Thousands of Americans Renounce Citizenship as Expat Figures Rise

The number of Americans renouncing their citizenship, along with long-term green card holders ending their United States tax residency, reached its highest level since 2020 over the past 12 months, according to an analysis of Federal Register data.

A total of 5,790 names appeared on the register’s U.S. expatriation list over the past four quarters, representing individuals whose loss of U.S. citizenship or long-term permanent resident status was reported to the Treasury Department. According to Greenback Expat Tax Services, that is the highest four-quarter total in six years.

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The list is limited in what it can tell us about Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship, as it reports only when the Treasury was notified of a person’s change in status, not necessarily when it happened. But yearly data show that, over the past decade, the number of Americans leaving the country for good has grown significantly.

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Counts fell to 2,071 in 2019, then jumped to a new modern-history record of 6,705 in 2020; while they dipped slightly, they have remained very high since.

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Some who have been through the process, or were in the midst of it, have told Newsweek they did so to avoid paying taxes in the U.S. on top of their current country of residence, or for ideological and political reasons often linked to President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

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But a recent spike in renunciations might have been caused by the State Department’s decision to slash the fee for renouncing citizenship by 80 percent earlier this year.

Before 2010, renouncing U.S. citizenship was free. After that, a $450 fee was introduced, but in 2015 it was raised to $2,350. That sum made the U.S. one of the countries with the highest citizenship renunciation fees in the world.

As of April 13, the fee dropped back to $450.

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