The Department of the Treasury has finally placed the latest Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who have Chosen to Expatriate on public inspection for printing in tomorrow’s Federal Register, ten days late. Congratulations to Innocente for being the first to post the news at 9 AM right on the dot. There’s about 1,130 names of people who have permanently cut off their legal ties to the U.S. government, making this a record-breaking quarter; more names have appeared in the first half of this year than in all of the previous record high year of 2011.
The number of names in Treasury’s list roughly matches the 1,106 entries the FBI added to NICS in the same quarter. However, this still doesn’t mean their list is complete: the FBI only records people who renounced U.S. citizenship under 8 USC § 1481(a)(5), whereas Treasury is supposed to record renunciants, relinquishers (8 USC § 1481(a)(1)–(4)), and theoretically even some of the nearly twenty thousand people who give up green cards each year (though in fact there’s evidence that they do not include the latter). Projecting from the FBI’s data, the total number of people who gave up U.S. citizenship last quarter in one way or another is probably two thousand; I’d guess during the same period there’s a similar number of people giving up green cards they’ve held for at least eight of the past fifteen years (the alleged standard for inclusion in Treasury’s list), though this is harder to estimate. And while some famous ex-citizens appear in Treasury’s list, others do not.
Public figures in this quarter’s list include Hong Kong Commerce & Economic Development Bureau official Bernard Chan who renounced in February, businesswoman & political candidate Erica Yuen (a bit late, as she renounced last summer), and Israeli legislators Naftali Bennett and Dov Lipman who both gave up U.S. citizenship in January after they were elected. A colleague of mine who renounced over a year ago also finally showed up in the list. Congratulations to all friends of Isaac Brock who made the expat honour roll!
However, famous ex-citizens of recent vintage who are included find themselves outnumbered by ex-citizens who turned in their blue passports in the past four quarters but are not included: legislators & legislative candidates Fauzia Kasuri of Pakistan, Sharon Roulstone of the Cayman Islands, Akierra Missick of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Victor Okaikoi of Ghana, as well as Zurich mayor Corine Mauch. That’s not including the dozens more who gave up citizenship between 2006 and early 2012 and aren’t included either.
And unsurprisingly, neither State nor Treasury worked fast enough this time to print the names of any of the public figures known to have renounced citizenship during the last quarter, among them Hong Kong banker Marshall Nicholson, Cuban spy René González, and Taiwanese basketball player Quincy Davis. Also I don’t think Tina Turner appears, though I’m not really sure under what name she’d appear, or whether she has even started the procedures for relinquishment after naturalising as a Swiss citizen earlier this year. I guess they and the rest of us ordinary folks are not as important as Afghan leader Hamid Karzai’s brother, who was rushed through the system to show up in the list in record time, making him one of the few to receive the honour of showing up during the same quarter in which he renounced.
Shadow Raider (to whom we owe thanks for getting the above-mentioned data on green card abandonments) has another FOIA request pending with United States Citizenship & Immigration Services asking for the number of Certificates of Loss of Nationality they receive from the State Department each year. It’ll be interesting to see if their figures match up either with the FBI’s or with Treasury’s; perhaps all these missing names are due to State not forwarding some CLNs, for whatever reason?
@Innocente
Great work. Just a guess, but I would think that the greatest number of renunciations would be from Switzerland because of the persecution already being felt there, and Canada because of the sheer number of USC’s living here. Mexico has more, but according to Victoria told me, many don’t live there officially.
Akierra Missick (who didn’t appear in this quarter’s list) apparently got her CLN within five days. Oh well, guess she’s not as important as René González. Briefly mentioned in a long article about Edward Smith (fellow party-member of Missick) who tried to fake his renunciation.
http://suntci.com/cheshire-hall-byelection-likely-p604-106.htm
The WSJ has an article on 2Q’s renunciations. To read it without a subscription, try pasting the name of the article “Number of Americans Renouncing Citizenship Surges” in Google, hit enter and then open it from Google.
The comment section is open.
Thanks, Innocente.
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/08/08/massive-jump-in-people-renouncing-us-citizenship/comment-page-1/#comment-474908 (different reporter: Liem Kleven)
Heading on over to comment! The more the merrier from IBS since there are a lot of uninformed rude comments whose authors need to be put in their place!
Here is the link to the Wall Street Journal article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323977304579002780562003814.html
Note the biased and slanderous spin in this headline and text about the same phenomena.
Since the IRS used media before to drum up business for the OVDs, and to threaten taxpayers abroad, perhaps it pays media outlets to place stories slanted as it wishes.
The IRS also pretended that those carefully placed and crafted public statements fulfilled their responsibility to ‘educate’ taxpayers abroad. Look at the mente state
We know that agencies of the federal government have done that before, extending to providing subsidies for media and entertainment that was essentially marketing and pro-government propaganda.
http://www.heavy.com/news/2013/07/domestic-propaganda-smith-mundt-ndaa/
http://www.4thmedia.org/2013/03/01/the-us-propaganda-war-hollywoods-movies-to-glorify-the-american-imperialism/ https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/02-5
Sorry, the slanted headline and content I referred to is not the WSJ article that Innocente provided, but this one:
”Search for tax cheats prompts expatriates to renounce U.S. citizenship
http://www.businessrecord.com/Content/Default/-All-Latest-News/Article/Search-for-tax-cheats-prompts-expatriates-to-renounce-U-S–citizenship/-3/248/59588
A lot of commenters at the WSJ assume that it’s Americans fleeing the country who are renouncing.
