who voluntarily lose citizenship by any means, and possibly certain former permanent residents as well. In fiscal year 2015, the State Department estimated there were 5,986 applications for renunciation of nationality, and forecast an additional 559 citizenship relinquishments. The discrepancy between this total of 6,545 compared to the 4,279 announced by the Treasury Department is speculated to be at least partly due to different counting of long-term green card holders, but no department of the government has released an official explanation. In 2016, the Treasury Department published 1,151 names of people who expatriated in Q1 FY2016. For all of the year 2016, the published number of renunciants was 5,411, a 26% increase from 4,279 in 2015—a record high. A summary of the difference between the NICS database of renunciants and the Federal Register of the mentioned renunciants and relinquishers of long-term residence status is summarized below. Certificate of Loss of Nationality Formal confirmation of the loss of US citizenship is provided by the Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN) and is received by the renunciant a number of months later. As recently as November 2014, individuals renouncing US citizenship waited up to 6 months for the official certificate of renunciation, while many renunciants, particularly those who renounced in consulates not located in the most common European cities such as London and Zurich, were never provided with a CLN and were told that the statement signed at the oath of renunciation is the only form given. Unofficial statements by the US State Department ascribe the problems to the fact that before 2010, the system was not efficiently designed and consular officers often improvised their own procedures based on the rough guidelines in their instructions. Since the 2010 enactment of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the large increase in renunciations led the Department of State to re-organize the process so it is clear and follows the same steps in all consulates, although as of 2016, a backlog of several months still exists in many consulates. Statelessness Although many countries require citizenship of another nation before allowing renunciation, the United States does not, and an individual may legally renounce US citizenship and become stateless. Nonetheless, the United States Department of State warns renunciants that, unless they already possess a foreign nationality or are assured of acquiring another nationality shortly after completing their renunciation, they would become stateless and without the protection