I came across the following remark from Don at hodgen.com :
Don says: May 9, 2012 at 8:32 pm
… Other interesting news, Michelle Backmann has become a Swiss Citizen, strange but true.
I wonder what her stance on FATCA is?
Oddly enough, Wikipedia has been updated to show that she is “American-Swiss” (born April 6, 1956) “is an American–Swiss Republican member of the United States House of Representatives … “
Very interesting.
“American-Swiss” sounds like a term that someone just made up. Here’s the guy who we can blame for this linguistic atrocity: some random internet user called “barefeetdude”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michele_Bachmann&diff=prev&oldid=491548205
Maybe this is a good thing. If she or her children try to open a bank account, maybe she will learn what it feels like to be asked by a banker if she has any ties to America and then be told that if that is the case “we have no business with you” and be shown to the door.
Realistically, she and her her family probably have enough money that they would not feel the burden of the extra fees when she is referred to the “American compliant” section of the bank.
The client onboarding process is allegedly supposed to be much more rigorous for “politically connected persons” than for others — especially in private banking/wealth management. But in practice it is often not. I am trying to find the story I remember of a (West African?) politician who was aided by a major bank to create a trust in which he was the settlor, trustee, and beneficiary, and then claimed to his local elections commission that he did not own the trust’s assets …
If her family is indeed rich, she might be isolated from some oppourtunities to learn what it means to be the average IBS member, to wit: mostly middle-class people baffled by US treatment of US Persons Abroad and harrassed through extraterritorial taxation.
I do suspect that Bachmann would be sheltered by lawyers,some of which might not know the pitfalls of FBAR/FATCA/DT.
If I were Bachmann I would have waited until after the elections were over to register as a Swiss citizen. Dishonest, I know, but isn’t having dual citizenship almost considered political suicide in the US?
Also, according to politico she filed her citizenship registration form on 15 Feb and was approved on 19 March. Is Switzerland absurdly efficient with citizenship applications or does anyone else think that she was was given VIP treatment? I know that she was just registering a citizenship that was technically already there, but come on!
Nothing odd about this whatsover. Romney is a dual US-Mexican citizen, his father having been born in Mexico, this being Mexican by birth, to a US citizen father. And Obama is a dual US-Kenyan citizen, having been born in the US to a father who became a Kenyan citizen when that country was establishe and its citizenship automatically extended to all born there and their children, like Obama, who was born abroad.
Personally, I think this is problematic on constitutional grounds. A senator must be a citizen of the United States. This would exclude, in my thinking, dual citizens. Senators will often be privy to classified information, depending on what committees they serve on. Dual citizens are not allowed in jobs which require a security clearance (depending on the level).
The Republican party needs to expulse her from the party and refuse her future candidacy.
The concept of dual citizenship is problematic enough without having leaders of elected office as duals. Dual citizens have by the nature of their commitment to two different countries, divided and uncertain loyalties. This may be fine for an ordinary citizen, but I think it is extremely problematic when it comes to members of elected office.
@ Roger It is precisely problematic because a person has divided loyalties and because it is unconstitutional. Obama is a good case in point. In as much as he is a Kenyan or Indoneisian, he is disqualified from the office of President of the United States. But nobody gives a damn about the Constiution any more (except Ron Paul), especially in the Democrat party, and the party allowed his dubious candidature. Undoubtedly, not a single democrat will question Michelle Bachman, lest their own dear presidential candidate be himself disqualified.
@Jefferson: We were discussing this yesterday on other threads. Here are comments I posted: #
Here’s more about the new Swiss Miss from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/09/michele-bachmann-swiss-citizenship_n_1502784.html
I especially liked these comments from the article: For Bachmann, a vocal critic of President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, the move comes with a twist of irony. Switzerland has nearly universal health care and mandates that its citizens purchase coverage. Bachmann herself has repeatedly taken issue with the individual mandate included in Obama’s law.
She has described health care reform as “the crown jewel of socialism” and argued it amounts to “gangster government.”
