Discuss this video on Reddit! www.reddit.com/r/tapakapa/comments/wj5cup/these_countries_wont_let_you_go/

Fun fact: the Israeli supreme court recently decided that terrorists may have their citizenship revoked even if they don't have another one, making Israel one of the very few places on earth where the state can force someone to become stateless.

Japan has an interesting, if tangential, citizenship policy. Say you are born in Japan to at least one American parent. By those countries' citizenship laws, you are born a dual citizen of Japan and the US. But once you're 20 years old, the Japanese government says "alright time's up you gotta pick one. Either renounce your Japanese citizenship, or renounce all others". This is because Japan does not permit dual citizenship but understands that you can't reasonable prosecute a toddler for having foreign parents

I knew someone who was stateless from birth. His parents were Pakistani diplomats working in India. Because he was born in India, Pakistan wouldn't give him citizenship. And because he was Pakistani, India wouldn't give him citizenship either.

The fact that all Argentina does is give you a certificate that says "dude trust us" and that people may or may not accept is *the* most Argentine thing ever. A few weeks ago I got my name legally changed, and at the end they took my old ID card, cut the corner with a scissor to invalidate it, then gave me a piece of paper that said I was in the process of getting a new ID and told me to show it if anyone ever gave me trouble over the invalidated card. The very same day, I go to the mail to pick up a package and they didn't want to accept my invalidated card even after I showed them the document...

As an Argentine I KNEW you were going to save us for last. One does not simply renounce Argentine citizenship.

Several Australian members of Parliament had to resign a few years back when it turned out they had dual citizenships they didn't even know about through their parents. Makes me wonder if someone born in Argentina could become an MP in Australia.

Costa Rica is an interesting example. Citizenship is non renounciable, and until very recently it was not legal to hold another nationality either. However, our legislative powers had to craft an amendment to allow for dual citizenship due to a specific person: namely the first Central American born astronaut, Franklin Chang-Díaz, who had to become a US citizen to be enlisted in the NASA, which is technically a branch of the army.

Tunisia and Germany have a weird combination of dual citizenship. Germany does not accept dual citizens (from certain countries) so they take your Tunisian passport when you get a German one. However that passport is property of the Tunisian government (it's even written on the passport) so the Germans send your passport to the nearest Tunisian embassy/consulate. The the Tunisians just call you and ask you to come get your passport :D Even though everyone is aware of what's happening they keep doing it.

As someone living in argentina currently, I now understand why my parents made such a big deal to have me born in the US

Bulgaria has compulsory voting and still elections have around 37-40% participation, because there is no punishment for not voting

Japanese government: “Alright, you’re 20 now. Japan or Argentina?” dual Japanese-Argentine citizen: “Uhhhh... Japan.” Argentine government, breaking down the wall like the Kool-Aid Man: *“CHE ESO NO DÁ”*

My dad renounced his American citizenship (he had immigrated to Canada) precisely because of the tax BS. It saved us a lot of headache when he died

Some funny tidbits about being (or becoming) an Argentine citizen: Acquiring argentine citizenship is as easy as just coming here, staying a few years, and then asking a judge "yeah I want to be argentine", encouraging immigration here is part of our constitution and as such, the requirements to become one of us are quite low. No real barriers to immigrating here either, just come here, state that you want to stay forever...then stay forever (but why would you) Also, since you cannot renounce your citizenship easily (but you actually CAN), many countries, including Austria and Japan have exceptions regarding Argentine citizens, meaning you can become a dual Austrian-Argentinian or Japanese-Argentinian (there are quite a few of those!) citizen without having to choose one or the other. I mentioned that you can actually renounce your Argentine citizenship...well, yes you can, as long as you have dual citizenship (so that you don't end up stateless afterwards), the issue really is that Law 346 (the "Citizenship Act") simply doesn't provide any legal procedure for losing your citizenship, so losing it requires going to a Federal Court and asking very nicely to have it revoked. No, really, it is that simple, since matters not regulated by law are left to the judicial system to resolve.

