Failure to pay attention to dual citizenship rules for both his native Sweden and the United States cost Ulf Samuelsson a place on the Swedish Olympic team during last month’s games in Nagano, Japan. Samuelsson’s dual citizenship problem was discovered by a Swedish journalist. According to the Swedish Hockey Federation, Samuellson became a citizen of the United States in order to avoid having to worry about re-application and residency requirements if he came to the US to play in the National Hockey League under a nonimmigrant or immigrant visa. What he claims that he did not realize was that by acquiring American citizenship, he automatically gave up his citizenship in Sweden. After learning of the problem, the International Ice Hockey Federation rescinded his eligibility to play for Sweden. While there may have been as many as several dozen other hockey players with more than one passport, they apparently all were from countries that recognized dual citizenship so they did not lose their rights to play for their native or adopted countries.
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