Restrictions that follow a citizen abroad

Leaving a country does not end its relationship with you. A set of obligations attaches to nationality rather than to residence, and they travel with the passport.

What follows a citizen

• Military service and registration, in the countries that have conscription, enforced at passport renewal and at entry.
• Tax filing, in the one country that taxes on citizenship, and reporting obligations on foreign accounts and companies in many others.
• Declaration duties for second nationalities and foreign residence permits.
• Restrictions on holding office or certain roles while holding another nationality.
• Exit and entry rules requiring citizens to use their own passport at their own border.
• Property restrictions in a few countries applying to citizens resident abroad differently from residents.
• Court jurisdiction and service of process, which can reach a citizen abroad through consular channels.

Where it bites hardest

• Renewals. A consulate that will not renew a passport while an obligation is outstanding creates a problem with no alternative route.
• Visits. An unresolved obligation can make returning risky while living abroad is entirely comfortable — which is the position a great many people are in without having chosen it.
• Children. Obligations that attach at an age reach children who have never lived in the country.

The audit worth doing

For each nationality held by each member of the family, list: what must be filed, what must be declared, what attaches at what age, and what is required at passport renewal. Most families discover at least one item they did not know about, and most such items are trivial to satisfy while they are current and difficult once they are not.

This is also the audit that determines whether renouncing a citizenship is worth considering — a decision that should follow from a specific obligation rather than from a general feeling about a country.