Having looked into the US process, it is actually even harder than you claim, because first: you don't want to renounce, that's for enemies and tax evaders. You WILL be treated as a traitor. If you're poor, as most are, then you want to relinquish, but you left out that this requires multiple meetings, and at the end of it, the US retains the right to simply say no. For whatever reason the officials feel like. It may be possible in general, but for some people, it is impossible. Always. And you left out the shame list. All those who lose citizenship have their names and addresses published. America really, really, really hates losing citizens and Congress wants to make it as painful as possible.

This reminded me of a court case in the UK. There was a woman from Northern Ireland. Something unique about Northern Ireland is that it's part of the UK, but people from there are entitled to Irish citizenship as well as British. So she had an Irish passport. She wanted to get residency for her non-EU husband. The UK is quite strict when it comes to spouse visas, but at the time the UK was still in the EU and she could use her EU free movement rights to allow her husband to live with her. So she applied for that as an Irish citizen. The British government rejected her request. They told her that because she was born in the UK, she also has British citizenship, so the EU free movement laws did not apply. But she could renounce her British citizenship, and then re-apply. Doing that wouldn't affect any other rights because Irish citizens have equal rights in the UK. But she refused to do that, because it would mean acknowledging she had British citizenship in the first place. She argued that according to the Good Friday Agreement, the UK had no right to force citizenship on her in the first place, and that she had the right to be treated only as an Irish citizen. So she took the government to court. Not sure what the eventual outcome was. The British government gave her husband residency anyway, and now the UK is out of the EU the original issue doesn't apply. But she continued with the court case anyway as a matter of principle.

This really highlights how citizens are more like property than members...

Becoming stateless is even illegal according to some international agreements

In America, everyone loves to tell each other to leave the country if they are not happy here. I say we should donate money to those who want to leave because we make it so difficult to run away from the country.

US be like, “There are only two things which are certain : death and taxes.”

The fact Americans, Hungarians, Burmese and Eritreans have to pay tax to their birth country when they're living and working a whole new life in another country is absolutely unbelievably insane. I had to look it up because I didn't even believe it. Sorry to those from those four countries. They're effectively slaves to their country. My next door neighbours are Hungarian immigrants, gotta ask them about this.

Technically a republic of china citizen. They won't let me renounce without being physically present at a administrative building in Taiwan. Buttt... due to the fact that no country recognize it as a sovergine nation, technically I'm not a citizen because it doesn't exist. I'm just going to go about life as if I'm only a Canadian citizen.

In Mexico in the 80s and probably 90s you could renounce your citizenship in 'paper' you would get the papers saying that you renounced your citizen ship but the documentation would fall in the cracks so you would still be Mexican. All you had to do was to say that you needed that paper but didn't want to loose your citizenship and pay a small bribe.

Being an Iranian is like being in a relationship with an abusive country. First it makes your life a living hell, then it does its best not to let you leave with its useless passport and currency, and if you manage get past all the hurdles and leave, it makes it costly as hell, and even after you've left, you will be haunted by its bad reputation and nightmares everywhere you go for the rest of your life.

An acquaintance of mine has had an Austrian citizenship since forever. He's also got a Syrian one. He says that the Austrian government let him keep his Syrian citizenship as an exception because it is illegal to renounce your Syrian citizenship under the threat of death penalty. So yea, he's got both.

As a Hungarian, I have to point out that Hungary DOES NOT tax you if you live outside of the country, irrespective of having only Hungarian or dual citizenship. I have lived and worked for decades outside the country, so I had personal experience of this.

In Uruguay we lived through a very brutal dictatorship, and it's always possible to force a person to "voluntarily" give up their citizenship. Honestly, the real blame should be with countries that force you to give up a previous citizenship. With the world more connected than ever before, why be so strict? I have dual citizenship in Uruguay (from birth) and the United States (naturalized), and I feel like a full citizen of both.

There should be a tier above impossible Countries that claim foreign nationals are their citizens. Like the DPRK does with South Koreans or how China claims the Taiwanese are citizens of the Chinese mainland.

Austria. A certain WW1 war veteran from Austria with a small moustache, after the war, was adamant about his war time service in the German army entitling him German citizenship, but the Bavarian / German government did not agree. He actually renounced his Austrian citizenship in the 1920s and became stateless. It was not until the early 30s when Berlin local government gave him Berlin citizenship that he became officially German. Before he came to power in Germany in 1933, he had been living near the Austrian border and one of the reasons was that if he faced arrest by German authorities he could quickly escape to Austria.