Two more articles on the increase of number of Americans getting rid of US slavemanship:
1. EURASIA Review: “Americans Renouncing Citizenship Surge Sixfold As Tougher Tax Rules Loom”
http://www.eurasiareview.com/09082013-americans-renouncing-citizenship-surge-sixfold-as-tougher-tax-rules-loom/
2. Business Week: “Americans Giving Up Passports Jump Sixfold as Tougher Rules Loom”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-08-09/americans-giving-up-passports-jump-sixfold-as-tougher-rules-loom
@calgary411 not all notaries are covered under the Apostille Convention
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille_Convention
For example in New Zealand only the Depart of Internal Affairs can perform this function
http://www.dia.govt.nz/apostille
WSJ Europe has a slightly different version of the article “Number of Americans Renouncing Citizenship Surges” and is not behind a paywall:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323977304579002780562003814.html
hopefully, the quarterly data is in a spreadsheet, and could be graphed with a line for FBI statistics and for Fed register statistics, and eventually with Shadow Raider’s Freedom of Info stats. It could be done qtrly and cumulatively. Those Picture files could be shared with the mefia.
Let the “Renunciation Games” begin. May the odds be in your favor, get out now while you still can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9WqhbYZ9Y
Sauve qui peut
The latest quarterly list started me wondering about one particular correlation. Do persons not born in the U.S. get listed and/or get listed faster? Do persons born in the U.S. not get listed and/or get listed slower? This pattern applies 100% to the cases I have direct knowledge of.
What pattern usxcanada? You’re asking questions then saying there’s a pattern? You think people not born in the US get listed and faster than those who are born US citizens? Well possibly, but I can only speak for myself. I was American born, renounced in March this year and appeared on the current list which is the first one since my CLN was approved in April. Which is how the system should work, but clearly doesn’t.
@To All, do you think it’s safer and better to be included on the list? After all, it brings official closure but am concerned it could also serve as a black list.
@monalisa1776, the list is privacy violation because it can be misused and abused. However, since the list is inaccurate, it shouldn’t really be used for anything.
@Swisspinoy, I am still nervous as Hell about the whole thing. :/
@monalisa1776, you already have all the official closure you need, Only the US govt views this as a black list. For anyone else it is a white list. (Want a second way to show your bank that you are free of the taint of ‘US person’? Well, here it is!)
If the US govt has the poor judgement to further hassle ex-citizens based on some sort of black list, I doubt they will use this one anyway. They know as well as we do that it is deeply flawed. Bottom line — listed here or not, it makes no difference either way. This list is a white elephant born of pure congressional spite. Its only function is symbolic.
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If anyone might think that US tax law does not impact job opportunities for USCs abroad, I can now relate the following personal story. About eight months ago I was contacted about a job due to a planned departure. In July I was re-contacted about this job. At that time I advised that, as a USC, the company would need to check with its bank to ensure that I would be allowed to be an account signatory. Additionally, I advised that I would likely have to sign an agreement to disallow the national bank customer privacy laws for the company bank accounts. I also advised that I would need to advise the US tax authorities of my access to the company bank accounts. Last week I received this reply:
“Many thanks for writing. We will discuss this on ———. I think, however, that we should look for another solution rather than open our accounts to a foreign tax authority and through that possibly create additional problems.
After the meeting I will advise you of the decision.”
This is a polite advance warning that I will not be considered for the job. I will be fine with the expected decision – I am working on a more interesting prospect.
@Watcher, I’m sure you’re correct though it still frightens me that I might be hassled at the border or that the IRS may be more likely to audit those on the list.
Not that it should ever happen, of course, but if we’re ever stopped by the police whilst during a visit to the states, could imagine that they’d be more likely to question me. I’d imagine that the names on the List could be circulated around various police departments, especially with everything computerized; to the homelander, I’d imagine that we’d be viewed with deep suspicion…
@monalisa1776, I sincerely hope the country’s police have better things to do with their time than hassle ex-citizens for no good reason. Stop imaging. Yes, there could be problems at the border, we know that, and if you visit the US you will have to be ready for that possibility. But as for the rest, very unlikely to happen so enjoy your freedom.
@Innocente
That is exactly the point of focus and targeted audience the FACTA imposition should be aimed at…Educate all the aspiring US International Executives and Business School candidates…You may as well forget becoming an Executive of a foreign company…
Imagine any company hiring a CEO from the US…It was suggested to Blackberry that they needed a flashy US CEO…but fortunately they got a German (who incidentally took up Canadian Citrizenship)…
I get the impression from some of the posts that some expatriates here have little or no experience visiting the USA as expatriates, and in some cases have over-done fears about the process. As an expatriate who frequently crosses the U.S. border, I hope to allay some of your fears with this post.