Watch out Uncle Tell and Jefferson Thomas. Switzerland may be invaded by The Tea Party courtesy of your newest citizen fighting gangster government. Please remind Ms. Bachman to file FBARs and tell her she won’t be able to open a bank account in her new country of citizenship because she is a “US person.” Without a bank account, she won’t have to worry about FATCA.
@Roger
Of course, but neither has made a claim to either foreign citizenship. Imagine though if Mexico and Kenya had their own FATCAs, FBARs and citizenship based taxation in place. Could you imagine the outrage of the US political establishment in trying to claim Romney or Obama as one of their own? 😛
@Petros
You also have the people who aren’t really loyal to anything at all – Dual citizenship might represent nothing more than a work permit. I know several people who have acquired US or EU citizenship and only did so to expand their job opportunities – Their loyalties, if they had any to begin with in the first place, are usually towards their own interests first, foremost and exclusively. I imagine that this is true of most of the political class on both sides of the Atlantic nowadays, so dual citizenship doesn’t concern me in the least.
Canada had a dual citizen Prime Minister in John Turner but I think that was more a case of Turner being a Canadian/Commonwealth citizen with the “right of abode” in the United Kingdom as current Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard would have. Before 1949(1969 in Australia and NZ) there was no such thing as Canadian citizenship all Canadian were essentially British subjects and in a strict sense still are(and even moreso before 1982). British/Commonwealth nationality is determined more by your right of abode in the UK than the idea or being British, Canadian, Australian etc. Even if you don’t have the right of abode in the UK as a Canadian citizen if you are able to obtain a work permit to live in the UK once arriving you are entitled to most of the rights of British citizenship such as the right to vote in British elections. I believe current NZ Prime Minister John Key admitted he voted in a British Election as a Commonwealth citizen when living in the UK on a work visa.
Has anyone seen the oath of Swiss citizenship?
Let’s say she’s voting on a Treaty with Swizterland. Would she not have to recuse herself from the vote due to a conflict of interest? What an absurd situation that would create. A United States senator who must recuse herself from voting on a treaty because she herself is a citizen of that country. What is the world coming to?
Canada and UK theoretically have the same Queen and can never therefore go to war against each other.
although legal, her status as a dual citizen might limit her ability to represent her constituents.
Dual citizens can be officers of the US, Chuck Yaeger was dual CDN/US, nor does restrict getting security clearances, I received NATO and US clearances after becoming CDN, and was still on the recall to active duty list(USAF) when I renounced.
In researching my situation, found the case of a USC born in Brazil, he sought a visa to family and was told he needed a Brazilian passport.
After he obtained a Brazilian passport, the agency he worked for, revoked his clearance.
He appealed this action, however the final decision was that acting on his second citizenship was inconsistent with having a security clearance.
WRT to renounce/relinguish if she acts as a USC
by traveling on a US passport she will need to renounce. If she acts as a Swiss citizen she risks losing her security clearance.
She didn’t have to take an oath – She acquired citizenship automatically through marriage to a Swiss citizen whether she wanted to or not. Italy used to do the same thing – One of my parents acquired Italian citizenship back in 1980 the same way. There were no oaths or questions asked – Just a done deed and she was registered in the ancestral Commune!
@ Petros
I agree that dual citizenship is a problem in Congress and key government appointments. If it had not been allowed then dual US-Israeli citizen Carl Levin would not have been around to create the problems he has — either that or he would have to have give up his loyalty to Israel before accepting the responsibility of supposedly looking after American interests first.
What Mexico and Kenya should do is put in citizenship based taxation and suddenly start enforcing it. I think they should start calling all mutual funds PFICs and taxing them as if they were sold each year in their local currency value, even if they were not. If that was the case, Mitt Romney might quickly recognize that people as well as corporations are people and that a territorial taxation policy that only considers business is not complete. President Obama might get the wake up call this way as letters and lobbying do not seem to reach him.