A little daunting to remember that a lot of countries legally mandate young men to fight other men with guns and incendiary devices.

Don't forget the US publishes a list of all the people who have renounced their citizenship

In the Philippines, Filipino dual citizens who are natural born Filipino from birth are allowed to do everthing a natural born Filipino could do except run for elective positions.

Actually, there is a small group of Zainichi Koreans that are technically stateless, but are permanent residents of Japan. It was a special designation for Koreans who decided to stay in Japan after the war, but did not chose either South or North Korean citizenship. Currently, less than 7% of Zainichi Koreans are under this class of stateless permanent residents of Japan.

Pretty sure North Korea is the most restrictive. They won't even let you leave the country to visit another country on holiday for a couple of weeks.

As an Australian duel Citizen I got scared for a second

Here's an interesting one: If you were to get a Dutch citizenship you have to renounce your old one but after that you are allowed to retake that old citizenship and have them both.

I renounced my USA citizenship back in 2016... I ended up stateless for 3 years .. It's a long story, but in the end I was able to prove having German citizenship and I'm no longer stateless. I do not recommend becoming stateless by choice! It was a real eye opener for me, but I'm so very glad that I'm no longer a stateless person. Again, it's a very long story, altuhough it was not my goal to become stateless, I want to warn anyone who is considering being stateless by choice against it, very bad idea!

I have 3 passports. I have never had to renounce her Majesty the Queen of her empire. I was born in London. I became a "naturalised citizen" in Australia when I was 18 years old. My father was born in Ireland, and through paternity I am a citizen of Ireland and therefore a citizen of the European Union.

My blood pressure spiked when he started talking about Austrian ethnicity, citizenship and nationality.

In America if you attempt to renounce your citizenship you'll have to go through a process that costs on average 2-5k USD. And then that process gets denied repeatedly because the point is to get you both paying to get rid of the citizenship and paying american federal income tax for as long as possible. Sweden has it on record to not recognize those debts, as many other countries do

Tangential- Gaining citizenship kn the Netherlands (among other places, I'm sure) generally requires renouncing previous citizenship UNLESS doing so would incur significant costs. Some years ago, an American citizen argued in court that the $2,000 fee to renounce was equal to a month's expenses for him, and a month's worth of expenses is certainly a significant cost. The court agreed, setting precedent for low to mid income American immigrants.

So... what about the Pope? Is Francis still an Argentinian citizen? Does he have to vote there? Or is the role of Pope above the laws of Argentinia?

There used to be a kind of "stateless passport", called a Nansen Passport after its promoter, the Norwegian explorer and polymath Fridtjof Nansen.

Note that, while Argentina does in fact have compulsory voting, you are not required to vote if you can demonstrate to your nearest Argentinian consulate/embassy that you're residing abroad (including neighboring countries). You then can enroll to vote for president/vice-president, with no punishment for not showing up to vote. Argentinian law also has a provision to waive all penalties/fees if you can prove you were more than 500 km away from your voting station[1], whether in Argentina or abroad. And on the flip-side, Argentina is pretty much the only country I know of that grants entry to Argentinian citizens with more than one citizenship that use a foreign passport (as tourists, and without visa regardless of whether it's required to or not). Pretty much every other country in the world in this case will deny you entry if you don't have the correct passport/ID. Brazil on the other hand does have mandatory voting no matter where you are in the world, and actual serious penalties/fees, but they do allow you to renounce your civic duties without losing your citizenship (you're not getting them back *ever* tho). [1]: This law was heavily publicized in the 2001 midterms as a disenfranchised alternative to voting blank/nullifying your vote. The law states that you must justify _why_ you were > 500km away from your voting station, but in practice it's not required. PS: In Argentina, you can only vote in the voting station that has been assigned to you by the government, based on your declared address (as seen in your ID). Polling places are in alphabetical order, and until ~2013-2015, were segregated by gender (each station had either all men or all women, as declared in the ID; by the late 90's/early 00's there were already trans people that had gotten the gender field in their IDs changed, and since 2020-2021 there's a non-binary gender option).

