136/256
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Melbourne (Sammons)
Sir: The Department has received your despatch No. 772 of November 7, 1921, in reference to its instruction of July 22, concerning the citizenship status of Americans naturalized in Australia. [Page 269] You call attention to the proviso of Section 2 of the Act of March 2, 1907, that “no American citizen shall be allowed to expatriate himself while this country is at war”, and to the Joint Resolution of Congress of July 2, 1921, terminating the War; and you inquire concerning the status of any American who may have been naturalized in Australia between April 6, 1917, and July 2, 1921.
You are informed that the Department is of the opinion that the first paragraph of Section 2 of the Act of March 2, 1907, refers not merely to the act of naturalization but to the state of owing allegiance to a foreign government as well. Accordingly, whatever may have been the effect of the Joint Resolution of March 3, 1921, the Department understands that in view of the Joint Resolution of July 2, 1921, terminating the state of war, Americans who were naturalized while this country was at war and who remained citizens of the foreign state on the date last mentioned must be deemed expatriated as of that date.
I am [etc.]