Cross-posted from the Flophouse. Just can’t get over some of the strange results of U.S. citizenship law. The more I think about it neither jus soli or jus sanguinis are good fits in a globalized world. So I had some fun writing this post and pointing out two rather famous Accidental Americans: Boris Johnson and Anne Sinclair. If you have a chance go read Boris Johnson’s 2006 post – as one of the Flophouse readers said, “I didn’t know Mr Johnson’s prose could be so entertaining to read.”
The United States of America allows for two methods for acquiring U.S. citizenship at birth: jus sanguinis (through an American citizen parent) and jus soli (through being born on U.S. soil). For the latter the U.S. has one of the most open-ended and generous terms around – the mere fact of being born on U.S. soil makes someone a U.S. citizen under almost all circumstances. (The only exceptions appear to be children of diplomats.)
Now it’s very rare to see Americans grumbling about the transmission of citizenship via jus sanguinis (blood). And that’s a bit odd when you think about it because it’s a status that is conferred , not because of anything the child did, but because he had a least one parent with that status. Sounds strangely medieval, doesn’t it? A little like saying that just because your father (or mother) was a peasant (or a lord), you get to be one too. How to square that with modern notions of democracy and voluntary participation in a political community? I don’t think you can – this is citizenship as a kind of aristocracy since it has nothing to do with merit and everything to do with inherited status. Not to mention that this form of citizenship transmission leads to some very strange situations. For example, the child of an American citizen born abroad is usually granted U.S. citizenship no questions asked even if that child never sets one foot in the U.S. for his entire life while resident aliens actually living in the U.S. who (one assumes) are delighted to be there have to jump through all sorts of hoops to be naturalized and may still suffer discrimination in the U.S. on the basis of their origins.
The other method of citizenship transmission, jus soli (place of birth), is much more controversial in the U.S. The media is filled with politicians railing against those “anchor babies” whose mothers allegedly slip over the border to give birth just so their children can be U.S. citizens. There is a great deal of righteous indignation about this and a modest amount of energy expended to stop it. However, the problem (and I question whether it really is one) of the “illegals” sneaking over the border to give birth is nothing compared to the millions of tourists, legal immigrants and visa holders who come to the U.S. every year to live and work and who sometimes do a very human thing while they are in the country: have children. Many of them merrily go on their way after a few years (back to the home country or to a third country) either not knowing that their children are American citizens or thinking that this citizenship is a status that goes away if it’s not activated. Not true. U.S. citizenship laws are strictly “opt-out” – one is an American citizen until one goes down in person to the local U.S. Embassy and renounces. This involves filling out forms and paying a 450 USD fee. It may even involve filing 5 years worth of back tax returns and FBAR’s. This is true even if the person in question was born in the U.S., left with his parents as an infant, and has spent the past 30 years thinking he (or she) is exclusively French, German, Chinese, or Indonesian. Contrary to what the citizens of the “greatest nation on earth” might think, not everyone is happy to wake up one day and discover that he or she is a citizen of said nation. Some are even downright angry about it especially when the U.S. attempts to assert its sovereignty over their persons.
Welcome to the world of the “Accidental Americans.” These are people who, through no fault or action of their own (they didn’t choose their parents or where they were born) are considered to be U.S. citizens by the U.S. government and are flabbergasted when agents of said government reach out and hold them to the obligations associated with that citizenship. “But, but, but,” you may sputtering at this point, “They can’t do that! I’m French (or British or Chinese or German).” Oh yes they can, mes amis, and they do. The consequences of this “involuntary citizenship” can range from being refused entry into the U.S. (even just to make a connection to a third country) without a U.S. passport to being chased down by the American “fisc” for tax returns and reports on their local bank accounts. The first can be dealt with rather easily – just don’t travel anywhere near the U.S. The second is a little harder to avoid these days since five governments in Europe (others to follow) have agreed to turn over information about these people to the U.S. government. Yes, this means that European governments will be denouncing their own citizens (duals, mind you, who may not even be aware they are Americans). This is going to be interesting to watch.
A surprising number of people are at risk here including some very high profile Europeans. This brings us to the case of one Boris Johnson, Lord Mayor of London. Up until fairly recently Mr. Johnson was an American citizen because he was born in New York, USA, something he was vaguely aware of but didn’t really pay much attention to until this event in 2006:
“Last Sunday lunchtime we were boarding a flight to Mexico, via Houston, Texas, and we presented six valid British passports. As soon as the Continental Airlines security guy saw my passport, he shook his head. ‘Were you born in New York?’ he asked. ‘Have you ever carried an American passport?’