I'm American, but have lived in Thailand for 18 years. My citizenship means very little to me. I pay a small amount of tax to the US, then get it all back, every year. Obtaining Thai citizenship is difficult and offers very few benefits. Losing US citizenship would be problematic in many aspects. So, I just maintain status quo. Everyone's happy.

My grandfather is american so me and my father have citizenship despite never having lived there, and we've payed thousands in tax to the US getting nothing back while also paying tax in the country we live in.

I had a friend who tried to get an American security clearance but was unable because he was born in Russia and was unable to renounce his citizenship

As an Argentine citizen who applied for Japanese citizenship and got rejected because of this reason, I find this very accurate 😂

I was born in Iran while my American parents were working there in the 1950’s. I was given both citizenships, however at that time, in the USA at 18, you had to decide between the too. I went to the Iranian consoles and renounced that citizenship. They told me that I was an Iranian citizen by birth rite. This was in the 1970’s. If I was ever to have gone back to Iran, I would have had to serve in the military. At that time the USA didn’t allow dual citizenship.

This channel is always the best at answering questions I didn’t know needed answering.

Since I’m Swedish but born and raised abroad, I had to apply to keep my citizenship since I’ve never lived „a significant time“ (whatever that means) in Sweden, otherwise I would have automatic lost it by my 22nd birthday.

I was born in Zimbabwe in 1960 to an English mother and an Australian father, and now live in Australia. have tried to figure out if I have Zimbabwean citizenship or not, but it’s too complicated. There have been too many changes and there are no straightforward rules.

As a person from brazil. Know that we aint allowing you to leave. We love all gringos and you are going to become one pf the many communities of foreigners around.

You could make the same criticism of states refusing dual citizenship, as you do of states refusing to release people

Here in Australia there was a whole lot of politicians with old commonwealth citizenship to British countries. So they had dual citizenship from their parents which made them ineligible to have a seat in parliament, most didn't even know they were dual citizens. So they all had to quickly renounce their old commonwealth citizenships.

Very interesting and important topic, Tapakapa . Thank you. As your visuals indicated, Japan is one of the countries that will not allow citizens to hold any other citizenship - something that can be a problem for both those who want to naturalize, as well as children of international couples, who must pick one citizenship or another when they enter the age of majority. Can create major headaches and heartaches.

What’s valid for Argentina goes also for Brazil. When my wife turned German, she had to present a similar document to the German authorities. Germany, for those special cases accepts dual citizenship, though.

I am argentine, and this is how it went and goes for me being perfectly conscious it is not the case for many other people and in many other countries. I left the Argentine Republic twice thinking I would never come back but I did. The third time I left for work reasons, supposedly for two or three years. When my work ended I decided to stay for a couple of years more, then another couple... then I got married and that was it. It never crossed my mind to renounce my citizenship even though I have now been living in Italy for 20 odd years. I might eventually get the Italian citizenship but that's more of an if situation for personal reasons than anything else, Italy does not constrain me to give up the argentine citizenship. Just to clear a few points (because I've gone through them). Voting for me is not compulsory but I can if I want to. Whilst I owned property I paid taxes for it, now I own nothing so that's a closed chapter. My Argentine document (not the passport which doesn't state a residential address) states my Italian address. I could be extradite for a number of reasons but it is very unlikely: Treason has to be proven beyond doubt and tax evasion has to be infamously high. Military services is not compulsory in the Argentine Republic since 1995 so that's not an issue any more. If I ever decide to get the Italian citizenship (something for which I have more than fulfilled the requirements) I can simply leave my Argentine passport aside and let it expire. I won't be questioned by the Argentine authorities if I decide to use the Italian passport unless there's a warrant in my name and even in that case they have to prove I am the one and the same. One family member went back to live in our country of origin which requires you to renounce your original citizenship, she went to the Argentine Republic Embassy, got the documents that showed it was impossible together with a certified letter in which she stated she will renounce it the moment it was possible and that was that. Again I know that's not the case in many other countries, some of which have next to impossible requirements to get their citizenship. At any rate I think citizenship has too many obligations and rights upon it. In my opinion it should only serve to state where you were born and serve its purposes whilst living in that country. But that world, if it ever comes to be, is still decades away. I don't take pride on my nationality, neither the one I was born in nor the one my parents came from or the one I live in now. I don't believe myself to be "an Earth child" or whatever other to me nonsense of the type. Being born in Finland opposed to being born in Brazil is not mainly about citizenship, rights and obligations, It is about culture, climate and social relations. I will miss my family and friends from the country in which I was born forever, also food, climate and even the language (which I might say has slightly changed in 20 years). I also miss a few things from my country of origin, one in which I have lived only once and for less than half a year, but that have inherited from my parents. If I ever leave Italy for another country I know I will miss dearly friends, culture, food and even climate. I am not afraid of losing my roots or my acquired friends & culture. They will get rusty but they will be with me till the day I die. What the passport states might be relevant under special circumstances but other than that it is just a relevant title, something that says something about me but by no means the whole story.

