The following is a translated portion of a German song. I replaced the word “woman” with “country”. Nothing is complete without a good song to go along with it!
[Intro]
This was by far the worst week
That I ever had in my entire life
I don’t know if I should stand up
I have no plan on what I should do
Because somehow everything is crappy
Never before was I so far down on the ground
Because I know that my entire savings are gone
And my country has betrayed me!
Uuah, Whatever![Hook:]
Bye (bye), I feel so free (free)
I don’t want to go back home
And I don’t give a damn shit about tomorrow
I lift a glass and scream:
Bye (bye), I feel so free (free)
I don’t want to go back home
And I don’t give a damn shit about tomorrow
I lift a glass and scream[Part 1:]
Now I am so free (free)
And I stand up again
I am alone and I scream
Go out again
Jump in the nikes, fly
What is really amazing are 1,000’s of Americans only feeling truly “free” once they ditch America! Could anything be more ironic?
Well deserved freedom, and thanks for continuing to help others struggling with the tough decisions on what to do about their ‘Tax, Form, Surveillance and Penalty Club membership
Interesting emotional response to renunciation. Everything i have read seems to point to a sense of relief in this group. Is there anyone who regrets it or has ‘buyer’s remorse’? This would be interesting to know.
@Southerner, the thing about dual citizenship is that it makes it easy for an individual to pick the better of two worlds. Basically, instead of relying on welfare, one can seek work in the other nation. The risk of renouncing is that this pick then becomes more difficult. “Buyer’s remorse” happens when the place where one lives becomes worse than the one one left. In simple terms, if Switzerland collapsed into a depression or war, then one might regret that one couldn’t take refuge in America, assuming that it was doing better. So, ‘buyer’s remorse’ is a matter of time and could take decades or centuries to become relevant. I’m getting old. so I probably won’t live long enough to experience that. I seriously doubt that the US will pay off its massive debt within the next 50 years and my family is Filipino so we can migrate to Asia if the situation in Europe deteriorates. Lately, the Filipino economy has been growing at a rate of 6.8%. I would love to retire to either Europe or the Philippines. If America wants for me to retire there, then it needs a better strategy to attract American heritage.
@swisspinoy: what’s the german song you adapted here? [Intro]
This was by far the worst week
That I ever had in my entire life
I don’t know if I should stand up
I have no plan on what I should do
Because somehow everything is crappy
Never before was I so far down on the ground
Because I know that my entire savings are gone
And my country has betrayed me!
Uuah, Whatever! [Hook:]
Bye (bye), I feel so free (free)
I don’t want to go back home
And I don’t give a damn shit about tomorrow
I lift a glass and scream:
Bye (bye), I feel so free (free)
I don’t want to go back home
And I don’t give a damn shit about tomorrow
I lift a glass and scream
I join all Brockers in appreciating your continued activism and caring.Dealing with feelings of anger,frustration,helplessness etc. towards immorality,indecency,very questionable legality of IRS policy need your support , experience,and vision from the Swiss distance.
@J.N., the song is by Cro and it is called Whatever. I translated from the following lyrics:
http://rapgenius.com/Cro-whatever-lyrics
@SwissPinoy: thanks(I speak German and Schwyzerdütsch so I could understand whatever original you would have sent)
@J.N., the link to the song is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGrfFzagzHs
This song ranks among the best German raps that I’ve heard so far. It starts off slow (the depression), but then gets jamming (being free). Great song! It shows that one doesn’t have to be American to have fun. One can be free! Some stateside Americans watching it might even become envious even if they don’t understand the lyrics. As such, it fits well with this topic.
@Southerner, I felt deep grief over losing my birth right. It wasn’t my choice. Expats are being treated like criminals until proven otherwise. We are a burden to our foreign family. The U.S. has decided that all expats are to be demeaned, chased down, penalized, criminalized and financially ruined if necessary. There was no way I could keep my local banking here in Canada with my Canadian spouse AND continue being American.
This was a gut wrenching decision for me. However, once done it is done. I think what you are seeing is a lot of people who have tried every other way and cannot keep U.S. citizenship even if they wanted to. If the U.S. is going to insist on doing things the way they have been doing despite being told numerous times of the harm they are causing then there is little choice but, to get out. After all they’ve even stated in certain instances some won’t be able to comply and those persons can “just renounce” I think that was a built in feature of this and these people were always going to be considered collateral damage of FATCA.
After several years of being treated this way it’s not much of a wonder to see people happy to be out and done with this. For me it doesn’t mean I am not upset at having been put in such a position to have to choose between my family here in Canada and my country of birth. The U.S. should ask us back, apologize and find a way to make this process FAIR such as RBT or at the very least allow those who haven’t lived there in decades to be exempted by some process. Instead the more pain they cause the bigger the stick they use.
Who wouldn’t be happy to stop being treated this way? My grief is due to having to be forced to lose something through no choice of my own and NO wrong doing of mine. Once you are over the shock of the situation, do what you must to protect your family then yes, there is a sense of freedom from the oppressive way the U.S. has decided to treat its expats. At least my family is free of the burden of having an U.S. person dragging them down. Is it sad? Yes, it really is. Whose doing is that?
If you can’t change the way something is then the best course is to face it, do what you can to make it better and then accept it and move on. Having said all of that I will NEVER forgive those responsible for causing me to be forced to give up my citizenship when I would have never owed them a penny in taxes. I’m passed sad and did not collect 200 dollars.
No remorse here! After five years of living in Canada and at age 19 I swore my oath of allegiance to the Canadian Federal Government and Quenn Elizabeth II! I felt free because I believed I had committed an expatriating act. 32 years later I found out I needed to sink the last nail in the coffin. It was expensive but worth every ounce of my blood. On Wednesday March 5, 2012 I walked out of the US consulate in downtown Calgary a happy, free man. The sun was bright and it was a beautiful day. March 5th is my independence day!
I need some of your advice,if you know: : what is the procedure to relinquish US citizenship?Does it require having filed taxes I never knew about until lately. especially since I have no connection to any Americans abroad.The whole process is so complicated,(and the US such indecent highway robbers),I have no connection to the US beyond having been born there,left when I was 15 with my parents,no family there,no assets nothing.(I’m 71 now) My accountant thinks I have to deal with the taxes first,but he has to represent US interests,Thats certainly what info he gets from them and otherwise he wouldn’t be certified by them.
J.N.,
Did you become a citizen of another country? i.e., that would be your route to claiming a relinquishment from the time you became a citizen of another country if since that time you did nothing like use a US passport, vote in a US election. You “should have” another citizenship before renouncing (which is different than relinquishment). Here is an excellent resource for you to do research on what might apply for you: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/consulate2/ (The Consulate Report Directory, which includes information about relinquishment and renunciation, including IRS forms and reports from people from many countries on their expatriation experiences).
No, you do not have to have filed back tax returns before your expatriation — and the US Consulate should not ask you anything about your taxes, but you do have to do that in the following year when you state in Form 8854 that you have done so.
Start with research with the Consulate Report Directory, then ask any questions that remain. There are lots of good people here to help you with that and give you support along the way. One step at a time.
@calgary thanks for your quick response.Now I can take a next step,looking into the link.
J. N. You are 71, you left when you were 15 and have no family, assets or anything else there. Why on earth would you contemplate doing anything different after 56 years?
If you decide to renounce or if you have already relinquished, you do not have to file any taxes unless you choose to. There is no good reason to do so.
My blue passport is somewhere in USA getting canceled. But I have like 5 canceled US passports in my desk (every 5 years). What does another canceled passport mean? Freedom from USA!