Yes, I said, but it had long since expired. ‘I am afraid we have a problem,’ he said. ‘The US Immigration say you have to travel on an American passport if you want to enter the United States.’ B-but I’m British, I said, and my children chorused their agreement. Had the guy stuck around a moment longer, I would have told him how jolly British I was — but luckily for him he’d gone off in search of reinforcements.
When the ranking officer arrived, the story was the same. ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ he said, ‘but you’ll have to go to the US Embassy tomorrow morning and get a new American passport.’ But I don’t want an American passport, I said, inspiration striking me. I tell you what: I renounce my American citizenship. I disclaim it. I discard it.
‘That’s not good enough, sir,’ he said. ‘I need some official document saying that you are no longer American…’
You can read the entire story here but the end result of this was, faced with this assertion of U.S. sovereignty over his person, Mr. Johnson decided that it simply wasn’t worth it and he renounced. In his words, “That’s it. Entre nous c’est terminé. After 42 happy years I am getting a divorce from America.”
Is Boris Johnson’s case really that unusual? Not at all. Look, in addition to the millions of tourists and legal residents in the U.S. some of whom will have children there during their stay, there are 6-7 million Americans abroad and many of them have children too (most of their children are also citizens of their country of residence) who are considered to be U.S. citizens by the U.S. and are supposed to be holding U.S. passports and paying U.S. taxes. Failure to do this means that these people are technically lawbreakers and tax evaders in the eyes of the U.S. government. It really is that simple.
Another example close to my heart. Would any French person in the audience like to tell me where Anne Sinclair (famous French celebrity and Dominique Straus-Kahn’s wife) was born? If you answered, “New York, USA,” you win the prize. And that makes Anne Sinclair and her children as American as apple pie and baseball. If events had gone differently and DSK had won the 2012 French presidential election, France would have had its very own Franco-American First Lady.
Alas, it was not to be. 🙂
*I don’t believe Ann Sinclair’s children are automatically US citizens unless they, too, were born in the US. It is my understanding that a parent would have to apply on their behalf for US citizenship and it would normally be granted up until their 18th birthday.
*@Bruce, no, if you are born abroad to an American citizen parent, you are a US citizen from the moment of birth. The recommended practice is for the US parent to register the child’s birth with a US consulate abroad, but whether the child is registered or not it is a US citizen at birth.
Registration provides proof of US citizenship, but citizenship is not dependent on being registered. Citizenship is not revoked if the parent fails to register the child. And of course under the citizenship-based tax policy the child is born with subjection to US taxation on its world-wide income, irrespective of whether the child knows he is a US citizen or not. This is just one of the one unjust consequeences of citizenship-based taxation.
*Unless the rules have changed, there is a limit on passing on US citizenship to one’s children. (fortunately, or it could go on for generations) In order to pass my US citizenship (born abroad of an American parent) on to my children, I had to have lived in the US for 5 years after my 14th birthday. Unfortunately now for my children, I did just that, so they are burdened with being “accidental Americans”. But, if they never renounce, but don’t ever move to the US, their children will be spared. And given the anti expat, xenophobic talk in the US I can’t see that changing.
It is really a bad day when xenophobic talk is directed by a nation against its own countrymen. So much for the melting pot.
*@CanuckDoc This is correct. Unless the US citizen born abroad has himself met certain US resident requirements, he or she cannot pass on US citizenship to the next generation born outside of the US. In this the US citizenship rules are much more conservative than some other countries which consider children born abroad to its citizens also born abroad for generations without end.
In Argentina, for example, where the largest immigrant group moved there from Italy many generations abroad, continuing generations generally exercise their right to Italian citizenship and take out Italian passports because this gives them visa free travel to many countries, including the US. They use their Argentine passports to leave that country but their Italian passports to enter the country they are visiting.
If they used their Argentine passports to enter their destination country they would first have to obtain entry visas. In the case of the US this requires a personal interview with a US consular official and may involve travel to the city where a consulate is located, which in Brazil may be a trip of over 1,000 miles plus paying a hefty fee for the visa.
The same is true of descendants of German immigrants in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, etc. But of course they never need to be concerned about double taxation by the country whose other passport they carry because, unlike the US, none of them practice citizen ship taxation.
Just for fun here are the rules for transmission of American citizenship to a child born abroad. The rules depend, interesting enough, on whether the citizen parent is the mother or the father and whether or not the child is born in wedlock (or not). There is a presence test but it’s not terribly onerous IMHO. 1 year residence for a birth abroad out of wedlock to a U.S. citizen mother?
http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_5199.html
Would be curious to know how these rules impact Johnny Depp’s children. He had a 14 year relationship with Vanessa Paradis and they have two children who were born (I think) in France. If I read the law correctly he would have extra steps in order to pass his U.S. citizenship on to them. Anyone know?
