Not quite sure of the accuracy of this report, since it comes second-hand in what appears to be a letter to the editor, but this woman seems to be saying that a Swiss man she knows — an “accidental American” — went into the OVDI and then had his U.S. passport confiscated for some reason. From The Record–Searchlight of Redding, California:
We have Swiss friends, a couple, who lived in the United States in 1966 and 1967. He was a young engineer working here to get some experience in his field. While here, they had a baby boy who then of course was a U.S. citizen … He was recently informed that he now must start paying taxes and filing tax returns to the United States. Not knowing the U.S. tax code, he asked for help from the U.S. Embassy and was told that he needs to hire a lawyer for help. I imagine it has to be an American lawyer or one who understands the tax laws here. There will be cost to this service he has to pay. I assume the Internal Revenue Service wants to know about his “secret Swiss bank accounts”? Also, he has to produce bank information for the last six years. His U.S. passport was taken away.
I am thinking that people should be weary of “dropping babies on the U.S. soil” if they do not plan on staying here permanently.
Not sure what this means — perhaps he renounced, or perhaps someone in the bureaucracy nabbed his passport ultra vires. But whether or not she’s got some of the details about her friend’s son’s story muddled, her closing warning is a sound one. Good to see that at least one Homelander gets it. Sadly, many people in the comments section clearly don’t want to listen.
*A German friend, now retired, was stationed in the US for a few years and then returned to Germany. While in the US his wife gave birth to a daughter. They are very much aware of her US tax obligation now that she is a working adult. I asked him recently if she has renounced her US ciizenship yet.
He said it is a dilemma they have not sorted out. He told me that his own father, before WW II, renounced his Swiss citizenship and, that was the worst decidion he ever made in his whole life which he regretted until his dying day. When Hitler came to power he wished he had not renounced it since the renouncement was irrevocable.
Although the world situation is not as messy as when Hitler came to power, he says “you never know from one day to the next what may happen.” What mabe on the horizon in the future you never know. Hence her reluctance, so far, to renounce US citizenship.
By the way, as far as I know there has to be a good and substantial reason for US authorities to confiscate your US passport. I know that courts may order persons pending trial who are out on bail may be required to surrender their passports as a condition of being out on bail so they will not be able to flee the country. Even that is not fool proof since Mexican authorities, as far as I know, still allow you to visit border towns without any immigration check. The immigration controls in such places are on the highways leading deeper into Mexico when heading further south.
You may recall that the recent bill in Congress which would allow the cancellation of validity of US passports for outstanding tax obligations to the IRS of $50,000 or more was voted down.