An IMGlobalWealth.com News Report
A Republican senator’s proposal to abolish dual citizenship has unsettled both immigrant communities and internationally mobile Americans, even as its chances of becoming law remain slim.
“over 30 million Americans could claim citizenship in another country such as those in the European Union or Mexico”
In December 2025 Ohio’s Senator Bernie Moreno introduced the Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025, a bill that would bar United States citizens from simultaneously holding nationality elsewhere.
Under its terms, dual citizens would have 12 months to choose between their U.S. citizenship and any other passport they hold; failure to act would result in automatic loss of American nationality.
Post-enactment, acquiring a new foreign citizenship would likewise trigger forfeiture of U.S. citizenship. Under current American law, dual citizenship is permitted. The U.S. does not track how many of its citizens hold more than one passport, and there are no federal requirements to renounce an existing citizenship when becoming an American. Indeed, roughly 150 countries allow dual citizenship with the United States under their own nationality laws. Because the United States does not compile statistics on dual nationality, the number of Americans who hold dual citizenship can only be estimated.
Some commentators and analysts suggest between 1 million and 5 million Americans may hold dual nationality, while broader eligibility based on ancestry could extend to tens of millions, rough calculations using U.S. census data on ancestral origins imply over 30 million Americans could claim citizenship in another country such as those in the European Union or Mexico.
Other estimates, cited in recent reporting, put the figure of eligible or actual dual nationals north of 40 million, or around 10% of the U.S. population.
“Polling suggests most Americans do not support stripping dual citizenship from new or existing citizens”
The proposal has met widespread scepticism. Critics argue it would confront constitutional barriers, including Supreme Court precedent that citizenship cannot be revoked absent voluntary renunciation, and note that millions of U.S. citizens are born with dual nationality by virtue of parentage or birth abroad.
Polling suggests most Americans do not support stripping dual citizenship from new or existing citizens. For now, dual citizenship remains legal in the United States. But the debate highlights anxieties about national identity and global mobility, and has already prompted renewed interest among Americans in securing alternative citizenships as a form of geopolitical hedge.
