One question a naturalization lawyer is constantly answering is how to get dual US citizenship without having to renounce citizenship of a foreign country during the naturalization process. Is it possible? Well, it depends.

Technically, the US government does not recognize dual US citizenship. However, new US citizens are not really required by the United States to give up citizenship from a foreign country either. In practice, whether or not someone can obtain dual US citizenship after the citizenship process is complete depends upon the rules and regulations of the foreign country. Each time he or she is retained for a dual US citizenship case (i.e. where the applicant desires to retain the prior citizenship after the US naturalization process is complete), a naturalization lawyer reviews the citizenship laws of the foreign country in order to ascertain the foreign country’s dual citizenship laws.

Those Bulgarian citizens who already completed the US citizenship process, or were contemplating beginning the US citizenship process, recently received unsettling news when it was announced by the Bulgarian government that it did not allow dual US citizenship. The order, dated in October 2009, was signed by Bulgaria’s Deputy Justice Minister and referenced a 1923 agreement between the US and Bulgaria.

However, after widespread panic among the US-Bulgarian expat community, the Bulgarian government issued a statement assuring US immigrants from Bulgaria that they will not be stripped of their Bulgarian citizenship after completing the US naturalization process, and that the order was made in error. Under Bulgaria’s constitution, a citizen of Bulgaria who was born there cannot be stripped of citizenship.

For more information about immigration from Bulgaria, or to learn about dual US citizenship, call and speak with a naturalization lawyer today at 800.989.6842.