*It can be very complicated for the US father of illigitemate children born abroad to a non-US citizen mother. It is a no-brainer for a single mother, but not for the singe father, even if he lives with the mother to which he is not married.
I am currently aware of a friend of mine who lives in Manaus, way back in the jungle on the Amazon river in Brazil with his comon-law wife. He has made several trips to the US consulate in Brasilia but still had not been able to obtain confirmation of citizenship for their children as of December 2011.
The oldest is high school age. I have yet to understand why he is so dedicated to confirming their US citizenship, given US tax laws which are going to make it tough for them to survive living in Brazil, unless he hopes they may relocate to the US. The oldest is nearing graduation from high school.
With a snap of his fingers, Obama made an executive order to stop prosecution of illegal aliens in the US. He could stop this nonsense with accidental Americans much more easily. But he doesn’t care.
For you Obama supporters I will spell it out for you: If you are white you are “the man” and he is making you pay. Just what proportion of Expats are real blacks? You know, real blacks, those who aren’t considered “white” like Thomas Sowell, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas or Condolezza Rice?
Obama (and Jarret, Holder, Axelrod, etc) don’t like you because in their belief system you represent generations of injustice, and now its reparation time. Just look at Obama’s years in Revend Wrights church studying “Black Liberation Theology” and his years as a Marxist working hand in hand with Bill Ayers.
So to Obama, expats are the perfect targets for some wealth-sharing. They are nothing but under-taxed over-privileged whiteys. And if you are an Obama supporter now caught up in this mess, you have no one but yourself to blame. In fact, I would like to personally thank you for putting this Marxist in charge and causing me and my family so much misery.
*@ConfederateH, I am not at all sure that we can expect any more support from Romney than we are receiving from Obama. The Republicans have been historically very complacent in all of this. Romney has comitted to “get tough” with China about out massive trade deficit with that country, but most of the blame for this mess lies on Capitol Hill in Washington, rather than Beijng. In his public pronouncements he has never uttered one word that I have heard with respect to citizenship-based taxation. And I have listened closely.
Charles Grassley, (R,IA) who for many years when the Republcans controlled the Senate was chairman of the Since Finance committee, or ranking Republican member when the Democrats were in charge, is a sworn foe of Americans living abroad. He slipped in the provision in TIPRA, while Bush was still president, just 10 minutes before that bill was voted and passed, which introduced stacking in the taxation of the income of those taking advantage of theFEIE. There were no hearings on this and it was not even discussed before it was voted upon. It provided the financing to pay for the expenditures in TIPRA, so it passed in the blink of an eye.
Stacking taxes all income that is not excluded at the marginal tax rate that would be applicable if there was no FEIE.
Grassley was a first term Congressman who co-sponsored the Tax Reform Act of 1976 which was when taxation of US citizens abroad really became lethal. He has spoken out many times that having US citizens living abroad serves no useful purpose in selling US exports, and has attempted several times in the past to eliminate the “Tax Subsidy” for Americans abroad in the form of the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. He wants it repealed.
@Confederate, At least one of our writers is black. Others might be for all I know, and maybe our one writer will say something in response. I don’t believe that this is an attempt to stick it to “whitey”, not even for one second, and I have no love for Barack Obama.
I think that there may be two things going on here. One is quite clear. The second is a hypothesis that I once read about.
(1) Americans abroad are not a constituency. When they vote, they vote for other people’s representatives. They are residents of Washington D. C., making it “constitutional” to tax them without representation. So raising and enforcing taxes and draconian fines on them is a no-brainer. You can do it without losing votes. Ha ha ha. Plus, these expat folks are the rich who have tried to escape from paying their fair share of taxes.
(2) Barack Obama spent some of his formative childhood years as the adopted son of a important Indonesian; his mother had ties with the ex-pat community in Indonesia, made up of diplomats and workers of US companies. These people lived in the lap of luxury, while the Soetoros had to live off a fraction of what the American expats had. There was for young Barry a visible and painful reminder of this every time the Soetoros got together with American expats. Now, this young Barry Soetoro, who experienced poverty compared to the American expats, resented this but grew up to become President of the United States. Now he can use his power to make those expats pay.
@ConfederateH
“And if you are an Obama supporter now caught up in this mess, you have no one but yourself to blame. In fact, I would like to personally thank you for putting this Marxist in charge and causing me and my family so much misery.”
