Exactly 3,000 Americans shed their U.S. citizenship in 2013, according to lists published by the Treasury Department. But the total raises more questions than it answers.
Parallel statistics kept by the FBI show 3,128 Americans renounced citizenship in 2013. But that includes only one of two possible processes (the other is “relinquishment”), so there’s no way the Treasury Department’s number, which includes both, could be lower.
The Treasury Department’s lists, published quarterly in the Federal Register, are plagued with data quality issues. (In 2010, an ex-citizen’s surname was listed as “Vice Consul”.)
The total published number of expatriates for 2013 comes to exactly 3,000. But one name for Q4 seems to be part of a residential address in Switzerland, and in the 2013 data taken as a whole, 20 names are duplicated.
In the four years of data between 2010 and 2013, covering 7,247 people, 53 names are duplicated.
A Manitoba woman who relinquished in the same period, who also asked not to be identified because she feared “my file being marked for extra hassle at the US border,” said her name never appeared on the list, a claim Global News has verified.
The U.S. Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.
READ: More than 3,100 Americans renounced citizenship last year: FBI
Duplicated names and errors in the U.S. Federal Register list of ex-citizens, 2010-13
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