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Old 16-12-2015, 11:07   #1
bnb
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citizenship

Hi CF,
Has anyone given up their U.S. citizenship?
What are the pros and cons?
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:21   #2
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Re: citizenship

No I do not.
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:23   #3
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Re: citizenship

Can you actually?
Then, why?
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:24   #4
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Re: citizenship

I assume you currently have dual citizenship, but why and for what country?
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:26   #5
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Re: citizenship

You probably already know this, but it may help
Renunciation of U.S. Nationality

I didn't think a US citizen is allowed to hold a dual citizenship?

Looked it up , you can but probably not if both parents were US citizens?
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:31   #6
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Re: citizenship

No, I do not have dual citizenship. I do not want to be a US citizen anymore. Do I have to be a citizen of any country? I currently have a US passport.
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:35   #7
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Re: citizenship

I'd read that link, if nothing else, assume you are not a citizen of any country, what are you going to do for a passport? That may be the least of your problems too.
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:35   #8
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Re: citizenship

One can renounce US citizenship. A couple of hundred annually. Mostly people with whopping incomes trying to avoid taxes. A few who have married foreign nationals or other reasons, but not many.

At the risk of sounding chauvinistic, why would you want to? Despite some trying times in the USA, at just about every embassy in the world are lines of people trying to immigrate to the USA. Don't see many lines on Massachusetts Avenue (aka Embassy Row) in Washington, DC, of US citizens trying to leave.
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:37   #9
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Re: citizenship

Umm, where do you currently live? You can certainly renounce your citizenship, but if you are already living in the US, then they'll probably scoff at you if you don't have another country willing to take you. You certainly won't be able to gain entry into another country.

I have US and French passports, but it's my understanding that the US does not recognize "duality". That's fine. I figure the more countries that can provide safe harbor, the better off you might be. To each his own....
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:38   #10
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Re: citizenship

Quote:
Originally Posted by bnb View Post
No, I do not have dual citizenship. I do not want to be a US citizen anymore. Do I have to be a citizen of any country? I currently have a US passport.
Seriously, this is such a goofy question. Unfortunately, there are some countries that will take you in times of war. Make sure you let the State Department know your intentions. They'll want to keep an eye on you.
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:42   #11
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Re: citizenship

Quote:
Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post

I didn't think a US citizen is allowed to hold a dual citizenship?

Looked it up , you can but probably not if both parents were US citizens?
The US citizenship of the parents is not a factor.

See detail in Dual Nationality

Key point is: "In order to lose U.S. nationality, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign nationality voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. nationality."

The last requirement ("intention to give up US nationality") will not be met by most methods to acquire citizenship of another country.
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:46   #12
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Re: citizenship

To renounce US Citizenship, I beleive you must be out of the country.

I don't know how you could have dual citizenship if both parents were US Citizens, not saying you can't, just don't know how.
My Son was born in Germany, but as we were both US Citizens, he cannot be a German Citizen, even though he has a German birth certificate, but if My wife was German, I believe he would have dual status
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:47   #13
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Re: citizenship

And A64pilot makes a very good point - I suspect you can't just renounce your US citizenship. If you are born in the US you automatically have US citizenship and are liable to pay US income tax on your world income, even if you don't reside there (and never earned income there). In a recent case a Canadian woman who was born in the US while her two Canadian parents were finishing off graduate degrees and who permanently returned to Canada prior to her first birthday, has just received a notice of assessment from the IRS. She has never had a US passport, has never worked there, nor resided there since. She did not even know that she was a dual citizen with the United States. The bank she deals with (which also does banking in the US) was required to hand over all her banking records and she is now facing huge back taxes and late filing penalties in the US, having faithfully filed and paid taxes in Canada, where she has always resided and worked.

Yes, there is a tax treaty as between Canada and US, but since she is not required to pay capital gains on the sale of a primary residence in Canada, the IRS (and the treaty) says she is required to pay it in the US.

Anyway, I can't see the IRS giving up access to that kind of money simply by someone announcing that they were givng up their citizenship! I should say that in Canada, like many other countries, citizens are only required to pay income tax on foreign income if they are residents of Canada.

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Old 16-12-2015, 11:47   #14
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Re: citizenship

I am currently a resident of South Carolina and getting ready to sell it all and live full time on a cataraman and do not want to be a citizen.
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Old 16-12-2015, 11:51   #15
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Re: citizenship

OK, so marrying a foreign national may can get you dual citizenship
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