Marxist? You mean like Marx, Engels, Lenin? Or the ones who are running Norway and Finland and providing their citizens with economic and social security and virtually no family poverty? (the USA has about half its population poor or near poor). The one who gave billions to the banks and insurance companies of America is a Marxist? Are you delusional?
http://www.rall.com/rallblog/wp-content/gallery/political-cartoons-2010/3-19-10.jpg
http://www.altweeklies.com/aan/hey-right-wingers-please-save-us-from-obamacare/Story?oid=1899541
*@Petros “Now, this young Barry Soetoro, who experienced poverty compared to the American expats, resented this but grew up to become President of the United States. Now he can use his power to make those expats pay.”
I doubt that he knows that we exist and if he does this issue has NO political traction in DC.
*Quite interesting how much defacto judicial power lands upon an airline, when they are given the task of enforcing passport validity prior to boarding (so as not to get stuck with the costs of flying them back to where they started).
@Mark Twain: between airlines & the government, everyone’s freedom of movement is being slowly destroyed. Look at this story about what happened to this poor American kid who was trying to go to Tanzania for volunteer work but provoked the suspicions of the TSA
@Petros, Roger Conklin, and ConfederateH: since we’re on the topic, it’s also worth pointing out that Gregory Meeks D-NY, who has repeatedly sponsored the Working American Competitiveness Act to make the FEIE unlimited, is a black man from Harlem. Often he gets no cosponsors of any race or political persuasion whatsoever (though back a few years ago he did get Ron Paul on board with it: HR 1798 in the 111th Congress).
There are proportionally more than twice as many black people in the Americans Abroad Caucus (6 out of 27) as there are in the House as a whole (41 out of 435). A bit surprising to me, since black people in general seem to be underrepresented among Americans abroad. Now if only the rest of the ACA would actually get on board with Meeks’ bills …
*@Mark Twain, it is even worse than that. Airlines who fail to insure the a passenger has a valid pasport (and visa, if that is also requred) are generally subject to very stiff fines if they fly passengers to a destination without a valid passport. That can be much more costly than just flying them back where they came from.
Several years ago when I boarded a Braniff Airlines flight in Lima, Peru for Buenos Aires, our takeoff was delayed because the incoming flight had brought in two US citizen passengers to Lima who had boarded in Panama without passports. In those days US citizens could travel to Panama without a passport if they had proof of citizenship. The flight was held until these persons without passports were put right back on the same plane on which they had arrived. But they could not legally fly to Argentina without a passport either.
They had flown to Panama and then after a few days flew on to Lima to visit their son in the Peace Corps there. The Peruvians would not admit them without a passport so they were put right back on the same plane..
Since the flight was continuing on to Buenos Aries rather than returning to Panama, the airline “concealed” them on the plane overnight when it landed in Buenos Aires in order to avoid the Argentine fine of several thousand dollars for bringing passengers illegally into that country. They had already been fined by Peru. They were careful to not disclose to Argentine authorities that they were hiding illegals on the “empty” plane overnight.
Braniff personnel brought food and water to them so they could survive until the next morning when the flight turned around and flew out to Lima and then back to Panama.
By the way, if Romney wins the US presidential election in November, the US will have its first Mexican citizen president. His father was born in Mexico so even though candidate Romney was born in the US, under Mexican law his also a Mexican citizen. I don’t expect he will rush right over to the nearest Mexican consulate to have a Mexican passport issued, but with a copy of his father’s birth certificate, plus his own, he would be issued a Mexican passport with no problem. But he need not worry about paying Mexican taxes because, unlike the US, Mexico does not subject its non-resident citizens to Mexican taxation.
*@MarkTwain, I am aware that ACA members have met with Congressman Gregory Meek in Washington on numerous ocassions. He is member of the Americans Abroad caucus who does indeed support the cause of US citizens who live and work abroad.
My experience is limited to only two countries outside the U.S. but in both places African-Americans are well represented in the American expat populations. France, in particular, has been a very welcoming haven for African-Americans for at least the past century. It’s still true. And just like all the other expats they tend to work in education, the arts/entertainment industry or as small business owners.
And, in my experience, when one runs across another American in a bar or a cafe or at a meeting in a country outside of the U.S. it is not a meeting of “hyphenated Americans.” It’s a smile, a handshake and a “Nice to meet you!” and “Where you from?” Or at least that has been true in the past where I’ve lived.
The race issue is irrelevant on all sides.