All this video has taught me is that taxation really is theft.

India has an auto-renunciation system, and allows ex-citizens to apply for an Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) that allows ex-citizens permanent residency in India that can be passed to their descendants.

1:27 - Canada actually did have that with the UK for a few years in the 40s immediately after Canadian citizenship was created, since it was everyone dropping British and Converting to Canadian, for a few years when you acquired Canadian it was on the books that they would send a message to the UK Government to have your old British Auto removed. Section 22 of the Canadian Citizenship Act as enacted (was in force from 1947-1950). "22. The Governor in Council may, with the concurrence of a government of a country of the British Commonwealth other than Canada, revoke a certificate of naturalization granted in the said country to a person who resides in Canada..."

12:00 There should also be a tier above that, Impossible Squared, with only 1 country in that tier, North Korea. In North Korea, not only is renouncing your citizenship impossible, but you also can't legally leave North Korea if you're a DPRK citizen.

When I first moved to Australia from the UK, I was not a citizen of Australia. However I was still obliged to do jury duty and to vote in Australia. I thought that very strange.

Leaving the USA seems like trying to leave a cult.

I saw the title and thought "Nigeria". It's so weird that to get my GF to come up here to Europe, I need to write a letter to the government promising to take care of her and make sure she gets back home safely.

I worked with a guy in the u.s. who came from some hispanic country i cant remember now. He spent nearly 15 grand to become a "permanent citizen" of the u.s., it was literally what it said on the top of his id. This process took him nearly 5 years. He pays all the same taxes as anyone else, but he isnt eligible for any social benefits like social security or unemployment. And this dude was the best guy i ever worked with hands down

My ex had dual citizenship. Born in the Netherlands, immigrated to Canada, then moved and settled in Maine. It was always interesting traveling between the U.S./Canadian border crossings lol. They always had a lot of questions for us 😆

As an Iranian it kinda sucks that I have to keep my citizenship, but it's also kinda cool, because I live in Germany and Germany does (usually) not allow dual citizenships. It is a special case however when the old nation forces you to keep its citizenship, where Germany lets you actually get the German one anyways. So now I have a German and an Iranian citizenship, when most people aren't allowed to have two

As an American who wants to become an expat, this is good for me to know.

Some countries make the process of applying for a citizenship a real pain even if you lived their for decades.

I found this video to be quite interesting! For instance, I didn't know Argentina (and others) won't let their own citizens renounce citizenship at all! Thanks for the video!

Wow. A question I've never even thought about asking, answered in an interesting, informative, and entertaining way. Thanks for the info.

I'm glad this popped up in my recommendations! Very cool video

I was looking up US security clearance requirements and one of them is that you may have to give up your other citizenship if said country is not on good terms with the US, such as Russia, China, or Iran. However, if the other country does not accept renunciation, you can mention this and this requirement may be waived or otherwise satisfied. But it has the potential to cause problems elsewhere.

I knew about the US requirements and impediments. Most of the others were new to me. Incidentally, the $ goes BEFORE the number NOT after.

I love the illustrations and the funny commentary

Amazing video, thank you

"All documents are checked," meaning you pay a huge fee and they double check with the IRS to make sure you don't owe THEM any money, THEN they check with the states to make sure you don't owe taxes to them or have any warrants for your arrest with them either.

