Immigration Law Considerations, Lawful Permanent Residents, Statistics

The Number of LPRs “Leaving” the U.S. is 16X Greater than the Number of U.S. Citizens Renouncing Citizenship

By · November 19, 2014 · Updated June 3, 2026

The focus of Tax-Expatriation is to discuss legal matters of U.S. citizenship renunciation-relinquishment and lawful permanent residency abandonment.Chart - USCs Who Renounce Compared to LPRs who Abandon

There have been a great deal of resources discussing the number of USCs residing outside the U.S. and those who ultimately renounce citizenship.

See prior posts related to this topic –

The 2014 Third Quarter Renunciations Is probably the New Norm –

Wow, the number of 2,999 U.S. citizens who renounced in the year 2013 shattered the prior record set in 2011 of 1,782 renunciations. Why so many renunciations?

The List is Out – and Its 1,001 Former U.S. Citizens for the 1st Quarter 2014

There has not been any detailed discussion of the number of LPRs who leave the U.S. annually.  The data provided by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reflects about 16 times more LPRs formally abandon their lawful permanent residency status by filing Form I-407 compared to U.S. citizens who renounce. The chart here shows a comparison for the years 2000 through 2013 of the total (i) USCs who have renounced compared to (ii) LPRs who have formally abandoned that status.USCIS Table of I-407 Abandonments

Note that for the year 2013, it is only through May 2013, so the total abandoned for the entire calendar year 2013 could well exceed 20,000.

Of course, this statistic does NOT identify the number of total current 13.3+ million LPRs who leave the U.S. to live elsewhere in another country without completing Form I-407 and formally abandoning.  The estimated number of LPRs was 13.3 million for the year 2012 as reported by the Office of Statistics of the DHS. See, Estimates of the Legal Permanent Resident Population in 2012

See also  The Foreign-Born Population of the United States: Multi-National Families and “Tax Expatriation”

Patrick W. Martin

Patrick W. Martin

U.S. International Tax Lawyer · Shareholder, Chamberlain Hrdlicka

Patrick W. Martin is a U.S. tax lawyer licensed in California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., with 32+ years advising on the tax consequences of renouncing U.S. citizenship or abandoning lawful permanent residency. He served as lead counsel in Aroeste v. United States, the landmark federal case on green card holders, tax treaties, and the exit tax. Best Lawyers in America® (Tax Law), 2015–2025.

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