WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has slashed by about 80% the fee for Americans to formally renounce their U.S. citizenship.
After years of legal battles with several groups representing Americans wanting to give up their citizenship, the department on Friday published a final rule in the Federal Register that reduces the cost from $2,350 to $450.
The new fee, effective April 13, had been promised in 2023 but had never been implemented. The cost is now the same as it was when the State Department first started charging Americans to formally renounce their citizenship in 2010.
Renouncing U.S. citizenship can be an intensive and lengthy process. Applicants must repeatedly confirm in multiple written and verbal attestations to a State Department consular officer that they understand the implications of the step before being allowed to take a formal oath of renunciation. It must then be reviewed by the department.
The fee was raised from $450 to $2,350 in 2015 to cover the administrative expenses as the number of people wanting to renounce their citizenship surged in part due to new U.S. tax reporting requirements for American expatriates that angered many.
That dramatic fee increase drew significant opposition from groups such as the France-based Association of Accidental Americans, which represents people mainly living abroad whose U.S. citizenship is due purely to their having been born in the United States.
The association filed several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the fee, including one that remains pending that argues there should be no cost at all for renouncing one’s citizenship.
“The Association of Accidental Americans welcomes this decision, which acknowledges the necessity of making this fundamental right accessible to all,” its president, Fabien Lehagre, said in a statement. “This victory is the direct result of six years of relentless legal action and advocacy.”
In court, the association said since the 2023 announcement that the fee would be reduced at least 8,755 Americans had paid the full $2,350 to renounce their citizenship. The State Department did not provide numbers for the total number of Americans who have renounced their citizenship.
This story has been corrected to reflect that the reduced fees are effective on April 13, not March 13.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a working lunch at the Shield of the Americas Summit, Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Trump National Doral Miami in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
HOUSTON (AP) — Pro Bowl linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair will remain with the Houston Texans through the 2029 season after signing a three-year extension this week.
The Texans didn’t release terms of the deal when they announced it Friday, but it is reportedly worth $54 million.
“Truthfully, I just wanted to be authentically myself and I always felt like if I got the opportunity to be at a place and show everybody who I was, then things would go well for the team and myself,” he said. “I’m grateful for that.”
His deal comes on the heels of defensive end Will Anderson signing a three-year, $150 million contract extension with the Texans that makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history
Al-Shaair has spent the last two seasons with the Texans, appearing in 27 games with 173 tackles, eight tackles for losses, two sacks, 13 passes defensed, two interceptions and three forced fumbles.
Last season, he was selected for his first Pro Bowl after making 16 starts for a defense that allowed the fewest yards in the NFL (277.2 per game) and averaged the second-fewest points allowed (17.4) in the regular season.
Al-Shaair joined the Texans after spending the 2023 season with the Titans. He was an undrafted free agent who spent his first four seasons in San Francisco, where he appeared in 56 games and had 199 tackles and 11 tackles for losses.
Al-Shaair was honored for his off-field work last season when he was named Houston’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award recipient. He supports numerous charities that support homeless youth after experiencing homelessness growing up after his family’s home was destroyed in a fire.
Al-Shaair said Friday that his mother didn’t want him to play football as a child because she didn’t want him to get hurt. He begged her and made a promise that he has since fulfilled.
“We were staying in a motel at the time, (and I said) ‘I promise you, if you let me play football I’m going to make it to the NFL, I’ll take care of our family one day,’” he said. “I had no clue if I was ever actually going to be able to do it or not. I never saw it done. ... So, to sit here years and years later, to be actually living that out, is absolutely amazing.”
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Houston Texans' Azeez Al-Shaair poses with his mother Naadhirah Lennon during a press conference at the NFL football team's facility, Friday, May 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
Houston Texans' Azeez Al-Shaair talks about his contract extension during a press conference at the NFL football team's facility, Friday, May 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
Houston Texans' Azeez Al-Shaair with his mother, Naadhirah Lennon, center, and Texan's owner Cal McNair, his wife, Hannah and their son, Calhoun McNair, far right, pose during a press conference at the NFL football team's facility, Friday, May 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
Houston Texans' Azeez Al-Shaair talks about his contract extension during a press conference at the NFL football team's facility, Friday, May 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)
