Sounds like a cool thing to do. One can meet the most powerful man and woman in the world in person, free of charge! This is a great benefit of being an American citizen, of paying US taxes, of contributing to a presidential campaign!
Meet the President in person and be a guest of the First Lady at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Airfare and hotel included!
– BarackObama.com
Yet, there is a little catch, hidden away in the fine print. If you are an American working overseas, go away. This does not apply to you. You are excluded, rejected, unwanted. America is not for you!
PROMOTION OPEN ONLY TO INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES CITIZENS AND LAWFUL PERMANENT U.S. RESIDENTS WHO ARE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE FIFTY (50) UNITED STATES, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND PUERTO RICO, AND OVER THE AGE OF 18 (OR THE AGE OF MAJORITY UNDER APPLICABLE LAW).
– BarackObama.com
The bold text states that one must live in the 50 States, the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico to qualify. So, if you live in Mexico, vamos a la playa. If you live in Canada, go play ice hockey. The president doesn’t want to meet you.
One (1) winner will receive the following prize package: round-trip tickets for winner and a guest from within the fifty U.S. States, DC, or Puerto Rico to a destination in or near Charlotte, North Carolina;
– democrats.org
This issue has been addressed in the past many times before and it still persists as if nothing happened. It is understandable that America is a territorial-based system, providing its services only to those who are residents of the 50 States, the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico. Yet, one can’t help to wonder why Americans who live outside of this region are denied banking services simply because they are US persons?
This is your last chance. The contest to win a free trip to the Democratic National Convention ends tonight — and I want to make sure you get your name in the hat for this incredible prize… I’ve got my fingers crossed for you
– Email from Democrats.org
Well, great, but shouldn’t Americans living abroad be excluded on banking issues too so that such does not effect their ability to refinance their mortgage abroad?
It is a shame to be a US person. America used to be a great nation, but look at what has become of it today.
Here’s a recent little discovery that so fits in with the theme of this posting. If you are an extraterritorial who severs the ball-and-chain of US personhood, you will no longer have a valid Social Security Number. But, if you for some reason need or want an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) to replace that SSN function, guess what? You can’t have an ITIN if you were born in the United States! Here is the astonishing condition you will find in the instructions for the relevant application Form W-7:
Line 4. To be eligible for an ITIN, your birth country must be recognized as a foreign country by the U.S. Department of State
Have I missed some little trick on this, or has a severant [no longer a servant, heh, heh – add an E for excellent] gone from being a second-class citizen to being a weird nonperson who can have no status such as all other foreign persons can? All by virtue of toxic birthplace.
Well, I’d argue that Angela Merkel wields a bit more power over our daily lives at the moment than Michelle Obama does 😛
Anyway, is anyone really surprised after the Obama campaign removed the Facebook group for overseas voters for Obama? They probably don’t want to give any overseas voters the chance to get so close and raise any issues that might gain some media attention. Just saying…
*You keep your Social Security Number; simply inform the Social Security Administration that you are no longer a US citizen. There is a form (SS-5) for giving SSA notice of change in your status. It’s not perfectly designed for this, but adequate. Congress has not yet seen fit to take social security benefits away from former citizens, but Medicare is not available outside the United States.
@usxcanada: “To be eligible for an ITIN, your birth country must be recognized as a foreign country by the U.S. Department of State”
Heh. That makes me wonder what they would do for people born in Antarctica. Antarctica has been ruled by U.S. tax courts not to be a foreign country (for purposes of the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion — it is only a foreign country for purposes of the Foreign Tort Claims Act.) Or as Roger Alford put it over at Opinion Juris: “Antarctica is a foreign country if you are suing the United States, but is not a foreign country if the United States is suing you”.
http://opiniojuris.org/2006/01/31/its-official-antarctica-is-not-a-foreign-country/
*If you are a US citizen who is a bona-fide resident of Puerto Rico, you are denied the right to vote for president of the United States and you do not pay US taxes on your income from sources in Puerto Rico, yet you are qualified to enter this contest.
If you ar a US citizen residing outside of the US, you are qualified to vote in Federal Elections and are subject to US taxes on your world-wide income, but you are not allowed to compete in this contest to attend the Democratic National Convention.
Can someone please explain the logic of this discrimination?
You guys are likely covered under the first part “US Citizen” (for those that haven’t renounced yet), but you’d have to lie and give them a family member’s or friend’s address. Then you’d be on the hook for lying for the rest of your life…
I’ll never understand why that country almost considers it a crime to live overseas.
*Roger, later on today, if I have time, I’ll write a letter to Obama asking about this, so that I can add another letter to my growing list of letters lacking a response. I’m confident that if I write my representation often enough, that I’ll never get a response.
The last time around, the Obama campaign only made this available for people who made donations to his campaign. That was a violation of lottery laws.
Eric Holder apparently did not charge Obama with violation of the Federal RICO statute.
In this case, apparently, they hope to avoid a President Romney charging them with a Federal Crime–so the lottery is free but please consider making a donation.
Personally, I’d rather have dinner with George Soros:
A Source Tells The New Yorker That George Soros ‘Feels Hurt’ By Obama
Is it clear that the boldfaced language modifies “United States citizens” as well as “lawful permanent U.S. residents”? Seems ambiguous to me.
*@Michael, it really isn’t ambiguous. One of the strange features of US election laws is that non-citizen permanent residents are allowed to contribute to political campaigns, even though they are not permitted to vote. Persons who are citizens can both vote and contribute even though they are not US residents. But they are left uninvited in participating in activities such as this. It is not illegal for them to participate but the organizers of this activitiy, out of the “greatness” of their hearts, have just chosen to exclude them. Perhaps it would better that citizens lving abroad just not be around lest they complain of the lousy tax treatment this president has chosen to inflict upon them.
