A record number of people gave up their US citizenship, according to figures provided by an accountancy firm. 5,816 Americans parted with the Land of the Free in the first half of 2020, a 1,210 percent increase on the previous six months, said Bambridge Accountants, which specialises in preparing and filing taxes for US expats.
The company says that the handling of the coronavirus outbreak was one of the factors that motivated people’s decision. The United States has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases – five million – and the largest death toll from the disease at more than 163.000. The Trump administration has repeatedly been criticised for inadequately responding to the outbreak and the president has been accused of making misleading statements, such as promoting the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which the World Health Organisation has said is ineffective against COVID-19.
Alistair Bambridge, a partner at Bambridge Accountants, told CNN that the handling of the coronavirus pandemic is not the only thing that has bothered Americans.
"What we’ve seen is people are over everything happening with President Donald Trump, how the coronavirus pandemic is being handled, and the political policies in the US at the moment", he said.
Mr Bambridge speculated that a Trump victory in the upcoming presidential election in the United States could spark another wave of Americans renouncing the country’s citizenship.
