Introduction:

What follows is a post written by Helen Burggraf in October of 2023 discussing the U.S. government intention to reduce the fee for a CLN from $2350 USD to $450 USD.

It is reposted with the kind permission of Helen Burggraf.

BREAKING: U.S. gov’t at last moves in direction of lowering renunciation fee

By Helen Burggraf

In what some expat groups and individuals are already hailing as a potential breakthrough, the U.S. State Department is seeking comments on its plans to reduce by almost 80% the basic fee it currently charges U.S. citizens for processing their requests to expatriate.

In a notice dated today [Oct 2] and posted on the Federal Register,

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-10-02/pdf/2023-21559.pdf

the State Department says it is “proposing to amend” the fee from its current $2,350 to $450, in response to concerns that “members of the public have continued to raise” since the fee was increased to the current amount from $450 in 2014.

It says that it is proposing to do this in spite of the fact that the lower amount has only ever represented “a fraction of the cost of providing” the consular services involved in processing a CLN (Certificate of Loss of Nationality).
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