U.S. Citizen Renunciation Rates Up Amidst Political Instability BY: Teddy Skye Garcia Feb. 18, 2026, WASHINGTON–Despite it being her second winter in Berlin, Amelie just bought her first coat. As she walks through the snow to her German language class, she scrolls through social media and sees footage from an I.C.E raid from her hometown in California. She feels guilty, and yet she feels safer than ever. For a year, she told friends she was “abroad for now.” Lately, she has stopped adding the qualifier. Amelie Etheridge, 20, moved to Berlin in 2024 with her parents and two younger siblings. Her father’s work was promoting him, but it meant moving nearly 6,000 miles away. She expected to treat the experience as a gap year abroad before resuming her life in the United States. Instead, she found herself building a new one. She enrolled in language courses, formed friendships, and adapted to a different political, social, and meteorological climate. She settled in the city thinking her move would be temporary. Two years later, she seriously considers staying permanently. “I thought I would go back [to the U.S.] after a little while, but too much is happening to really think about it,” she said. “Germany doesn’t get everything right, but it’s like America is screaming at me to stay away.” Amelie is one of a growing number of American expats considering citizenship renunciation, which is the formal, legal process of giving up a U.S. passport. Renunciation consideration rates among Americans abroad jumped 63% from 2024 to 2025, according to a recent survey of expatriates and immigration advisors. More than half of those weighing the decision cite dissatisfaction with the political direction of the U.S. as a primary factor. In a period marked by polarization and uncertainty, some Americans abroad are no longer asking whether they will return home, but whether they will remain legally tied to it at all. “I’m one-quarter Palestinian, I’m non-binary, I’m a lesbian, I’m autistic, I’m a lot of things [President Trump] hates,” she said. “And even when he’s gone, what are you left with? I’m not going to spend years waiting on change that may never come.” Beyond individual identity concerns, broader political instability in the United States has fueled uncertainty among Americans living overseas. The reelection of Donald Trump followed years marked by increasing political violence and legal scholars have warned of democratic backsliding, pointing to clashes between federal courts and state governments and increasingly combative rhetoric toward the press and political opponents. For some expatriates, including Amelie and her family, the instability is less about a single policy and more about a sense that democracy feels fragile. As she watches from the sidelines of relative safety, Amelie worries about the future for herself and the country she left behind. “We kept thinking things would settle down, and it hasn’t. I’m scared of what it could become. I hope, for a lot of reasons, that it gets better… But I don't think I’d want to go back even if I could.”