Dual Citizenship

The US does not recognize dual citizenship -- this is true. However, there are no consequences for being a dual citizen and no legal mechanism for the govt to do anything about it except under very specific conditions. PLease see the following explanantion in English! [URL="http://immigration.findlaw.com/immigration/immigration-citizenship-naturalization/immigration-citizenship-naturalization-dual.html"]Dual Citizenship - Immigration[/URL] LET ME REPEAT: A CHILD BORN IN COLOMBIA WILL ALWAYS BE A COLOMBIAN CITIZEN -- UNLESS YOU GO THROUGH A LONG, COMPLICATED, AND COSTLY PROCESS OF RENOUNCING YOUR CITIZENSHIP -- which can only be done by the child himself, upon turning age 18. Therefore, your child is legally obligated to fulfill all of the laws of Colombia. Please refer to the link I included -- it explains the pluses and minuses of dual citizenship. As the wife of a dual citizen, and the mother of 2 more. I have spent a long time figuring this all out so that we can visit our family in Colombia, own property there and go to school or work there if that ever became necessary. WHile the way dual citizens are treated in Russia and other countries is interesting -- it is not helpful when discussing the specific needs of children born in Colombia. Colombian born child are required to obey all Colombian laws if they plan on visiting, living or working in Colombia at any point in the future. This means entering and leaving the country on a COLOMBIAN PASSPORT and fulfilling military service (currently for boys only -- though there has been talk of extending service to girls also) -- or going through the paperwork of becoming exempted. It also means at 18, they must register with the Colombian Consulate and request their own CEDULA de CIUDADADNA. There are no consequences if they do not do this --- UNLESS THEY PLAN TO GO TO COLOMBIA at any point in their adult life. So, as long as they have NO INTEREST in their birth country at all, it won't matter --- HOWEVER --- IMOHO it would be really sad to have been raised in such a way as to care so little about their birth country and culture that they would never want to return and see it for themselves at any point in their adult life. FOR a great explanation -- long and lots of reading:[URL="http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/paper20/renshontoc.html"]Center for Immigration Studies[/URL] Here is a quote:A person in the United States may acquire multiple citizenships in any one of five ways. (Aleinikoff, 1998a, 26, 27; see also O'Brien, 1999, 575) He or she may be born in the United States to immigrant parents. All children born in the United States are U.S. citizens regardless of the status of their parents (jus soli). Second, a person may be born outside the United States to one parent who is a U.S. citizen and another who is not (jus sanguinis). A child born to an American citizen and British citizen in the United Kingdom for example, would be a citizen of both countries. Third, a person becomes a naturalized citizen in the United States and that act is ignored by his or her country of origin.[URL="http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/paper20/renshontoc.html#3"]3[/URL] This is true even if the country of naturalization requires, as the United States does, those naturalizing to "renounce" former citizenship/nationality ties. In the case of the United States, failure to take action consistent with the renunciation carries no penalties, and others countries can, and often do, simply ignore that oath of allegiance. Fourth, a person can become a naturalized citizen of the United States and in doing so lose her citizenship in her country of origin, but can regain it at any time, and still retain her U.S. citizenship.[URL="http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/paper20/renshontoc.html#4"]4[/URL]

Colombia applies to the thrid case.