First, let go of the idea that there is some sort of homelander policy or agenda to punish or harrass expatriates. That’s simply not true. What is true is that many CBP employees are fairly simple-minded, and are likely to jump to the propaganda-induced conclusion that the only POSSIBLE reason you expatriated is that you’re a rich greedy bastard cheating on their taxes somehow. You need to be ready for that reaction, and have a plan to handle it (see below). But more often than not, they don’t even notice that you are an expatriate. The most important thing is not to worry about it. They are very well trained to notice when a person is nervous or anxious, and if they think you are hiding something, they will definitely hassle you.,
If they bother to read your place of birth on your passport and figure out you are an expatriate, they will almost certainly ask you why you expatriated, and in most cases their personal bias will be that you must be one of those greedy people the propaganda tells them are trying to cheat the system or evade taxes. The key is to anticipate this, and be ready with a truthful answer that makes it clear you are not some zillionaire evading taxes. My pre-rehearsed answer to “Why did you expatriate?” goes like this:
Well, in hindsight, it was probably a mistake. But the reason I relinquished in 2009 is that I believe passionately in America and what it’s supposed to stand for. That’s government by and for the people, with liberty and justice for all. But the America I’m proud to have been born in doesn’t exist any more. You don’t have government by and for the people in the United States any more. You have government by and for Wall St. banks, and “justice for all” has been forgotten. More than 2,000 white collar criminals were convicted and served time in the 1990s S&L crisis. But not a single person has even been charged with a crime in the wake of 2008, and rich guys like Jon Corzine are now able to literally purchase immunity from prosecution through their campaign contributions. Meanwhile the middle-class victims of the 2008 housing crisis are out of luck, and guys like Corzine are literally above the law. That’s not the America I grew up in, and that’s why I moved out of the United States.
I’ve actually had CBP officials ask to shake my hand after giving that answer, which by the way is 100% truthful.
You guys who are worried about some grand homelander scheme to persecute you are barking up the wrong tree. The actual situation is that most of the CBP people really have no clue about this stuff, and they have probably been exposed to a whole lot of rhetoric and propaganda about tax cheats. Just treat them respectfully and make it clear your reason for expatriation was not tax evasion, and you’ll be fine.
The biggest issue/problem I’ve run into is that the officials literally don’t have a clue about their own laws. For example, a TSA employee asked me for ID, so I showed him my Hong Kong national identity card. Because HKID’s don’t have their expiration date printed on them, he was not satisfied and kept insisting that I produce “An American ID”. I told him repeatedly that I was not an American citizen and it would be illegal for me to present an American ID, because I am not entitled to have one. But he would not budge. Finally, I acknowledged that I still had a Florida driver licence, but before showing it to him, I was emphatic in saying that it was not valid because I am no longer a Florida resident. He look at it, checked the expiration date, then reprimanded me that next time I should ONLY show that Florida license and stop wasting TSA’s time. He literally refused to accept a valid ID, then accepted an invalid ID after I emphatically told him it was invalid!
On another occasion, I was standing in an hour-plus long non-citizen queue for immigration, and got into a “small talk” conversation with another passenger (a stranger to me) about how the ridiculous wait was intentionally engineered to cause American citizens to feel sympathy to the nonsensical argument that the budget sequester had “forced” CBP to make ridiculous staffing cuts. CBP often employees non-citizen green card holders in junior positions for their language skills, and the young man who was directing people to this or that immigration desk when they reached the front of the line overhead our conversation, then approached me saying it sounded like I knew a lot about the workings of CBP policies.
Oh crap, thought I… This guy is going to be suspicious that I’m a terrorist or some nonsense because I have an opinion on how CBP is run. Nope, not at all the case. He went on to explain that he is a permanent resident but not a citizen, and his wife back in Africa got pregnant on his last visit home. He wanted my advice on how to get away with having his child born in the USA for the sake of gaining citizenship. Mind you, this is a uniformed CBP official, openly soliciting my advice on how to work around U.S. immigration policy! I told him I have no professional knowledge of any of this, but that I had heard of other people coming to the USA during their 4th month of pregnancy when they can still get away with posing as fat rather than pregnant, then obtaining a 6-month entry stamp so they can legally be in the country when they deliver. He thanked me profusely and was very polite and respectful. I was literally awe-struck by the absurdity of a uniformed CBP official sincerely seeking my advice on how to get his kid born in the U.S., and I felt sorry for him not having any idea what the adverse consequences could be to his unborn son thanks to FATCA and all the rest.
The point of these last two stories is that you’re not going up against an organized force that’s out to get you. You’re dealing with a generally incompetent group of people whose personal biases will work against you if you let them assume too much. Never lie to them – you can get in big big trouble for that. But do have a rehearsed answer to “Why did you renounce?” that is both truthful and defuses their assumptions.
I hope this is helpful to some of you. I was definitely nervous about border crossings right after expatriating, but now that I’ve done it quite a few times, it’s really no big deal.