71–80 of 179 posts
This is going to sound snarky, but I'm not sure how else to ask it: why should I (or anyone not an expat) care? It seems to me that the complaint is from people who don't live in the US and have very little attachment to it other than convenience.
The saying in the newspaper business is that "'Dog Bites Man' is not news, but 'Man Bites Dog' is news." So we see news stories from time to time with the surprising story hook that some people with United States citizenship give up their citizenship, usually for tax reasons. But this is news precisely because it is very unusual. This influences the decision-making about citizenship of only tiny numbers of Americans. Most United States citizens are happy to have their citizenship, even if they live overseas for years at a time, as some of my friends and several participants on Hacker News do.
There are still probably 100 million or more people around the world who be glad to immigrate to the United States.[1] On the basis of net immigration among all countries in the world, the United States is still by far the winner in gaining capable people from other countries on a net basis.[2] The exceptional cases of persons with high earned income overseas who come out ahead economically and dipomatically by renouncing United States citizenship are still exceptional cases. Most United States citizens abroad are quite happy to have the passports and the consular representation they have as United States expatriates, as contrasted with being citizens of the country they work in or expatriates with some other citizenship.
[1] http://www.gallup.com/poll/161435/100-million-worldwide-drea...
[2] http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/232...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can I still maintain my US citizenship as an Uruguayan citizen if I so choose?
Doesn't the U.S. have a problem with citizens voluntarily and deliberately acquiring citizenship from foreign countries?
If you become a U.S. citizen, you're expected to renounce your other nationalities.
Edit: The biggest case was Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renouncing U.S. citizenship for the tax savings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Saverin
2nd Edit: some discussion on Hacker News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3979669 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4416258
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can I still maintain my US citizenship as an Uruguayan citizen if I so choose?
Doesn't the U.S. have a problem with citizens voluntarily and deliberately acquiring citizenship from foreign countries?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's say there is a tiny bank in Lichtenstein. It has two customers. Me, with $10,000 in the bank; I am a U.S. citizen. And the Sultan of Brunei, who deposits $1 billion. I tell the banker to keep my cash in the bank in Lichtenstein, and I use that bank account to pay my rent, buy food, and other ordinary things. The Sultan of Brunei tells the banker to take all of his money and plow it into the U.S. stock market. T…
Do you have more information on this ? If I understood you correctly this would have severe repercussions for foreign investors. Suppose you are a foreign investor, what can you do to protect yourself ?
I was personally bit by this (FBAR non-compliance). I worked abroad and was unknowingly violating it; found out about it from reading the news and hired a pro to extricate myself from the situation. The bank account held five figures. The cost to come into compliance was low five figures. The potential penalties were easily high six figures. It was much larger than the either (a) my total earnings from 4 years abroad…
Unless sufficient checks are in place, governments will grow their power and control every year, and this is one of the ways they do it.
The more laws you unknowingly violate the more vulnerable you are to capricious prosecution.
Aaron Swartz is a good example of this-- while he did break a legit law (arguably) the penalties and the illegitimate laws thrown at him were designed to give the prosecutors and the courts the power to effectively disappear anyone they want.
If you think FACTA is bad, look at money laundering. Moving money between your checking and savings and a third account is "money laundering" under the federal law.
This type of article appears every few years. Frankly, I don't think the numbers are very impressive, and they seem to be declining. "In 2013, 2,999 Americans renounced their citizenship; in 2014 so far, it’s a little more than 1,500 people." The population of the US in 2012 was about 314 million. So 0.000009% renounced their citizenship...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's say there is a tiny bank in Lichtenstein. It has two customers. Me, with $10,000 in the bank; I am a U.S. citizen. And the Sultan of Brunei, who deposits $1 billion. I tell the banker to keep my cash in the bank in Lichtenstein, and I use that bank account to pay my rent, buy food, and other ordinary things. The Sultan of Brunei tells the banker to take all of his money and plow it into the U.S. stock market. T…
Do you have more information on this ? If I understood you correctly this would have severe repercussions for foreign investors. Suppose you are a foreign investor, what can you do to protect yourself ?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can I still maintain my US citizenship as an Uruguayan citizen if I so choose?
Doesn't the U.S. have a problem with citizens voluntarily and deliberately acquiring citizenship from foreign countries?
http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/legal-conside...
but only if the act is performed (1) voluntarily and (2) with the intention of relinquishing U.S. citizenship.
Is the key point.