State Department Reduces Fee to Renounce US Citizenship

The State Department has cut the fee for people to renounce their US citizenship by more than 80%, in a victory for so-called “accidental Americans” who had challenged the fee.

The fee is being reduced to $450 from the current $2,350 under final rules the department issued Thursday. The reduction is intended to “help alleviate the cost burden” for people renouncing citizenship, the department said.

“Accidental Americans” are people who are nominally US citizens by birth, but who live abroad and have no other significant ties to the US. Many want to renounce US citizenship because the US taxes its ...