How the proposed ‘Exclusive Citizenship Act’ could cause problems for Americans living abroad
Executive Summary:
The Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025 is proposed U.S. legislation restricting dual citizenship for certain natural-born and naturalized Americans. It would require disclosure of foreign citizenships and could force relinquishment for affected categories. Supporters say it bolsters loyalty and security; critics say it may strip rights, hinder travel and residency, and punish routine family or business ties.
There is a newly introduced U.S. Senate bill called the “Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025,” sponsored by Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio. The bill seeks to prohibit U.S. citizens from holding any other citizenship, effectively forcing Americans with dual nationality to choose between their U.S. citizenship and their foreign citizenship within a set period or lose their status as U.S. nationals. If enacted, it would create complex legal, administrative, and constitutional issues for Americans abroad and dual nationals.
This would dramatically depart from current U.S. practice, which generally tolerates dual citizenship and only strips citizenship when there is clear, voluntary intent to relinquish it. The stated purpose of the bill is to ensure “sole and exclusive allegiance” to the United States, reflecting concerns among some policymakers about divided loyalties, national security, and tax or legal obligations spread across multiple countries. In practical terms, it would require Americans who already hold another citizenship, or who voluntarily acquire one in the future, to make a binding choice—keep the U.S. passport or the foreign one—with non‑compliance treated as a voluntary relinquishment of U.S. citizenship. This would affect potentially tens of millions of people with dual nationality through birth, descent, or naturalization, many of whom have long relied on existing rules that recognize dual citizenship as lawful.
Implementing such legislation would face major legal, administrative, and political obstacles, which makes its ultimate passage into law unlikely under current conditions. Legally, it would clash with Supreme Court precedents that require proof of intent to give up citizenship, raise serious due‑process and equal‑protection questions, and invite extensive litigation, especially from Americans born with multiple nationalities. Administratively, the U.S. government does not maintain a comprehensive registry of second citizenships, making enforcement difficult, and politically, a sweeping rollback of dual citizenship would be highly controversial among immigrant communities, business interests, and millions of U.S. citizens abroad—dynamics that analysts and commentators cite in judging the bill’s chances as very low at this stage.