In Canada the granting of passport is technically a royal perogrative of the Queen in practice done on the advice of her Privy Council.
Don wrote: “She didn’t have to take an oath – She acquired citizenship automatically through marriage to a Swiss citizen whether she wanted to or not.”
Actually the article says that she and the rest of the family went through an activation process, which she hadn’t done, though married to Swiss national since 1978.
Re some comments above about dual citizenship and politics.
Politics is one of the reasons why I was upset when I first learned that the US might consider me to be a dual citizen. I’ve been really active in politics (just at the grassroots level, but I’ve been a delegate to national conventions and policy conferences). I know it’s okay to be a dual in politics, and it would not automatically disqualify someone from getting my vote. But for me, personally, I would not have felt comfortable as a dual in politics. I sure wouldn’t want anyone to think that I was looking after another country’s interests at our policy conferences.
On a happy note … although a few months ago, when I first learned of this, I thought that the US had retroactively reinstated all relinquished citizenships, fortunately I since learned otherwise (thanks, Brock!) So I recently applied for a CLN and was reassured that my relinquishment did indeed occur many years ago.
@Roger, Lisa: Don’t forget, Obama’s mother also took out Indonesian citizenship when he was a child. Although Obama and Romney may not have claimed, Kenyan, Indonesian or Mexican citizenship, neither have many of the children born outside the US to parents who were born in the US. Yet, the US still considers them US persons.
Kenya and Indonesia could simply do what the US has done: Declare Obama a Kenyan or Indonesian person. Mexico should do the same with Romney. That is no different than what the US is trying to do to those of us who relinquished 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years ago.
Let’s not forget John Kerry’s wife was born in Mozambique to Portuguese parents. Her mother was a British national with ancestral ties to Switzerland, Italy and France and Malta.
Maria Thierstein Sinoes-Ferreireia Heinz Kerry is the widow of Republican Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz and inherited a vast sum of the Heinz fortune on his death. Under reciprocity, when FATCA becomes GATCA under reciprocity, there are numerous countries which could make claim to information about her assets, including the multitude of foundations and charitable organizations with which she is involved.
Tim, that would be great information for your friend to use when he meets or contacts John Kerry. Hopefully, that would help Kerry to see the lunacy of this (although I understand the couple maintains their vast wealth separately)
Back to Michelle Bachman, this is how someone becomes a Swiss citizen through marriage (courtesy of Wikipedia):
“A person married to a Swiss citizen may apply for Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation after living in Switzerland for five years and having been married for at least three years. No language test is required, but one must show the following:
* integration into the Swiss way of life;
* compliance with the Swiss rule of law;
* no danger to Switzerland’s internal or external security.
Children from the person’s previous relationships (but not same-sex couples) are given citizenship along with the partner.
It is also possible for the spouse of a Swiss citizen to apply for facilitated naturalisation while resident overseas after the following:
* six years of marriage to a Swiss citizen; and
* close ties to Switzerland.
Spouses acquiring Swiss citizenship by facilitated naturalisation will acquire the citizenship of the community and canton of their Swiss spouse.”
It doesn’t say if Bachman had to take an oath, but she did have to apply–It wasn’t automatic. With her views on universal health care, I would certainly consider her a danger to Swiss values and lifestyle.
@ Blaze who wrote:
Let’s not forget John Kerry’s wife was born in Mozambique to Portuguese parents. Her mother was a British national with ancestral ties to Switzerland, Italy and France and Malta.
LOL — looks like she really is a Heinz 57! 🙂
Good find on the video. I think Michelle got Swiss citizenship so if the sh** ever hits the fan, she can get out. For insurance purposes.
@Em: Good One!
Oh, I forgot. Heinz-Kerry (although I think she just uses Heinz now) also has ancestral ties to Egypt. Wouldn’t GATCA be fun for this one?!?
It was nice while it lasted apparently Bachmann has realised becoming a Swiss citizen wasn’t a vote winner – what is going on?
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/10/11643421-bachmann-gives-up-on-swiss-citizenship