How do you know if you relinquished or renounced U.S. citizenship?

A few people have ask me in mail as to how one knows if they are renouncing or relinquishing their U.S. citizenship? In the past These days, one easy way to tell is if you had to pay $2,350 to do it or not. If there was no fee, then it was considered to be a relinquishment.

There is another way for ex-Americans to tell, though: the "349 A" number which is on both a U.S. CLN (certificate of loss of nationality) as well as the last page of their final cancelled U.S. passport.

This number code refers to laundry list of "expatriating events" in a U.S. INA (Immigration and Naturalization Act) policy/law section: it will be written as '349' followed by a the letter 'a' (upper/lower case, with/without parentheses) followed by a number from 1 to 7, which may be in parentheses.

That number — from one (1) to seven (7) — can be used to tell whether citizenship was relinquished or renounced:
  1. [relinquish] obtaining naturalization in a foreign state (Sec. 349 (a) (1) INA);
  2. [relinquish] taking an oath, affirmation or other formal declaration to a foreign state or its political subdivisions (Sec. 349 (a) (2) INA);
  3. [relinquish] entering or serving in the armed forces of a foreign state engaged in hostilities against the U.S. or serving as a commissioned or non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of a foreign state (Sec. 349 (a) (3) INA);
  4. [relinquish] accepting employment with a foreign government if (a) one has the nationality of that foreign state or (b) an oath or declaration of allegiance is required in accepting the position (Sec. 349 (a) (4) INA);
  5. [RENOUNCE] formally renouncing U.S. citizenship before a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer outside the United States (sec. 349 (a) (5) INA);
  6. [RENOUNCE †] formally renouncing U.S. citizenship within the U.S. (but only under strict, narrow statutory conditions) (Sec. 349 (a) (6) INA);
  7. [relinquish ‡] conviction for an act of treason (Sec. 349 (a) (7) INA).
† Renouncing while residing inside the United States or its territories (such as Guam) is only possible in time of war.

‡ treason is a legally interesting case in that it's the only thing listed here that does not require the expatriating act to be done with the intention of losing U.S. citizenship. You still are required to report the treason event (presumably after you've served time in prison) in person to a consulate officer though!
So, if the number next to the "349 A" is a five (5) or six (6), you renounced. Otherwise, you relinquished your U.S. citizenship.

Americans who naturalize to Japanese, even though they sign an oath to the Japanese Constitution, are usually classified as "349 (a)(1)" (relinquished by naturalizing), not "349 (a)(2)" (relinquish by taking an oath).

Japanese-Americans who are dual-nationals who do the 国籍選択届 {kokuseki sentaku todoke} (Choice of Nationality Declaration) for Japan at twenty-two (22) years of age and then report it to the U.S. consulate willfully with the intent of losing U.S. citizenship are also classified as relinquishing their U.S. nationality; they are classified as "349(a)(2)", not "349(a)(1)" like naturalized citizens.

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