On the issue of “accidental citizenship” and the transmission of citizenship, I wrote a fairly detailed summary of this a while ago. I can’t remember if I cross posted it to this blog or not. But, if anybody is interested:
http://renounceuscitizenship.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/accidental-u-s-citizenship-does-it-stay-with-you-for-life/
@confederateH- there is absolutely no corrallation between this administration’s recent actions to enforce citizenship based taxation, the ethnicity of the President and the predominate racial demographic of the targeted group.
If you are looking for anything that would serve as source of causality you should be looking at the Congress. In the wake of a financial crisis such as the one of 2008 it is quite typical for the Congressional leaders to attempt to find a scapegoat to blame the problem on instead of looking at itself and its own misdeeds. The Germans, under Hitler, did it when they blamed the Jews for being the source of Germany’s financial problems. Lenin and Stalin did it in Russia after the revolution.
In times of legislative malpractise Government confiscation of wealth from a certain disliked class of its citizens is historically to be expected. The easiest way for a government to distance itself from its own fiscal mismanagement is to blame a national crisis on the treasonous activity of a historically disliked and disenfranchised segment of its population and one that definitely cannot fight back. In the days of Rome’s fall from power the Romans blamed Christians for weakening the empire’s moral fiber because Christianity meant that the Roman gods were no longer worshipped as before.
The accountability for U.S. taxation policy rests squarely with ALL the members of the U.S. Congress and an ill reasoned court decision that was rendered by a White judge. I say ill reasoned because the decision wasn’t based on any understanding of the principles of “taxation” but rather on irrational patriotism and an overblown view of the importance of the State in the life of its citizens, even when they don’t reside within its bounds.
The plain fact is that expats don’t count. As an expat your votes won’t really register on the local scene unless you happen to be a member of a larger resident U.S. population that tends to vote as a block. Such is the case with areas of New York where you have significant Jewish populations or locations where the military has a significant presence. The Cuban vote in Florida is also another example. But remember that even in these cases all of your votes are bascially “local” votes. America is dedicated to making sure that no “foreign” influences are at work in its politics. In many ways if you are an American who lives abroad you are foreign.
The President has nothing to gain from paying any attention to the plight of expats. He does have something to gain though from listening to the complaints of foreign governments and that is why we must do our best to get the attention of our governments of residence.
Before I go I would also point out that large numbers of ethnic Chinese are also giving up their U.S. citizenship so there goes your “stick it to Whitey” argument.
@Victoria, this is an excellent piece you wrote here. It serves as a template for more discussion, in fact I’d like to put in in the hands of the many Canadians who are learning that life as they knew it is suddenly over because of the citizenship drone strike.
It’s been a topic of debate here whether Boris Johnson is still a US citizen. In fact, the subject was brought up recently in a discussion I had with Todundsteuer on June 22
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/06/22/son-receives-cln/
The same day of this discussion, I wrote to the law firm that claims Mr Johnson has renounced US citizenship and haven’t had a response yet.
Also in one of his many book promotion interviews, this one in particular with David Letterman, he doesn’t deny that he has what it takes to be POTUS:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9316031/I-could-be-President-of-the-United-States-Boris-Johnson-tells-David-Letterman.html
Directed elsewhere and on another subject, to you think we can keep racist rhetoric quarantined to the geographical confines of the US?
@Confederate: ” We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
(Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Lucky Boris.
What is interesting to me is the role of luck (fate you could say) plays into Boris life decisions regarding his citizenship. What if, he had not had that encounter when boarding a flight to Mexico, via Houston, Texas? What he had just booked a different flight that did not transit via America? Would he have continued on blissfully unaware of the coming thunder of Commissioner Shulman, and the arrogance that it represents?
What if he was now was facing the International Revenue Services rolling offshore jihad of 2009 that continues until this day? How would he have handled that? If he was seething then, can you imagine how he would be seething now?! I somehow don’t think he would just meekly accept the requirements and the penalties in some quiet manner, anonymously complaining about it on a Blog! If he is aware of what is happening now back in America, he must certainly thank his luck stars that he “checked out” when he did!
Lucky Boris.
@ConfederateH; Geithner, the Treasury Secretary is an appointee of Obama, and he was not tax compliant, yet not only had no penalties, but managed to be rewarded with high public office http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123187503629378119.html It is power, status and political connections that is at play here.
@bubblebustin;
I second that
*Can you imagine Winston Churchill’s reaction if the IRS had tried to subject his salary as Prime Minister to US taxation? His mother being a US citizen, he was as much an American citizen himself as if he had been born in New York.
*Hmmmm. Backhanded outsourcing of customs police duties.