- The State Department slashed renunciation fees from $2,350 to just $450 starting April 13, 2026.
- The 80% reduction targets financial barriers for expats seeking to document their loss of U.S. nationality.
- A 2020 lawsuit and FATCA concerns pressured the government to return to a subsidized fee model.
(UNITED STATES) — The U.S. Department of State published a final rule on March 13, 2026 cutting the fee for administrative processing of a Request for a Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN) from $2,350 to $450.
The change, set to take effect on April 13, 2026, reduces what many U.S. nationals abroad have treated as a steep cost barrier when seeking documentation that they have lost U.S. nationality.
State Department officials framed the shift as a return to a subsidized model, after years of legal pressure and advocacy centered on people who said the higher fee burdened their right to expatriate.
A Certificate of Loss of Nationality is the U.S. government’s administrative documentation reflecting a person’s loss of U.S. nationality, rather than the act of renunciation or relinquishment itself.
U.S. nationals seeking that documentation typically pursue it through consular channels abroad, rather than through domestic immigration agencies.
The new fee applies to U.S. nationals, including citizens and non-citizen nationals, who request a CLN under 8 U.S.C. 1481(a)(5) for renunciation or other applicable subsections for relinquishment.
The State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs oversees the renunciation process and the consular fee schedule for services performed abroad, while USCIS and DHS handle domestic immigration and naturalization functions.
Alongside the fee cut, the final rule offered a rationale tied both to cost complaints and to difficulties reported by some U.S. nationals overseas who face U.S. tax and financial reporting obligations.
“After significant deliberation, taking into account both the affected public’s concerns regarding the cost of the fee and the not insignificant anecdotal evidence regarding tax-related difficulties many U.S. nationals residing abroad encounter, including in part because of FATCA, the Department made a policy decision… to propose alleviating the cost burden for those individuals who decide to request CLN services by returning to the below-cost fee of $450.”
The department added, “This action is being taken to help alleviate the cost burden for those individuals who decide to request CLN services by returning to the below-cost fee that was in place from 2010-2014.”
The rule’s financial impact is straightforward: it resets a citizenship renunciation fee tied to CLN processing to $450, down from $2,350, an 80% reduction.
Officials also described the current action as reversing a post-2014 approach that set the fee to cover full administrative costs, and replacing it with a “below-cost” level that the department described as subsidized.
The fee has shifted repeatedly over time, reflecting changes in how the government priced consular services tied to loss-of-nationality determinations.
Prior to 2010, renouncing U.S. citizenship carried no consular fee, before a $450 fee was introduced in 2010 and then increased to $2,350 in 2014.
Friday’s action returns the charge to a below-cost figure that the department said “was in place from 2010-2014,” ending a period in which the higher fee applied for more than a decade.
The reduction follows years of pressure from groups including the Association of Accidental Americans (AAA), which has argued that the prior price created a prohibitive barrier for people seeking to formalize the loss of U.S. nationality.
Many of the individuals at the center of that campaign are “Accidental Americans,” described as people born in the U.S. to foreign parents who left the country as infants and later found themselves treated as U.S. citizens for tax and reporting purposes.
Advocates have tied that pressure to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which they say can leave U.S. nationals abroad confronting financial compliance demands even when they have limited connections to the United States.
In December 2020, the AAA and 20 individuals filed a lawsuit challenging the $2,350 fee as a violation of the Fifth Amendment and a barrier to a fundamental right.
Court filings in early 2023 signaled the State Department’s intent to lower the fee, but the final rule did not arrive until March 13, 2026.
For people who have delayed seeking CLN documentation because of cost, the lower fee removes an immediate financial hurdle, though the underlying decision to renounce or relinquish remains consequential.
Renunciation is a final and irrevocable act that results in the loss of U.S. protection, the right to vote, and unrestricted entry into the United States.
Some individuals may also face tax and reporting consequences, including the possibility of a U.S. exit tax for wealthy individuals or “covered expatriates,” depending on personal circumstances.
The State Department’s move could also affect demand for consular appointments, because CLN services are handled overseas through U.S. embassies and consulates.
Readers can verify the fee change through the Federal Register posting for Schedule of Fees for Consular Services-Fee for Administrative Processing of Request for Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States and consult the Bureau of Consular Affairs page on Renunciation of U.S. Nationality Abroad for general guidance on the process.
