Originally Posted by
STBCypriot
So, would it be useful to ask the people at the US embassy in Nicosia what the difference between relinquishing and renouncing US citizenship is and how one goes about either (though I think I clearly understand the renunciation process and associated fees and tax requirements)? Somehow I have my doubts they would have any answers for me, especially since they couldn't even correctly renew my US passport 2 years ago.
You can ask. However, IIRC, ACS and others at US Embassies/Consulates are generally directed to steer people to retain their own legal advisors on such matters. They do provide info about the consequences of losing citizenship but, for informational purposes, they don't generally segment the particular consequences by the various paths of losing citizenship (and consequently being recognized as having lost US citizenship) and go into the nuances of matters in this area. A big reason the costs for renunciation was jacked up because these loss of citizenship reviews go back to DC for more extensive legal reviews and because the volume of requests and work related to each request involving this have increased a lot.