US Citizenship Renunciation Fee Drops to $450
On April 13, 2026, the fee to renounce US citizenship drops from $2,350 to $450. The State Department published the final rule in the Federal Register on March 13, restoring the pre-2015 price after years of legal pressure from advocacy groups representing Americans abroad.
The original hike to $2,350 came in 2014, when the department argued it needed to cover rising administrative costs. That made the US fee the highest in the world for a citizenship exit.
The numbers
In 2024, 4,820 Americans renounced, a 48% increase over 2023 and the third-highest annual figure on record. The third quarter alone saw 2,123 renunciations, the highest quarterly count since late 2016.
A 2025 survey by Greenback Tax Services found that 49% of US expats are planning to renounce or seriously considering it, up from 30% in 2024. The top reasons: tax filing burden, political dissatisfaction, and FATCA-related banking restrictions.
FATCA and banking
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, enacted in 2010, requires foreign financial institutions to report accounts held by US persons to the IRS. The compliance cost for banks is significant, and many have responded by simply refusing American clients. Expats in Europe and Asia routinely report being turned away when opening accounts, applying for mortgages, or setting up investment portfolios.
The US is one of only two countries (the other is Eritrea) that taxes citizens on worldwide income regardless of residence. Even Americans who haven't lived in the US for decades must file annual returns and report foreign bank accounts exceeding $10,000 via FBAR. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion covers up to $130,000 in earned income, but investment income, pensions, and capital gains get no such relief.
The exit tax
Renouncing doesn't mean walking away tax-free. The IRS applies an expatriation tax to "covered expatriates," defined as anyone with a net worth over $2 million, an average annual tax liability exceeding $206,000 over the prior five years, or failure to certify five years of tax compliance.
Covered expatriates face a mark-to-market regime: the IRS treats all worldwide assets as sold on the day before expatriation. Unrealized gains above $910,000 (the 2026 exclusion amount) are taxed at capital gains rates. Retirement accounts are hit harder. Deferred-compensation plans and IRAs are taxed from the first dollar, with no exclusion applied.
Who this affects
"Accidental Americans" are a large part of the story. These are people born in the US to foreign parents, or born abroad to American parents, who left as children and have no practical ties to the country. Many only discover their US tax obligations when a foreign bank flags their birthplace. For them, the $2,350 fee was an expensive exit from a citizenship they never used.
The fee reduction also matters for long-term expats who've built lives abroad and concluded that the filing burden outweighs the passport's benefits. With a $450 fee instead of $2,350, the financial barrier drops substantially.
What doesn't change
The exit tax remains. FATCA remains. The requirement to file five years of back taxes before renouncing remains. The $450 fee covers the administrative processing of the Certificate of Loss of Nationality. Everything else in the process stays the same.
tl;dr
The fee to renounce US citizenship drops 80% on April 13, 2026, from $2,350 to $450. Renunciations hit 4,820 in 2024, and nearly half of expats are considering it. FATCA banking restrictions and worldwide tax obligations are the primary drivers. The exit tax on covered expatriates (unrealized gains above $910,000) still applies.