One aspect where the inability to renounce citizenship hurts you is if you try to apply for a government security clearance in another country you're a citizen of. This is usually needed for access to sensitive information in jobs within government, miltary, intelligence, etc. The process may require you to either let go of any privileges the other citizenship grants you (such as holding a passport from the other country, serving in military there, voting etc), or renounce your other citizenship altogether. If can't renounce it, it may either delay the security clearance process, or deny it entirely.

Hope you make more long posts like this one in the future!

I suppose there is little chance of countries who, for whatever reason , refuse to allow renounciation of citizenship, to be legally challenged in the international courts?

Imagine trying to renounce North Korean citizenship

One aspect of dual citizenship that is regularly overlooked is the aspect of dual voting rights. How democratic is it, when, for example, you can vote in Germany as well as in France? Your vote counts double - in the german and the french election, while 'normal' French and Germans can only vote in one country. Wasn't even discussed in university, because no one wanted meddle in this rather delicate matter.

Excellent video, very entertaining!

I know someone who fled an Eastern Bloc country and got their citizenship revocation denied without letting the person know. It was also a country which on some occasions kidnapped some émigrés from neighbouring non-bloc countries.

Kiss used the Aussie flag at a recent Austria concert.

1:42 you said "but before we go deeper into the renunciation jungle, a quick word..." and I immediately went to the 'skip sponsor segment' mode and skipped 10 seconds ahead before I realized you said "ethnicity" and not "brilliant/audible"

I had to pay over $3000 to rid myself of the US citizenship in 2017. The fee had been jacked up considerably.

That was very interesting. I learned a lot. I am from Paraguay, so I barely just got away with that lol.

Apparently, in Russia you just have to have a foreign citizenship (since 2002), no tax debts, no active criminal charges, and a ~$50 processing fee. The process takes a while (up to a year), but it cannot be denied - like many legal processes in Russia, the outcome is required to be positive unless you fail the prerequisites (and with reason given in writing). Allegedly, only about 40 applications were submitted in 2022.

There are many people in this world who are US persons without being aware of it, e.g. by having a US parent, and are therefore illegally not filing the US Federal tax forms and declarations each year. Renouncing your citizenship is indeed a pain.

Great channel!

I know an American friend who lives in Australia who renounced his US citizenship as soon as he got his Australian citizenship. It was to stop the double taxation which is so wrong.

Regarding renunciation fees, given that Jamaica's, Egypt's and Sierra Leone's GDP per capita are much lower (MUCH lower in Sierra Leone's case), I think it's harder for them to renounce citizenship than it is for an American.

Oh, hey. I see that "flag" up there at 1:15. Of course using UN KFC instead of UN Barcode would have made it much easier to spot, you see.

4:52 some countries like Russia have a simplified process for attaining citizenship if you are stateless this is because we still have highly isolated areas where people have lived for centuries without a registration

Amazing animation on this one!

In Belgium it is very complicated. As a native you are not allowed to be granted citizenship from another country unless you renounce on your Belgian citizenship. That means of you have the Belgian citizenship, Belgium will not let you get another citizenship. So that ultimately means you have to renounce on your citizenship, be "nationless" so to say, and then get the other citizenship

At the moment it is also not possible to renounce your US citizenship. Officially they state the following: Effective October 9, 2020, we will resume a limited number of CLN appointments. We will begin offering appointments on a first-come, first-served basis making every effort to assist those with pending requests as soon as possible. Please note that we have a significant backlog of pending CLN cases and there will be a significant wait time for new applications. But effectively they are no longer taking renunciation appointments at all for those who haven't started their process a long time ago. Ooh and you should read the following about taxation of the US.... P.L. 104-191 contains changes in the taxation of U.S. nationals who renounce or otherwise lose U.S. nationality. In general, any person who lost U.S. nationality within 10 years immediately preceding the close of the taxable year, whose principal purpose in losing nationality was to avoid taxation, will be subject to continued taxation.

In the case of Argentina it is also because they recognise dual or multiple citizenship. So if Argentina does not forbid you to get another passport, why would you renounce theirs? 😏 I’m Argentine, but I also hold Spanish and Portuguese passports. No problem whatsoever.