Citizenship of the United States
A person who is considered a citizen by more than one nation has "dual citizenship". It is possible for a United States citizen to have dual citizenship; this can be achieved in various ways, such as by birth in the United States to a parent who is a citizen of a foreign country (or in certain circumstances the foreign nationality may be transmitted even by a grandparent) by birth in another country to a parent(s) who is/are a United States citizen/s, or by having parents who are citizens of different countries. Anyone who becomes a naturalized U.S. citizen is required to renounce any prior "allegiance" to other countries during the naturalization ceremony; however, this renunciation of allegiance renunciation of citizenship to those countries.
Accidental American
Many accidental Americans who become aware of their U.S. citizenship status begin looking into ways of renouncing or relinquishing it. Although it is possible for children to acquire U.S. citizenship "accidentally" without any voluntary action on their part, under current law they cannot lose that citizenship status accidentally or automatically as adults; instead, they must take voluntary action to give it up. United States nationality law () formerly provided for automatic loss of U.S. citizenship by dual citizens resident abroad, but this was repealed by the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1978 (; ).