Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno introduced legislation Monday requiring all US citizens to renounce any foreign citizenship within one year or automatically forfeit their American nationality.
The Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025 aims to establish “sole and exclusive allegiance to the United States” by prohibiting Americans from holding dual citizenship. Current law permits citizens to maintain nationality in multiple countries.
Moreno’s bill declares that preserving national citizenship integrity requires “allegiance to the United States must be undivided.” The legislation identifies existing dual citizenship policies as potential sources of “conflicts of interest and divided loyalties.”
Americans holding foreign citizenship would face a binary choice under the proposal. They must submit written renunciation of either their foreign or US citizenship within one year of enactment. Failure to comply triggers automatic loss of American citizenship status.
The measure extends beyond current dual citizens. Any American who voluntarily acquires foreign citizenship after the bill’s passage “shall be deemed to have relinquished United States citizenship” immediately.
Moreno, who immigrated from Colombia as a child and renounced his Colombian citizenship at 18, frames the legislation through his personal experience.
Becoming an American citizen represented “one of the greatest honors of my life,” he notes, describing his naturalization as pledging allegiance “to the United States of America and ONLY to the United States of America.”
The senator characterizes American citizenship as operating on an all-or-nothing principle. “If you want to be an American, it’s all or nothing,” he argues, concluding that dual citizenship should end permanently.
Implementation responsibility falls to multiple federal agencies. Within 180 days of enactment, the State Department must establish regulations covering “declaration, verification, and recordkeeping of exclusive citizenship.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must coordinate with the Attorney General to ensure individuals who relinquish citizenship receive appropriate classification as aliens under immigration law.
DHS faces an additional mandate to publish a Federal Register notification about the one-year compliance requirement.
The proposal enters Congress as President Donald Trump pursues broader immigration enforcement. Trump’s administration has focused on ending birthright citizenship, though courts have stalled that effort.
The Supreme Court has not taken up the birthright citizenship question despite the administration’s push.
Legal precedent may complicate Moreno’s effort. The Supreme Court addressed dual citizenship during the 1950s and has maintained that position through subsequent decades.
Congress has seen sporadic attempts to restrict dual citizenship. Recent House Republican proposals sought either mandatory disclosure of foreign citizenship on candidacy statements or outright prohibition of dual citizens serving in Congress.
The State Department currently recognizes that dual citizens owe allegiance to both countries and must comply with laws in each jurisdiction. Dual citizenship can facilitate international travel efficiency and enable property ownership or business operations abroad.
Bill Targets Millions, Including Trump’s Children
Should the legislation pass, it could affect prominent Americans holding multiple citizenships. First Lady Melania Trump and her son Barron Trump maintain both US and Slovenian citizenship, according to reporting.
David Lesperance, managing director of Lesperance & Associates, points out that the bill’s passage would force “almost all of Donald Trump’s own children” to choose between their US citizenship and the Czech and Slovenian citizenships they inherited from their mothers.
So-called “Accidental Americans” face particular complications under the proposal, according to Lesperance. These individuals, who inherited US citizenship from an American parent but live abroad, would be “forced to choose between the US citizenship they inherited from their American parent and their foreign citizenship.”
Lesperance raises a procedural question about whether the current $2,350 renunciation fee would be waived “if the loss is forced on them through their failure to renounce their foreign citizenship.”
The bill defines foreign citizenship as “any status recognized by the government of a foreign country that confers on an individual the nationality or citizenship of such country or requires the allegiance of an individual to such country.”
Enforcement mechanisms would require federal agencies to track citizenship renunciations and update immigration systems.
The legislation mandates that those who lose their US citizenship, whether through voluntary renunciation or automatic forfeiture, be “appropriately recorded in Federal systems and treated as an alien for purposes of the immigration laws.”
The legislation takes effect 180 days after enactment, providing a brief window before the one-year decision period begins for existing dual citizens.
Lesperance cautions that tax implications could prove severe for many dual citizens forced to choose. The expatriation tax regime applies not only to those with more than $2 million in net worth or high income tax obligations over the past five years, but also to “those whose tax affairs for the past five years are not in order.”
He says this creates exposure to “an immediate capital gains bill” and a 40% inheritance tax bill that would pass to US heirs, Lesperance warns.
Whether the proposal commands sufficient support to clear both congressional chambers and secure presidential approval remains uncertain, according to Lesperance.
Moreno’s office emphasized that the timing aligns with broader Republican efforts on immigration policy. Republican state attorneys general have backed Trump’s birthright citizenship push in court filings, though those cases remain in preliminary stages.
No co-sponsors appeared on the bill’s initial introduction. Congressional leadership has not indicated whether the measure will receive committee hearings or floor consideration.
