Originally Posted by
lhrsfo
As the foreign born child of a US citizen mother, I automatically got citizenship of the country of my birth (UK) and also could obtain US citizenship. But the latter is one of the few citizenships you don’t want to have if you have no intention of living there because its egregious tax laws make it an extremely expensive option.
Depending on when you were born and how long your US citizen mother had been a US citizen and resident in the US, you may be a US citizen by birth. The citizenship is what it is, with or without parental application for a CRBA and/or passport.
There are foreign-born US citizens who don't know they are US citizens. Technically, the extremely expensive option isn't an option for many such persons, and it is just potentially an extremely expensive outcome, whether or not they know they are US citizens. In practical terms, however, not having been documented as a US citizen can be ordinarily a cheaper outcome for such unrecognized US dual-citizens; however, under the letter of the law, the outcome is supposed to be pretty expensive for such persons too.