Expert: Roy Helge Rasmussen - 11/6/2009

Question
I am American and my daughter got an American passport when she was one year old she also got a Norwegian passport as her mother is Norwegian. She is 18 now and her American passport has never been renewed. She now wants to go live in the States for awhile and at the same time keep her Norwegian passport. As we live in Sweden would it be possible for her to renew her American passport in Stockholm and keep her dual citizenship? Should she mention her Norwegian citizenship? Could she just use a Swedish ID card?

Answer
There are three sides to this. What can be done and what is legal - and where what is legal.

It is illegal for a norwegian citizen to hold dual citizenship. A child can hold dual citizenship until the age of 18 but must then choose either norwegian citizenship or the other. But for the norwegian government to enforce this they have to know about it. If they do not know - then they will not be able to enforce the rule.

According to US law, a citizen can hold dual citizenship so no problem there as far as I know. But there is probably no need to complicate things for the embassy by overinforming them. If they don't know about it - then there is no need to overload the beurocracy with mor information than it needs. So for renewing the american passport it's probably easier just to go with the minimum necessary documentation. But I have no idea how the american system works.

If the norwegian gov forget to mention it and you manage to keep the norwegian citizenship, and if you in the future get in trouble with the law -  then just remember to never complain to the government of the nation you did not gain residence/visa for the current location with. If you get jailed as a US citizen, and then cry to norway for help - all you will achieve is that your norwegian citizenship will be cancelled.