?

The only thing I can think of would be if I were ever in a health crisis with no insurance - but my wife is in the healthcare field, and is working...

Any input would be most welcome.

Thanks!
Dal
nelsona
Posts: 18311
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

The cic website has info on renouncing your citizenship.

Should you ever want to go back and live in Canada you would need to immigrate there like any other foreigner, but would be allowed to regain your citizenship after only one year as a permanent resident.

The same situation would apply if you 'lost' your citizenship due to taking the citizenship of a country which forbids dual citizenship. Such countries typically require some formal renunciation thru a Cdn official.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
worryfreeinvestor
Posts: 145
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:17 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by worryfreeinvestor »

I am amazed that they require you to renounce Canadian citizenship. I had a Canadian friend, in Canada, working for a Canadian engineering company's Canadian office, that was working on a US DOD project that required very high-security clearance. I was surprised at this, but he told me that U.S. law allowed Canadians and Canadian defence contractors especially (but also other NATO members) to get very high security clearance.
nelsona
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
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Post by nelsona »

US doesn't require renunciation.

CIC is talking about countries like India, China, germany, etc.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
worryfreeinvestor
Posts: 145
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:17 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by worryfreeinvestor »

Dalyo says he's a Canuck.
nelsona
Posts: 18311
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

Since we are talking about Cdn citizenship renunciation, I'm quite sure daylo is Cdn. What I missed however (in this very old post, btw) was that it was not the act of obtaining citizenship that would force his renunciation (as it might with getting certain citizenships), but it was the subsequent DoD clearance issue.

My original response, on the method of restoring Cdn citizenship is still valid.

I agree with you that he should not accept the information from DoD that he MUST renounce, without investigating it further.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
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