The quarterly list of people giving up US citizenship shrank to 1,331 names in the third quarter of 2026, the first full quarter in which Americans renouncing US citizenship paid $450 instead of $2,350. The count moved the wrong way. The Internal Revenue Service published the list Oct. 30, covering information Treasury received from July 1 through Sept. 30.
That’s 25.3% below the 1,781 names on the second-quarter list and 16.4% below the 1,593 published for the same quarter of 2025. It’s the smallest of this year’s three lists.
The third quarter was supposed to be the first clean test of the fee cut, since the $450 charge applied from its opening day. The result isn’t that clean. Consular queues mean many people who booked at the lower price likely haven’t reached the list yet.
The third-quarter list by the numbers
The 2026 lists so far:
Q1 2026: 1,462 names
Q2 2026: 1,781 names
Q3 2026: 1,331 names
Through Sept. 30: 4,574 names
Third-quarter lists have now dropped two years running. The list for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2024, carried 2,123 names, and the 2025 version carried 1,593.
The rolling four-quarter total fell to 5,528 from 5,790 at the end of June, which was the highest four-quarter total since 2020.
Why did the count fall after renunciation got cheaper?
The data can’t say for certain, but timing offers the strongest explanation. The State Department published its final rule March 13, and the $450 fee took effect April 13. Every renunciation still requires an in-person oath before a consular officer abroad.
In London, the wait for a renunciation appointment topped 10 months as the rule came out, with appointments landing about a year after applicants joined the waitlist and certificates arriving roughly three months after the interview. According to some immigration attorneys, Toronto’s wait runs about two years. Though, it's important to note that AER has not independently verified these numbers.
On those alleged timelines, someone who joined a London waitlist the day the cut was announced probably hasn’t taken the oath. The list also keys to when Treasury receives paperwork, not the date of the oath. So a large share of the 1,331 names likely trace to renunciations completed at $2,350.
Not everyone on the list pays the fee
The list isn’t limited to former citizens. Long-term green-card holders who end US residence for tax purposes are treated as if they were citizens who lost citizenship, the notice states.
Those former residents don’t request a Certificate of Loss of Nationality, the State Department document that confirms someone is no longer a US citizen. The $450 charge applies to that certificate, so the fee cut never reached them.
The nine-month total is still up 16.2%
The quarterly dip doesn’t erase the year. The three 2026 lists total 4,574 names, 16.2% more than the 3,935 on the first three lists of 2025.
That puts 2026 at roughly 94% of the 4,888 names published for all of 2025, with one list left. The fourth-quarter list typically appears early in the new year.
The lead has shrunk, though. Through June, 2026 ran 38.5% ahead of the first half of 2025, and a softer third quarter cut that margin by more than half.
What the data does and doesn’t show about Americans renouncing citizenship
The quarterly list carries names and nothing else. It can’t show whether the third-quarter dip came from former Americans in Switzerland, Canada or the United Kingdom, or whether waitlists grew after April.
Demand is harder still to see. The fee rule put estimated fiscal 2024 demand at 4,661 requests for the certificate, and the State Department doesn’t publish a central table of renunciation wait times.
The verdict on the $450 fee likely arrives in 2027. That’s when people who joined the queue this spring should reach the front of it, and their names should reach Treasury.
