‘I don’t want to be part of a dictatorship’: the Americans queueing up to renounce their citizenship

Illustration: Andrea Ucini/The GuardianView image in fullscreen Illustration: Andrea Ucini/The GuardianUS politics‘I don’t want to be part of a dictatorship’: the Americans queueing up to renounce their citizenshipSevering ties with the US can take more than a year and cost thousands of dollars. But Paul, Ella, Margot and thousands of others feel they have no choiceZoe WilliamsTue 28 Apr 2026 00.00 EDTLast modified on Tue 28 Apr 2026 00.06 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleWhen Margot went to renounce her US citizenship earlier this year, she wasn’t able to do it in the UK, her home of 30 years. The waiting list to renounce US citizenship at the London consulate is more than 14 months. It’s a similar story in Sydney and most major Canadian cities. Many European cities currently have six-month waiting lists.View image in fullscreenA canceled US passport. Photograph: Michael Vi/AlamySo Margot found herself in the lobby of the consulate in Ghent, Belgium. One wall was covered by a picture of Boston Harbour, where she was born. The other had three portraits: Donald Trump, JD Vance and Marco Rubio, their faces glistening – to her mind, with sadistic triumph (the lighting may have been a factor). Momentarily, she felt caught in a vice: everything she loved about her nation; everything she hated. Then she went in, swore under oath that she knew what she was doing, wasn’t being coerced, and wasn’t renouncing her citizenship for the purposes of tax avoidance. The official’s tone was neutral, slightly bored.The questions are read from a laminated card, the oath is perfunctory, your passport is retained – you can ask for it back, with holes punched in it to represent its cancellation, after your request is approved.In the 00s, the numbers of US citizens renouncing were in the hundreds annually; since 2014, they’ve been in the thousands. This is expected to be a bumper year (matching 2020’s 6,000-plus) because the US government’s charges, after a protracted group legal battle, have been reduced from $2,350 to $450. Neither figure comes close to the true cost of renouncing if you get a lawyer, which, with no complications at all, will cost $7,000 to $10,000, says Alexander Marino, who heads Moody’s, the largest renunciation law practice in the world.But why would anyone want or need to renounce their US citizenship in the first place? Americans have long joked about pretending to be Canadians when they’re abroad, just out of embarrassment at hailing from a country that’s notably arrogant or exceptionalist. But recent developments in the US – its atmospherics, its internal divisions as well as its foreign policy – are of a different order of magnitude. Mary, 73, moved to Canada in 1987 and became a dual citizen in 2006, without ever thinking she wanted to renounce. The turning point, she says, “was literally the night of the 2016 election. I was at my son’s house. By midnight it was looking like, ‘Oh my God, the man’s going to win.’ I finally fell asleep – vodka can only do so much – then I woke at 2am, the house next door had a huge screen, and all it said was: ‘Trump, Trump, Trump.’”View image in fullscreenDonald Trump with Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. Her nomination to the supreme court was the final straw for Paul, 55. Photograph: China News Service/Getty ImagesPaul, 55, lives in Helsinki but had to travel to Milan for a consulate appointment – on his 51st birthday. “My present to myself was divorcing Uncle Sam,” he says. “It was the end of…

This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at The Guardian — World.