I'm not Scottish

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Persons seeking US citizenship are required to make a formal renunciation of their former citizenship; the position regarding US citizens taking up foreign citizenship is slightly different. The position seems to be that, if traveling abroad on other than a US passport, the individual is deemed to have elected different citizenship, and is therefor of no concern to the US government. If a US citizen acquires foreign citizenship by residence abroad, in so far as he still is required to pays his taxes in the US, he is still regarded as a US citizen regardless of the status accorded him in the host country. Should a US citizen, a bona fide non-resident of the United States, take up foreign nationality he must formally resign his US citizenship or he will continue to be regarded as a US citizen. However, even having resigned his citizenship, he will still be subject to US tax laws for a period of five years after the date of the resignation of citizenship.

One other caveat is that even though the person claiming dual nationality may be wearing a kilt, that is no guarantee that the moderators won't flag this thread for getting waaay off topic.

[Colin]

One other caveat is that even though the person claiming dual nationality may be wearing a kilt, that is no guarantee that the moderators won't flag this thread for getting waaay off topic.

Excellent point. I am sure more than one of us is watching the thread too. This topic seems to come up fairly regularly.

[O'Callaghan]

Persons seeking US citizenship are required to make a formal renunciation of their former citizenship; the position regarding US citizens taking up foreign citizenship is slightly different. The position seems to be that, if traveling abroad on other than a US passport, the individual is deemed to have elected different citizenship, and is therefor of no concern to the US government. If a US citizen acquires foreign citizenship by residence abroad, in so far as he still is required to pays his taxes in the US, he is still regarded as a US citizen regardless of the status accorded him in the host country. Should a US citizen, a bona fide non-resident of the United States, take up foreign nationality he must formally resign his US citizenship or he will continue to be regarded as a US citizen. However, even having resigned his citizenship, he will still be subject to US tax laws for a period of five years after the date of the resignation of citizenship.

One other caveat is that even though the person claiming dual nationality may be wearing a kilt, that is no guarantee that the moderators won't flag this thread for getting waaay off topic.

I don't think it's that far off topic. The subject was can you say you are Scottish if you aren't from there. My take is that you can, but only if you can claim to be a Brit via somebody else who was born in Scotland. I'm simply ignoring subjective opinions and looking at what the law says, adjusting slightly for the fact that since 1707 there ain't no such thing as Scottish citizenship.

This leads into whether you are actually allowed to be both a Brit plus whatever else you may be. The US rule prohibits it, but the UK doesn't recognise any rule against dual citizenship per se, and the rule against being a citizen of two commonwealth countries, which I think the UK still recognises, is no longer recognised by Canada, apparently, so it seems you can be a Scottish Canadian or a Scottish American in actual fact, not just in a loose sense meaning only by descent, notwithstanding any renunciation you might make in the US that the UK won't recognise.

[McClef]

These citizenship discussions are all fascinating but I'm not sure how they fully relate to the original idea of the thread.

But Scottishness can't be based upon citizenship as such as Scotland is, until further notice, part of the United Kingdom, so other criteria need to be considered in its determination.

[CDNSushi]

IMHO, this thread's just begging to get locked.

Well, okay -- maybe not necessarily locked, but if this were on any of the other boards where I hang out from time to time, it would have been "split" from the original thread into its own, specific one.

Just sayin'.

[Woodsheal]