there are generally two categories of grounds for loss of citizenship. "involuntary loss" may occur due to either automatic lapse of citizenship from the citizen for failure to take some action to retain citizenship, or active withdrawal of citizenship by the country. in contrast, "voluntary loss", often called "relinquishment" or "renunciation", is initiated by the citizen. it is not always easy to make a clean distinction between the two categories: loss of citizenship due to an initial cause undertaken voluntarily (for example, voluntarily serving in a foreign military or voluntarily naturalising as a citizen of a foreign country) could be seen either as "voluntary loss" or "involuntary loss".