‘Accidental Americans’ Sue Over Fee to Renounce U.S. Citizenship

An advocacy group representing overseas U.S. citizens sued the State Department over what it argues is an unconstitutional fee Americans must pay to renounce their citizenship.

State established a $450 fee for processing renunciation requests in 2010, which the complaint cites as the first time in U.S. history the government imposed a fee as a precondition to expatriate. That fee was later increased to $2,350, a move State said was necessary to cover what amounts to a “close and detailed case-by-case review.”

The Paris-based Association of Accidental Americans, in a lawsuit filed Tuesday with the ...