Danish citizen becoming us citizen

[delancey]

Hello All. I have a question for all of you. My mom is a Danish citizen and my dad is an American citizen. I am a Danish citizen and a U.S. permanent resident. I have lived in the US for over 5 years.

I would like to become a US citizen. Denmark does not allow dual citizenship (I believe). Will this give me problems when I apply for US citizenship? In other words, will the US care about Denmarks laws or will the US simply say, "we only recognize you as a US citizen and Denmarks laws are not our concern"?

Thanks guys! I don't wanna file until I get this straightened out.

[nwctzn]

Hello All. I have a question for all of you. My mom is a Danish citizen and my dad is an American citizen. I am a Danish citizen and a U.S. permanent resident. I have lived in the US for over 5 years.

I would like to become a US citizen. Denmark does not allow dual citizenship (I believe). Will this give me problems when I apply for US citizenship? In other words, will the US care about Denmarks laws or will the US simply say, "we only recognize you as a US citizen and Denmarks laws are not our concern"?

Thanks guys! I don't wanna file until I get this straightened out.

The US does not care about Danish citizenship laws and it will not affect your US citizenship application.

The US recognizes that dual citizenship exists and having another country's passport besides the US passport is OK from the US side.

However, the US does not care about your other citizenship; i.e., once naturalized, you will be a US citizen from the US point of view and you will need to use your US passport when entering and leaving the US.

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[delancey]

Denmark does not allow dual citizenship. However, how would they ever find out that I'm a U.S.citizen? Also, are you sure that the United States does NOT care about Denmark's immigration, citizenship laws (in the form of treaties, etc)?
If I use my Danish passport when I enter Europe and my US passport, I don't see how they would ever find out, unless the US government were to call up the Danish government and inform that I am now a US citizen.

Can you clarify that in fact the United States will NOT reject my application based on Denmark's immigration, citizenship rules? I am positive that Demmark does not allow dual citizenship buty mom is a dual and they have no clue.

[nwctzn]

Denmark does not allow dual citizenship. However, how would they ever find out that I'm a U.S.citizen? Lol

If they do you are in trouble. Don't ever think about it.

[delancey]

So just to clarify, the United States will NOT reject my application based on the fact that Denmark does not allow dual citizenship?

Secondly, how would Denmark ever find out that I am a dual citizen? Will the US inform Denmark?

Thanks guys.

[nwctzn]

The US does not care about your other citizenship and they will not inform Danish authorities about your naturalization. Also, it will not have an effect on your N400 application and your citizenship application will not be rejected because Denmark does not allow dual citizenship.

I understand that you would like to keep your Danish citizenship since it has all the advantages first of all EU citizenship, however, what you will do is against Danish laws and I do not know what penalties exist. It looks to me you can run into serious legal troubles in the event the truth comes out.

Also, while flying out of Denmark, you need to show your US passport at check-in because otherwise you would need to be in the ESTA system but you cannot register in the ESTA system as a US citizen. And then you need to show your Danish passport at border control. So things get really complicated.

Reading the information from the Danish Embassy in the US:
"If you are a Danish national and acquire the nationality of another country upon application or by express consent, you will automatically lose your Danish nationality."

I think the scary part here is that they say that you lose your Danish nationality automatically. Hence, if you become a US citizen and still continue to use your Danish passport, it might have significant implications since you will be using a passport of a country you are no longer a citizen of.

I would seriously consider and weigh your options. You can stay a US permanent resident forever and do not give up your Danish citizenship, or if you are sure you will not return to Denmark, just give up the Danish citizenship. The choice is yours. My advice: Follow the laws.

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[sferrari]

I'm in the same boat: permanent resident in U.S. and Danish citizen. I have not become a U.S. citizen precisely so as not to lose my Danish citizenship. I wouldn't assume that the Danish authorities will never find out and it doesn't just have to do with showing your passport while traveling. There are treaties and tax agreements in place by which countries share information with each other. Even if they don't find out, if you lie about your U.S. citizenship the next time you have to renew your Danish passport, you will possibly run into serious legal trouble.

Depending on your circumstances, I think it would be best to wait and see if Denmark ever changes their laws to allow dual citizenship. There is some popular support for this in Denmark currently.