As of April 2002, people can hold dual citizenship between the United
States and Australia.  I think it's wonderful, but why did it happen? 
Specifically, what is the governmental reason for allowing this?

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Clarification of Question by ccerberus-ga on 15 Nov 2002 00:36 PST

Regarding the comment that has been posted below:
Is that true?  If a US Citizen applies for Citizenship with Australia,
does the US Citizenship have to be surrendered?

Hi! Thanks for the question.

The following are the fundamental reasons put forward to the
government for pursuing the legality of dual citizenship in Australia:

“Economic globalisation, rapid developments in communications and
travel, and vastly increased personal mobility are impacting on
notions of national identity and citizenship world-side. Notions of
immigration are also changing, with competition for skilled migrants,
and with recognition of the increasing importance of temporary
movements and the impermanence of many 'permanent' movements.”

“The strongest argument in favour of dual citizenship at the beginning
of the new millennium in Australia is the estimated 4-5 million
Australians-people who have migrated and taken out Australian
citizenship, and their children-who are already dual citizens. The
proportion of the population who are dual citizens has increased, with
migration, over the last 50 years, and with little evidence of adverse
effects in terms of national cohesion or security.”

“While overall comparative data is lacking and conditions vary, the
international trend is clearly towards increasing numbers of dual
citizens, and the legalising by governments of dual citizenship.”

“Dual Citizenship in Australia”
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2000-01/01cib05.htm 
The Southern Cross Group website has tons of information in its
archives regarding the arguments about dual citizenship in Australia.
Just click on the folders so you could get the papers. The documents
are in PDF format so you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to read
it. In case you haven’t installed it yet here is a link so you could
download The Adobe Acrobat Reader
(http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html).

Dual Citizenship
http://www.southern-cross-group.org/archives/Dual%20Citizenship/index.html

In terms of the intricacies of US Dual Citizenship, here is the
official word from the US Department of State:

“A U.S. citizen may acquire foreign citizenship by marriage, or a
person naturalized as a U.S. citizen may not lose the citizenship of
the country of birth. U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or
require a person to choose one citizenship or another. Also, a person
who is automatically granted another citizenship does not risk losing
U.S. citizenship. However, a person who acquires a foreign citizenship
by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S.
citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the
foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the
intention to give up U.S. citizenship.”

“Intent can be shown by the person's statements or conduct. The U.S.
Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does not
encourage it as a matter of policy because of the problems it may
cause. Claims of other countries on dual national U.S. citizens may
conflict with U.S. law, and dual nationality may limit U.S. Government
efforts to assist citizens abroad. The country where a dual national
is located generally has a stronger claim to that person's
allegiance.”

Search terms used: 
US Australia "dual citizenship"

I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.

Thanks for visiting us.

Regards,
Easterangel-ga

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 15 Nov 2002 02:23 PST

Sorry about that. I forgot to put the link for the US Department of
State document. The link could be found here:

US Department of State: Dual Nationality
http://travel.state.gov/dualnationality.html

Best Regards,
Easterangel-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by ccerberus-ga on 15 Nov 2002 05:36 PST

Hello!  This is all excellent information.  Quite helpful.  The only
remaining area of question I have I'm afraid may not have an answer
(since the Dept. of State seems to have defined the area very loosely)
but I'll give it a shot.  If you can't find the answer, then that's
fine and I'll consider your job done.

The remaining question is, what defines "intent to lose U.S.
Citizenship"?  The paragraph beginning with "A U.S. Citizen may
acquire..." seems to imply that if I simply don't /want/ to lose my
U.S. Citizenship with a dual-citizenship country, then I won't.  But
then it says I may lose it if I "apply".  This seems very hard to nail
down.  The question: Do you have any idea what they use to judge
"intent"?

Thank you very much for your time.

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 15 Nov 2002 14:38 PST

Hi again! Thanks for asking a clarification before making a rating.

It seems that the answer could also be found in the US Department of
State website.

"When, as the result of an individual's inquiry or an individual's
application for registration or a passport it comes to the attention
of a U.S. consular officer that a U.S. citizen has performed an act
made potentially expatriating by Sections 349(a)(1), 349(a)(2),
349(a)(3) or 349(a)(4), the consular officer will simply ask the
applicant if there was intent to relinquish U.S. citizenship when
performing the act. If the answer is no, the consular officer will
certify that it was not the person's intent to relinquish U.S.
citizenship and, consequently, find that the person has retained U.S.
citizenship."

"If the answer to the question regarding intent to relinquish
citizenship is yes, the person concerned will be asked to complete a
questionnaire to ascertain his or her intent toward U.S. citizenship.
When the questionnaire is completed and the voluntary relinquishment
statement is signed by the expatriate, the consular officer will
proceed to prepare a certificate of loss of nationality. The
certificate will be forwarded to the Department of State for
consideration and, if appropriate, approval."

I hope this helps. I highly suggest that you consult with an
immigration lawyer before taking any action.

Thanks you again for using our service!

Regards,
Easterangel-ga

Thank you so much for your thorough answer!  This information is very
helpful to me, and I would not have stumbled upon it otherwise until
it was too late.

Just a comment to help the researchers...
Based on research I did recently for a dual French/US citizenship
question, there was no change on the US side. It would have to be a
change on the Australian side.

On the US side, previous citizenship isn't given up when you are sworn
in as a US citizen. A US citizen who voluntarily undertakes to apply
for other citizenship loses their US citizenship however.

So this change would be great for Australians but not that great for
US people.

Very interesting about the simple yes/no question regarding intent. I
would strongly advise seeking legal counsel in both countries.

During my research into French/US citizenship, I came across pages
that talked of the consequences of dual or giving up citizenship.
AMong the cases cited (many are at findlaw):

People who have applied for citizenship of another country, including
MExico and Canada (until the 70's) and that country's citizenship
pledge includes a promise to give up citizenship in another country.
Examples:
A guy who applied for Mexican citizenship, which included such a
promise, was involved in a car accident in California. He sued for
lost wages. It was successfully proven that since he had actually
given up US citizenship when he applied for Mexican citizenship, he
was an illegal alien and not eligible to earn wages in California. I
don't recall whether he had to then sue in Mexican court for his home
wages, or if the insurer just paid that, or if he got nothing. There
were a few cases involving the MExican citizenship, with the end
result being whatever rights/privilidges/benefits being sought were
denied because the person was no longer a US citizen.

Which is exactly what happened to a man who became a Canadian citizen
before our citizenship pledge was changed. He had been working here as
a teching assistant of some sort, and he wanted to work for Boy
Scouts. To do that he had to become a citizen, so he did. That
included the renouncing of his citizenship. That later became a
problem, so he tried to argue that he didn't intend to give up US
citizenship. The result was he didn't have to become a Canadian in
order to keep working, so he gave up his US citizenship voluntarily.

On the other hand, there was an American who became a Spanish citizen.
Part of that includes promising to renounce former citizenship. So he
did, but continued acting as a US citizen in every way. He did
something that got the US government's attention, and they charged him
with treason, or something like that. He tried to claim since he gave
up his US citizenship he couldn't be tried for treason. The government
argued that no matter what he had promised or signed, since he
continued to act as a US citizen, he still was. He was brought back to
the US to stand trial.

Go figure.

THe US government websites say that becoming a US citizen doesn't
automatically give up other citizenship. But part of the Pledge of
Allegiance that you have to take is promising your allegiance to the
united states. Whcih would seem to be a promise to give up other
citizenship.

Again, go figure.

If you still want to know why this happened?
Take a look at http://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html
It's very interesting.