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Linus Torvalds became US citizen

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Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#31

Post by avar »

kiuyhjk wrote: post #26
sp332 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA, for being appealing enough to make Linus want to (first) move here and (now) take on citizenship, instead of just telnetting from Finland - or anywhere else on the planet he might have liked better.

Or being so inflexible with regard to immigration that the only way to work there without facing immediate deportation if you change jobs is to become a citizen. I can live and work permanently in 27 countries (including Finland) without having to change nationality.

I'm pretty sure it's 30. I have an Icelandic citizenship (Iceland is one of the 30 in the EEA), and I'm working freely in one of the 27 EU countries currently.

All I had to do after I moves was to register with the local city authorities to indicate that I had moved there, and provide documentation proving that I had a job so that they knew they didn't have to put me on social security.

One might also make the counterpoint that while we can move between 30 states in the EEA US citizens can move between 50 states in their union, and their superstate comprises almost twice the surface area of the EU.

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#32

Post by muriithi »

goatforce5 wrote: post #21

I'll guess he originally came in on an EB2(C) visa, which is for people of exceptional ability in their field who the US will allow in, regardless of whether or not they have a specific job offer. This means that, until he became a citizen, he'd immigration status in the US would have been: "exceptional alien". That's not a status i'd give up easily. :)

Is there also an expedited path to citizenship for "exceptional alien" ?

I was reading an article today about an Indian nanny who saved the life of a 2 year old Israeli boy during the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Israel honored her by granting her honorary citizenship and temporary residency in Israel.

Link : http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/14/israel.mumbai....

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#33

Post by apgwoz »

kiuyhjk wrote: post #26
sp332 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA, for being appealing enough to make Linus want to (first) move here and (now) take on citizenship, instead of just telnetting from Finland - or anywhere else on the planet he might have liked better.

Or being so inflexible with regard to immigration that the only way to work there without facing immediate deportation if you change jobs is to become a citizen. I can live and work permanently in 27 countries (including Finland) without having to change nationality.

> I can live and work permanently in 27 countries (including Finland) without having to change nationality.

How? I'd love to be able to do that.

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#34

Post by duke_sam »

kevindication wrote: post #29
ojbyrne wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html#noway Struck down by the courts a very long time ago.

Right, you can still do it but there can be some awkward consequences. This is highly unlikely, but for instance if you're eligible for a draft, and both countries draft you, one of them is not going to be happy with your response. There are probably some more likely scenarios where your obligations to one of your nations are in conflict with the other.

It also has security clearance implications. Also if he moves back to Finland but remains a US citizen won't the IRS still be able to go after him for tax?

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#35

Post by borism »

kiuyhjk wrote: post #26
sp332 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA, for being appealing enough to make Linus want to (first) move here and (now) take on citizenship, instead of just telnetting from Finland - or anywhere else on the planet he might have liked better.

Or being so inflexible with regard to immigration that the only way to work there without facing immediate deportation if you change jobs is to become a citizen. I can live and work permanently in 27 countries (including Finland) without having to change nationality.

good for you, too bad the same flexibility does not apply to non-EU/EEA citizens like me who work legally in one of those countries but moving between them is nonetheless quite PIA.

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#36

Post by duke_sam »

jan_g wrote: post #28
dctoedt wrote: post #20

Not to be all nationalistic or anything (and it's been said before), but it is interesting that people seem to immigrate to the U.S. far more than they emigrate from it.

That is generally true for all developed countries.

Except Ireland. We're generally very good at getting the hell out of dodge when the government manages to do something horrible to the economy.

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#37

Post by sp332 »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #27
sp332 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA, for being appealing enough to make Linus want to (first) move here and (now) take on citizenship, instead of just telnetting from Finland - or anywhere else on the planet he might have liked better.

You think he obtained American citizenship because he likes the USA more than any other country, including his home one? You don't know his motives. Maybe he just did it because it's more convenient for him to currently work there, and constantly having to organise visas was a pain in the arse? For all we know he hates the USA...?

It's gotta be really, really "convenient" to be worth the hassle of arranging visas over the last 14 years (since he started working at Transmeta in California in 1996). Citizenship might be less paperwork, but there are other downsides he's taking on as a citizen.

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#38

Post by scrrr »

Countries are such an old-school concept somehow.

EDIT: Downvotes? Come on. Especially today, especially in our world of modern technology, physical location is less important than ever before. Where's the sci-fi novel where they abolished countries after they found out we all live on a tiny planet orbiting one of a billion stars?

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#39

Post by borism »

dctoedt wrote: post #20

Not to be all nationalistic or anything (and it's been said before), but it is interesting that people seem to immigrate to the U.S. far more than they emigrate from it.

I know quite a few immigrants who love the standard of living but hate how USA dismembers them of their cultural identity and plan to emigrate back home or to some other place (truth be told not many did so far).

Not to mention hundreds of thousands of americans planning to retire abroad.

Re: Linus Torvalds became US citizen

#40

Post by forinti »

unwind wrote: post #4

A quick check of Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_nationality_law#Dual_ci... ) seems to indicate that he's still a Finn, since Finland permits dual citizenship. The USA ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law#D... ) seems to permit it, too. Of course I can't know if Mr Torvalds has done anything in particular to only be a US citizen, but at least that doesn't seem to be the defaul…

But don't you have to renounce all other allegiances?

Uruguayan law says that even if you renounce your uruguayan citizenship, you still keep it. I think this was put in place exactly because lots of Uruguayans were leaving for the USA (lots of Uruguayans is something like 50).

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