To make the situation even weirder, &quot;giving up citizenship&quot; to avoid these complications is difficult and expensive for US expats.<p>Renunciation of US citizenship was free until July 2010, the same year that FACTA went into effect.  At that time US embassies started charging a $450 fee to renounce citizenship.  In September 2014, this fee was raised to $2,350.<p>So an American family of four, living abroad, who wants to renounce their US citizenship needs to come up with $9400 to do so.