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FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

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Re: FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

#191

Post by centimeter »

sdenton4 wrote: post #187
centimeter wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turns out that when you have 330M people with completely incompatible ethnocultural backgrounds, you end up with an untenably wide variance in political beliefs. Europeans take note; this is where many of you are heading.

Wouldn't your thesis predict more political problems in areas of greatest diversity (ie, cities)? The cleft in the US runs mainly between rural and urban populations; ie, between high-diversity and low diversity areas. Each 'system' seems to find political equilibria just fine on their own. (Or, in a more flippant form: I hadn't noticed Toronto had become a hellscape of inter-ethnic conflict...)

> Wouldn't your thesis predict more political problems in areas of greatest diversity

No, it would predict political division along racial lines, which is precisely what happens.

> The cleft in the US runs mainly between rural and urban populations

This is a weaker predictor than the racial demographics of the voters.

> high-diversity and low diversity areas

Are you using "diversity" as a synonym for "nonwhiteness"? Because if so, you're correct, but you could probably phrase this more explicitly.

> I hadn't noticed Toronto had become a hellscape of inter-ethnic conflict

Political rifts, which is what we are talking about, don't (usually, yet) manifest as visible ethnic conflict in the US either.

Re: FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

#192

Post by vanekjar »

FATCA sucks, cannot believe EU accepted something like that into the legislation.

Recently, one of the banks in EU falsely flagged me as a potential US citizen. I had to file tons of forms to opt out.

I couldn't figure out why, there was no reason for that since I've got no ties with US and I've visited as tourist only couple of times. Then I realized my phone number I used in communication with the bank is Canadian (live in Canada, but EU citizen). Please note that the country code for Canada and US is the same (+1). What a joke.

The problem is the EU banks are forced to be compliant with this thing, but they have no clue who is US citizen and who is not. So they can just guess.

Re: FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

#193

Post by mindslight »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #189
smnrchrds wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a first world problem because: 1. Getting a visa to be in the US is so difficult for citizens of third world countries that very few would find themselves in such a situation. 2. Only first world citizens would perceive an additional US citizenship as a mere nuisance, best to be avoided. For the vast majority of third world citizens, the benefits of an additional citizenship from the US far outweighs the difficu…

The people who got visas (however they got them) are not accidental citizens. And, everyone else should just shut up and not cpmplain that something they didn't ask for is being done to them, regardless of it's cost or damage? Because you think it's valuable? Wow. I can only assume you didn't read the article you are commenting on, or are the last person whos opinion anyone should care about, given how thoroughly you…

I don't know why you're taking so much offense here, but this is actually first world problem by definition - it only applies to residents of countries in the US sphere of influence. Everyone else can just ignore any latent US claim of citizenship.

Re: FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

#194

Post by smnrchrds »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #189
smnrchrds wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a first world problem because: 1. Getting a visa to be in the US is so difficult for citizens of third world countries that very few would find themselves in such a situation. 2. Only first world citizens would perceive an additional US citizenship as a mere nuisance, best to be avoided. For the vast majority of third world citizens, the benefits of an additional citizenship from the US far outweighs the difficu…

The people who got visas (however they got them) are not accidental citizens. And, everyone else should just shut up and not cpmplain that something they didn't ask for is being done to them, regardless of it's cost or damage? Because you think it's valuable? Wow. I can only assume you didn't read the article you are commenting on, or are the last person whos opinion anyone should care about, given how thoroughly you…

> The people who got visas (however they got them) are not accidental citizens.

The visa point was about the parents of the accidental citizens. How many Papua New Guinean are there out there who were born in the US while their parents were on vacation there? How many Australians?

Re: FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

#195

Post by Brian_K_White »

mindslight wrote: post #193
Brian_K_White wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who got visas (however they got them) are not accidental citizens. And, everyone else should just shut up and not cpmplain that something they didn't ask for is being done to them, regardless of it's cost or damage? Because you think it's valuable? Wow. I can only assume you didn't read the article you are commenting on, or are the last person whos opinion anyone should care about, given how thoroughly you…

I don't know why you're taking so much offense here, but this is actually first world problem by definition - it only applies to residents of countries in the US sphere of influence. Everyone else can just ignore any latent US claim of citizenship.

It applies to, by definition, people who do not live in the US. Anything other guilt-by-assosciation is an invalid and callous invention to avoid caring about a problem that doesn't affect you personally.

Re: FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

#197

Post by nvarsj »

dkarp wrote: post #166
nvarsj wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have a very narrow view of an expats life. If you live in a country for 10+ years, it is impractical to not have a local bank account. You can't even get a rental contract easily without a bank account. Buying property exposes you to capital gains tax, which is essentially double taxation, because the UK taxes the buyer unlike the US. GILTI tax is limited to company ownership. Which is what hit me. I real…

Genuine question, have you considered giving in and going to work in the USA? As an American, working as a software consultant in the UK is swimming against the tide. You could be free of the tax burden and earn more by working practically anywhere in the USA. I know money isn't everything, but would be curious to know what is keeping you in London (as someone in an analogous situation asking myself the same question…

My wife is British, and my kids are thoroughly integrated with the local community. So that's what keeps me here. If I was single I'd definitely go back at this point, it's too much of a headache, and my earning potential would be way higher in the USA like you say.

Re: FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

#198

Post by wheybags »

wenc wrote: post #172
wheybags wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FATCA can be completely nullified by not maintaining foreign bank accounts. That is not even remotely feasible. You pay forex fees every time you buy milk? Lots of government stuff / utility companies will only accept local bank accounts. The hassle and expense of having only a foreign bank account in a foreign currency is massive.

As someone who's lived abroad several times in my life, I agree. I've always had local bank accounts in my countries of residence. That said, I have recently heard of a new product called the Transferwise Borderless Account that lets you hold money in different currencies, and along with the provisioning of local banking IDs in several jurisdictions like the EU, UK, Au/NZ, Hungary, Romania, Singapore and the U.S. It…

Transferwise is great, I do have one of their multi currency debit cards. It doesn't fully solve the problem though, it's more useful for visits and online purchases.

You couldn't get paid straight into it, so you need to get paid into your home account, then transfer in dollars, then convert them into local currency, so you're still doing two forex transactions. Better than one for each purchase, but will not ideal. Also, it's still not a real local bank account, so all the problems wrt government and bills still apply.

Re: FATCA Pushes “Accidental” Americans to Give Up US Citizenship

#200

Post by jbn »

muststopmyths wrote: post #81
_petronius wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but chose to keep the citizenship into adulthood, presumably acquiring a passport or other citizenship documents That is ... not how citizenship works. Once you are a citizen, it can be very difficult to get rid of that status (souce: born in the US, will end up paying an arm and a leg to get rid of mine). Failing to get a passport, file returns with the IRS, etc. can lead to you getting ignored, but it can also le…

>Example: most passports list the place of birth of the holder. If you are an American citizen, you must enter the US on a US passport ooh, good point. I'd forgotten about that completely.

This seems true in 99% of cases, but it seems the rule is not quite as simple.

"If you are an American citizen, you must enter the US on a US passport" is true for air travel. If you travel by land or sea, it is possible to enter with other documents (driver's licence, birth certificate... see https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-3618?language=en_US).

This is especially important in times of pandemic when the US government elects to stop processing passports and dual citizens may hold a passport of another country to be able to travel out, only to have re-entry problematic upon return...

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