As a general rule, just to be safe, when political candidates receive donations from persons with overseas addresses they request that they include some sort of proof of US citizenship, such as a copy of a valid US passport or a US birth certificate so such contributitons will “pass” as being legitimate in a possible audit for having been received from legally-permitted sources.
By coincidence, I was just talking to a close family friend in NC yesterday who asked how things were going for me in my tax situation. I told her we were still in a holding pattern with our OVDI submission (women have had babies by now), and went on to tell me how she has been very active in the Obama campaign and has been invited to the convention in nearby Charlotte. Through her church she is also involved in supporting new immigrants to the US. Needless to say, she and and I had what was to be for her a very eye-opening conversation about FATCA, FBAR’s and citizenship based taxation in general. She was very sympathetic (often aghast) and said she was sorry that the US government was behaving like this. I thanked her, and suggested that instead of being sorry it would be of great help to other Americans like me, that she the read the material I was to send her and inform others involved in the campaign, and those who help immigrants enter the US by informing them about FBAR.
*For what it’s worth, another letter to Obama:
*@swissploy, The reason is the blind are leading the blind. Please share with us if you get a response to your letter..
I think Petros has the right idea it’s all about preventing it from being an “illegal lottery,” there are a lot of rules here regarding sweepstakes and prize drawings, as a result of I believe organized crime from decades ago. You might be familiar with the line “no purchase necessary” it’s a universal reference regarding sweepstakes in the US.
As to why it’s only open to US residents I can only guess but, here look at these two other sweepstakes they both have similar lines regarding eligibility.
http://www.fritolay.com/facebook/contest-rules-20120720-summary.html
“NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING. Open only to legal residents of any of the 50 US states or DC, 18 or older. Void where prohibited.”
http://www.mms.com/us/brownrules/
“4. ELIGIBILITY: This M&M’s® Brand Find Brown Instant Win Game (this “Game“) is open to individual legal residents of the United States (including Puerto Rico & U.S. territories and possessions), age 13 or older as of 04/02/12, except employees (and their immediate families and members of the same household) of Sponsor and its affiliates, agents and advertising and promotion agencies and the Judge (collectively, the “Promotion Parties“).”
I don’t think it’s intended as you guys are perceiving it as a slight to American’s abroad, I think it’s probably got something to do with some sort of federal or state law.
@whoaitssteve
If that’s the case, then they shouldn’t do it because it further disenfranchises US citizens abroad. But then we are the great invisible.
*WhoaIt’sSteve, this case helps to show that the US thinks and acts in a residency-based manner. Because of such residency-based thinking, most of the banks in Switzerland are now refusing to provide me with banking services since stateside Americans don’t understand the impact their residency-based thinking is having beyond US borders. I could care less about this silly sweepstakes if it wasn’t making it more difficult for me to refinance my mortgage. If it is really so very important for stateside Americans to be so strongly residency-based, then they need to learn to accept that Americans abroad live in other nations, meaning that US residency matters don’t apply to them. I have no problem with the simple fact that I don’t live in the 50 US states or Puerto Rico. Yet, can US residency-based thinkers accept that fact? Unlikely.
@Swisspinoy,
Could you imagine going? I’d rather put pins in my eyes.
*bubblebustin, our US phone rang tonight and since it doesn’t ring often, I figured that my letter provoked a reaction! I would certainly donate $1000 and fly to the US if we were heard and serious action was being taken. But, the phone call was from the building insurance in Florida.
@swisspinoy
Under the current circumstances it would sicken me to listen to all the hype knowing that so many are suffering due to Obama. But I might go just to engage Stephen Colbert’s news crew in covering our plight!
@bubblebustin, re “I’d rather put pins in my eyes.”
thanks, made me laugh!
*Maybe they’re just being cheap. Air fare from Canada is a lot higher than if you drove across the border to a nearby regional airport. For instance, it’s hundreds of dollars cheaper for someone from Ottawa to drive to Syracuse N.Y. and catch a flight from there. I’m sure that’s not the real reason though.
*Deckard, according to the wording of it, a US person outside of the residency-based system will be disqualified even if they pay their own way, contribute the max allowed, finance the Democratic National Convention and pay off the US national debt. In return, Democrats will shut down their bank accounts, cancel their mortgage, prohibit them from entering the residency-based system, tax the hell out of them and hint where they can obtain a knife to commit suicide.
@swisspinoy
Free Ginsu knife with every renunciation?
*@swisspinoy
Well, that sums it up pretty nicely. Or, to put it another way, for most expat Americans all the election cycle really offers is an opportunity to choose between electrocution or lethal injection before you walk down the Green Mile. If you vote independent you might also get to choose your last meal.
*Roger Conklin, what appears to be a telemarketer in NJ (8pm) called me at 2am (CH) today using my WA number (5pm) and wished me a good evening. They said it was an anonymous survey, but they wanted to know how to pronounce my last name and their focus was the FL district where I am registered to vote. They drilled me on my political leanings with no mention of anything overseas. From this, the caller may have concluded that I’m a crazy liberal independent living in FL who will vote but maybe not for anyone. Since then, democrats haven’t sent any more of those daily donate $3 emails, which seems a bit unusual.
I should probably note that telemarketers never call me, except for this one instance. The only folks who dial my WA number are those in the US that I personally give it to, such as Obama when I pointed out that I couldn’t donate $1000 because of my address.