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Recently I have acquired EU citizenship (ESTA eligible) and applied for renunciation of my previous citizenship (not eligible for ESTA) along with surrendering my previous passport. The application is now under processing.

During this time, I am planning to travel to USA so I am filling the ESTA application form since I have ESTA eligible passport.

  1. Now under "To Date" of previous nationalities, shall I fill the renunciation application date as the end of my previous citizenship? (since the application is under processing, I have not received the renunciation certificate which usually confirms renunciation with the date on which the renunciation is approved by the consulate official)
  2. The expiry date of my previous non-ESTA eligible passport is 2030. However, I have surrendered it now to the consulate and after processing the renunciation/surrender application, they will cancel it and send it back. In this case, shall I enter the expiry year of my previous passport as 2024?

thanks a lot for your comments.

As you guys mentioned, since I did not get the renunciation confirmation yet, I cannot mention the renunciation date in the ESTA application. Officially I am a dual citizen now and as per the rules of my previous country, it is not allowed to hold dual citizenship. So if I present myself as dual citizen in the ESTA application, this is a conflict and might lead to rejection.

I will probably get the renunciation confirmation with certificate in 3 weeks and my travel starts a week after that (in 4 weeks).

Is there any option in the ESTA application to mention that my renunciation is under process (I can also upload renunciation application form if it’s possible) and then later once I get the confirmation, is possible to update the information in ESTA?

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    Do you have any urgent reason to go to the US? How long does the renunciation process usually take? Wouldn’t it be easier to wait until the process is finished?
    – jcaron
    Commented Aug 2 at 22:03
  • This seems like quite an unusual combination of circumstances. Have you tried asking CBP for application assistance advice?
    – Traveller
    Commented Aug 2 at 22:05
  • To travel to the US, you must possess a new and valid passport showing your new citizenship of an ESTA-eligible country. Without that, the airline won't board you for a flight to the US even if a new ESTA is issued to you.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Commented Aug 2 at 23:46
  • @jcaron why wait? There's nothing wrong with being a dual citizen and nothing wrong with being a former dual citizen -- unless the previous citizenship is one of the VWP ineligibility countries (Iran, Syria, etc.). Golfie: is it?
    – phoog
    Commented Aug 3 at 8:39
  • @phoog no, nothing wrong, but as OP’s question illustrates, it raises a number of ambiguities in the answers to some of the questions: can they consider the renunciation as being effective already or not?
    – jcaron
    Commented Aug 3 at 10:15

1 Answer 1

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shall I fill the renunciation application date as the end of my previous citizenship?

No, because your previous citizenship did not end on that date. Until you know the date for certain, you should assume that you are still a citizen of that country. Until your previous citizenship ends, you are a dual citizen, and you should present yourself as such to the United States.*

The expiry date of my previous non-ESTA eligible passport is 2030. However, I have surrendered it now to the consulate and after processing the renunciation/surrender application, they will cancel it and send it back. In this case, shall I enter the expiry year of my previous passport as 2024?

No. The passport's expiration date is and always will be 2030. If it is cancelled in 2024, it will have a cancellation date in 2024, but until you get it back or are otherwise notified of its cancellation, you should assume that it is valid and report it as such to the United States.

Just fill out the application truthfully according to the facts as you have them at the time of the application. There's no reason any of this should cause any problems.

* You only need to present yourself as a dual citizen if they ask specifically about it. In general, it's fine to present one passport when you're asked for a passport, but the ESTA application asks you to disclose all of your citizenships.

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  • There's another answer from the original querent that provides an important detail: their first country does not recognize dual citizenships. Will it change any aspect of your answer?
    – svavil
    Commented Aug 4 at 9:42
  • @svavil yes there are some minor details I would add, depending on whether the country considers that the naturalization resulted in the automatic loss of nationality or if it really is necessary to renounce before the nationality is lost, but I don't have time just now. I'll try to do it in the next day or so.
    – phoog
    Commented Aug 4 at 12:54
  • @phoog: It means I can mention that I am a dual citizen in the application (as this is the current official status until my renunciation is officially confirmed) and if my received my renunciation confirmation before my travel, I do not need to update the ESTA application with this information. Also it does not matter for US whether my previous allows dual citizenship or not. Is that correct?
    – golfie
    Commented Aug 5 at 12:44
  • Guys, wanted to update that today I applied for ESTA and mentioned that I have dual citizenship and my past passport is valid till 2030 (since this is the current official status until I receive citizenship renunciation and passport cancellation confirmation). The application is authorized in 2 hours. Thanks a lot to all of you for proper guidance.
    – golfie
    Commented Aug 7 at 21:52

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