Thanks. I just found out my misguided opinion was from when Rupert Murdoch was forced to get rid of his Aussie citizenship - that was due to him wanting to own a US TV station.
Prior to 2002, Australians who took up a foreign citizenship automatically lost their Australian citizenship. Murdoch was required to be a US citizen to own the TV station, which forced him to give up the Aust citizenship. I have heard the law was changed partly because of his high profile situation.
It's hard to actually "give up citizenship". A British friend (who travels lots), said that if you are ever required to renounce British citizenship, you go down the local embassy/consulate, tell the offical that you are renouncing British citizenship, and hand over your passport. They do some writing, give you back your passport and a letter saying "$NAME has renounced their British citizenship at $DATE..." and wish you well.
You now have the proper paperwork, and your passport!
Some countries essentially don't let you give up your citizenship. If you were a citizen of Iran and fled and got citizenship of another country, the Iranian government still views you as an Iranian citizen, and go back to Iran, then they might feel free to arrest you.
You can easily apply to get your British citizenship back. I suspect they'd automatically reissue it, unless you've committed a crime or something perhaps. Of course it'd never be guaranteed. Reading between the lines though, I think its more a formality to appease other countries. In any case I'm not tempted to try it and IANAL. :)
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"It turns out that I get to keep my American citizenship"
I'm not sure if it works the other way, e.g. if an Aussie tries to become a US citizen I always thought he had to give up his Aussie Citizenship.
Australia doesn't care which other country you are a citizen of, as long as that country doesn't care you are a citizen of another country.
Therefore, the only time Australia makes you give up your citizenship is when the other country tells them they should.
Thanks. I just found out my misguided opinion was from when Rupert Murdoch was forced to get rid of his Aussie citizenship - that was due to him wanting to own a US TV station.
Prior to 2002, Australians who took up a foreign citizenship automatically lost their Australian citizenship. Murdoch was required to be a US citizen to own the TV station, which forced him to give up the Aust citizenship. I have heard the law was changed partly because of his high profile situation.
[http://www.citizenship.gov.au/current/dual_citizenship]
It's hard to actually "give up citizenship". A British friend (who travels lots), said that if you are ever required to renounce British citizenship, you go down the local embassy/consulate, tell the offical that you are renouncing British citizenship, and hand over your passport. They do some writing, give you back your passport and a letter saying "$NAME has renounced their British citizenship at $DATE..." and wish you well.
You now have the proper paperwork, and your passport!
Some countries essentially don't let you give up your citizenship. If you were a citizen of Iran and fled and got citizenship of another country, the Iranian government still views you as an Iranian citizen, and go back to Iran, then they might feel free to arrest you.
You can easily apply to get your British citizenship back. I suspect they'd automatically reissue it, unless you've committed a crime or something perhaps. Of course it'd never be guaranteed. Reading between the lines though, I think its more a formality to appease other countries. In any case I'm not tempted to try it and IANAL. :)
It used to be, but they changed it quite some time ago, a decade or two if I remember right.