U.S. extradition treaties: which countries have them?

Where to check whether a treaty exists

Two official lists exist. The State Department's Treaties in Force lists, country by country, the agreements on record as in force on 1 January 2026; extradition treaties appear under the heading Law Enforcement. The U.S. Code prints a table of bilateral extradition agreements after 18 U.S.C. 3181.

Both are starting points. The Justice Manual tells prosecutors to consult the Office of International Affairs to verify the accuracy of the list (JM 9-15.100). The U.S. Code's own table notes that the status of agreements with the successor states of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia is under review.

A full check asks four questions: is the treaty in force, does it cover the place where the conduct happened, has a later protocol changed it, and does a multilateral convention also apply.

Examples

Note 1

What a treaty usually contains

Older U.S. treaties list the extraditable offenses by name. In the Extradition Treaties Interpretation Act of 1998, printed as a note to 18 U.S.C. 3181, Congress recorded that more modern treaties contain dual criminality provisions, which provide for extradition where both parties make the offense a felony.

Dual criminality looks at the conduct, not the label. The U.S.–Turkey treaty says it does not matter whether the two countries' laws place the offense in the same category or use the same name for it (Article 2).

Beyond the list of offenses, a treaty usually sets the exceptions, the rules for nationals, the documents required, the provisional-arrest deadline and the rule of specialty, which limits prosecution after surrender to the offenses for which extradition was granted (JM 9-15.500).

The U.S.–Turkey treaty in brief

Note 2

Turkey's own rules when it is asked to extradite

Turkey's Constitution (Article 38) and Law No. 6706 (Article 11) bar the extradition of Turkish citizens, except for obligations arising from the International Criminal Court.

Law No. 6706 also refuses extradition where there are strong reasons to believe the person would be prosecuted or punished because of race, ethnic origin, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion, or would face torture or ill-treatment. It refuses requests for thought crimes, political offenses and purely military offenses, and where the offense is time-barred or covered by an amnesty (Article 11(1)).

It refuses requests for offenses carrying the death penalty, unless the requesting state gives sufficient assurance that the penalty will not be carried out (Article 11(1)(d) and 11(3)).

When there is no treaty

U.S. law generally allows extradition only under a treaty (JM 9-15.100; 18 U.S.C. 3184). The one statutory exception, 18 U.S.C. 3181(b), allows surrender without a treaty of people who are not U.S. citizens, nationals or permanent residents, for crimes of violence against U.S. nationals abroad, if the Attorney General certifies the evidence and that the offenses are not political.

The Justice Manual says some countries extradite without a treaty, most of them only on an offer of reciprocity (JM 9-15.100). It also lists other routes prosecutors may consider: deportation or expulsion, prosecution in the country where the person is, and revocation of a U.S. passport (JM 9-15.600 to 9-15.650).

The Justice Manual adds that many countries will arrest a person based solely on a Red Notice (JM 9-15.635). Someone who stays in a country without a treaty may still be arrested when travelling elsewhere. See how extradition works.