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I gave up my green card last year, but am traveling to the US in several months. The ESTA application asks two questions which I am uncertain how to respond to.

  • Have you ever been a citizen or national of any other country?
  • Have you ever been issued a passport or national identity card for travel by any other country?

I know the green card didn't give make me a citizen, but do I need to answer yes to either of these questions?

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2 Answers 2

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The answer is quite simple: you should answer no to both.

You have never (from the data in your question) been a national of the USA nor any other country. Therefore:

"Have you ever been a citizen or national of any other country?"

Answer: No.

The green card itself in not a national identity card nor a passport. Therefore:

Have you ever been issued a passport or national identity card for travel by any other country?

Answer: No.

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  • Thanks for your response, I was worried about it maybe qualifying as a national identify card. First time Esta applicant, and a little concerned I will get it wrong!!
    – IrishZelda
    Feb 8 at 15:04
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    @IrishZelda If you think it answers your question thoroughly then please accept it by clicking the checkmark ☺️
    – Ozzy
    Feb 8 at 17:07
  • @IrishZelda the national identity card thing is there to cover people who have two nationalities but never had a passport issued by the other country (for example, if you were Irish/French but never held a French passport). National IDs are a fairly unfamiliar concept in the US, so they are frequently described imprecisely (in the EU context, "national ID" generally means "ID attesting to nationality" but there's no reason it couldn't mean "ID issued by a national government"; it's a bit of a murky concept and you're not the first to wonder, nor will you be the last).
    – phoog
    Feb 10 at 12:05
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Answer no to both. The only ways in which you can gain nationality or become a citizen is by birth / through parents /naturalization / others (asylum)

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  • That does not seem to add anything to the existing answer and you do not provide any sources to back up your claim. Can you edit to fix that please?
    – mdewey
    Feb 9 at 14:03
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    You can't become a citizen through asylum. If you have asylum, you may at some point become eligible for naturalization, but it is the naturalization that confers the citizenship, not the asylum.
    – phoog
    Feb 10 at 12:00

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