State Department slashes fee to renounce US citizenship by 80% to $450

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a working lunch at the Shield of the Americas Summit, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Trump National Doral Miami in Doral, Fla.

State Department slashes fee to renounce US citizenship by 80% to $450

WASHINGTON — The cost for Americans to formally renounce their U.S. citizenship has been reduced by around 80% by the State Department.

The department released a final rule in the Federal Register on Friday that lowers the price from $2,350 to $450, following years of court disputes with various organizations representing Americans seeking to renounce their citizenship.

The new fee, which was announced in 2023 but never put into practice, went into force on Friday. Since the State Department began charging Americans to formally renounce their citizenship in 2010, the price has remained the same.

It can be a difficult and drawn-out process to renounce U.S. citizenship. Before being permitted to take a formal oath of renunciation, applicants must regularly affirm in writing and verbally to a State Department consular officer that they comprehend the implications of the action. The department must then review it.

In order to pay for the administrative costs, the charge was increased from $450 to $2,350 in 2015 as the number of people wishing to renounce their citizenship increased, partly as a result of new U.S. tax reporting requirements for American expatriates that infuriated many.

Groups like the France-based Association of Accidental Americans, which represents individuals primarily residing overseas whose U.S. citizenship is solely based on their birth in the country, strongly opposed that drastic tax rise.

The group filed many lawsuits contesting the fee's constitutionality, one of which is still unresolved and contends that renouncing one's citizenship should not incur any fees at all.

The president of the Association of Accidental Americans, Fabien Lehagre, issued a statement saying, "The Association of Accidental Americans welcomes this decision, which acknowledges the necessity of making this fundamental right accessible to all." "Six years of unrelenting legal action and advocacy directly led to this victory."

The association said in court that at least 8,755 Americans had paid the full $2,350 to renounce their citizenship since the 2023 announcement that the charge would be lowered. The overall number of Americans who have renounced their citizenship was not disclosed by the State Department