As Washington flirts with banning dual nationality and Paris prepares tougher citizenship rules, Americans in France must suddenly weigh passports against families, careers and identities they thought were secure.

A radical U.S. bill with global consequences

In early December, Ohio Republican senator Bernie Moreno introduced the “Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025,” a bill that would ban dual or multiple nationality for all U.S. citizens, whether they live in the United States or abroad. The proposal asserts that Americans should owe “sole and exclusive allegiance” to the United States, sweeping away the decades‑old tolerance that has allowed millions to hold more than one passport.​

If enacted in its current form, the bill would do three unprecedented things: bar Americans from acquiring any new foreign nationality, force existing dual citizens to choose between their passports within a year, and treat those who refuse as if they had voluntarily relinquished U.S. citizenship. It would also create a federal registry of dual nationals and reclassify former citizens as foreign nationals for immigration purposes, dramatically changing how Americans who give up their passport could re‑enter the country of their birth.​

A direct threat to Americans seeking French passports

For the estimated tens of thousands of Americans living in France, the text lands at the very moment many are looking to naturalise for practical reasons: free movement within the EU, voting rights, and long‑term stability after years of precarious visas and prefecture appointments. Under the bill, any American in France who applies for and obtains French citizenship would automatically lose U.S. citizenship, regardless of whether France itself allows dual nationality.​

This would hit several distinct groups hard: long‑term residents with French spouses and children, professionals whose careers now depend on EU mobility, and younger Americans who came as students and stayed. The bill would also retroactively corner current Franco‑American dual citizens, forcing them to renounce either their French or U.S. nationality within a year or be stripped of their American citizenship by operation of law.​

France tightens the door just as Washington moves the goalposts

At the same time, France itself is moving toward a stricter, more conditional approach to becoming French. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has announced a May 2025 circular that tightens naturalisation rules from January 2026 onward, requiring higher French language proficiency, a tougher civic test on history and values, proof of financial independence and a spotless criminal record with no prison sentences over six months.​

Other proposals under debate go even further, including ending automatic birthright citizenship and replacing it with an application‑based model, alongside longer detention for undocumented migrants and tighter access to healthcare. Human‑rights organisations argue that instead of hardening citizenship criteria, the government should fix the chronic delays and confusion around residency permits that already leave many foreign residents in legal and economic limbo.​

A shrinking margin for error in everyday life

For Americans in France, this convergence of policies means the margin for error is narrowing on both sides of the Atlantic. A residency card that expires while an application is stuck in prefecture backlogs can already jeopardise jobs, rentals and healthcare; add the risk that a move toward French nationality could trigger automatic loss of U.S. citizenship, and routine administrative choices become existential calculations.​

Incidents in U.S. airports already suggest growing unease around dual nationals, with some reports of officers informally asking Americans with a second passport to present it, blurring once‑clear rules that U.S. citizens on U.S. soil should be treated only as Americans. For Franco‑Americans shuttling between New York and Paris, each border crossing now carries a psychological question: how many more years will both passports be welcome?​

Identity, loyalty and the politics of belonging

Beyond law and paperwork, the dual‑citizenship debate is reopening long‑simmering questions about identity and allegiance. Supporters of the U.S. bill claim exclusive citizenship is necessary to ensure undivided loyalty, while French advocates of tougher rules argue that more demanding language and civic tests will strengthen integration and national cohesion.​

Critics in both countries counter that these measures target precisely those who have already done the work of putting down roots—working, paying taxes, raising binational families, learning the language and engaging in civic life. For many Americans in France, the implicit accusation stings: the idea that building a life on two shores is evidence of divided loyalties, rather than proof of deep commitment to both societies.​

Choosing a passport, or refusing the choice

If the Exclusive Citizenship Act remains on the table in Washington while France continues to harden its own rules, Americans in France will increasingly confront stark choices. Some may decide that an EU passport, family unity and social protections in France outweigh the right to vote in U.S. elections, consular protection and unconditional re‑entry to the United States.​

Others may pull back from French naturalisation altogether, accepting permanent foreigner status in the place they now call home to preserve the U.S. citizenship they grew up believing was irrevocable. Still others will hope the political winds shift, betting that a bill so sweeping—and so disruptive to millions of Americans worldwide—will ultimately die in committee, even as its mere existence has already shaken their sense of security.

Source: Genevieve Mansfield, “Americans in France: Dual citizenship threatened and 2025’s big changes”, The Local France