How do you go about renouncing your citizenship, Mr. Cruz?
A post made from George’s comment on the promise of Canadian-born U.S. Senator Ted Cruz to renounce his birth country’s citizenship:
Last summer Senator Ted Cruz learned he was Canadian and made a pledge that he was going to shed his “clinging Canadian Citizenship.”
Months later he remains Canadian, but why?
“AUSTIN, Texas — Canada-born U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has yet to renounce his birth country’s citizenship as promised — but a spokeswoman said Saturday the tea party darling plans to have that finished soon.
Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the junior senator from Texas, said lawyers are preparing the necessary paperwork.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/ted-cruz-canadian-citizenship-101747.html#ixzz2wuHpTHwK
Remember that Senator Ted Cruz is a Harvard educated lawyer;
“After graduating from Princeton, Cruz attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995 with a Juris Doctor.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz
Wow, it must be pretty difficult to renounce Canadian Citizenship. So what exactly do you need to do to shed that clinging Canadian Citizenship? After all, a Harvard educated US lawyer graduating magna cum laude needs other lawyers “prepare the necessary paperwork.”
Well, first stop is Government of Canada website;
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/renounce-how.asp
You fill out this four page form that asks nothing about social ties or connections;
Folks, you are probably thinking there will be at least one interview and that you will need to face the Flag of Canada one last time. Not at all, you put it in the post and mail it to;
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Case Processing Centre—Sydney
Renunciation
P.O. Box 10000
Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 7C1
But you are now thinking, this simple service must have large fees?
One hundred dollars Canadian, payable online or by cheque.
How long does this all take, after all its less than one hundred dollars?
“Eighty percent of applications, four months.”
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/cit-renunciation.asp
OK, maybe Canada is unique in the world. What about your cousins across the pond who want to get rid of clinging British Citizenship?
The procedure is all online here;
Amazing, you fill out this form with no questions of social ties but only two pages;
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/257089/form_rn.pdf
Whats the penalty if you make a mistake?
“I understand that I may be liable for prosecution resulting in a penalty of up to 3 months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding £5,000 or both if I knowingly or recklessly make a false declaration.”
Then hold your breath, you simply put it in the post!!
Cost in the United Kingdom? £187 payable by credit card or cheque.
It looks like the United States has managed to impose the Expatriation Act of 1868 on the rest of the world except itself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriation_Act_of_1868
While we are fighting for residence based taxation maybe what we need from the USA is simple enforcement of the Expatriation Act of 1868 on its own shores. Maybe Senator Cruz could be an ally on this if someone could write him.
I am sure many Brockers would renounce or document their relinquishment if it was simple, low cost, efficient and without fear. How can they expect all of us who are not magna cum laude Harvard Law School graduates to navigate the US waters?
But remember, Congress is on record that a CLN is not required;
“There is no obligation for an individual to obtain a CLN.”
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CPRT-JCS-2-03/pdf/GPO-CPRT-JCS-2-03-7-2.pdf
The latest online that I found: Updated January 5, 2014: Ted Cruz to renounce Canadian citizenship ‘soon’
Pity.
Canadians just want the right to be able to Cruz in Reverse out of US citizenship.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Cruzing-in-Reverse-by-Lynne-Swanson-Taxes-140108-477.html
@Blaze: That is a brilliant piece on “Cruzing” in Reverse! It would be interesting if someone would actually send the thing to him (or maybe make it a letter to the editor or someting in a paper in Texas me might think he has to respond t0). Don’t need all the politics – the assymetry is pretty telling. Cruz can sign a piece of paper and voila, he is no longer a citizen. No fuss, no muss, no bother. The inverse, of course, is not quite true….
it is also pretty curious that he is taking so long to give up his Canadian citizenship. Maybe he kind of likes us after all!
@Anne Frank “Cruz can sign a piece of paper and voila, he is no longer a citizen. No fuss, no muss, no bother.”
You forgot the postage stamp and the $100.00 payment. 🙂
But I guess Canadian Citizenship is simply “not exceptional.”
@Blaze. Brilliant!!!
It has gotten to the point where ditching this clinging citizenship is “like” ditching the clingy boyfriend/girlfriend who seems a little psychotic and keeps calling and leaving messages.
We have Reed, Schumer, Levin who keep coming up with more hurdles and then say after you successfully jump all the hurdles you can NEVER come back to the homeland EVER. So you get put through hell and can never go to Disneyland (Anaheim or Orlando).
Oh, and to make matters even more peachy you have the Supreme Court and Dept of State employees stepping in with the mantra that because US Citizenship is so EXCEPTIONAL and TREASURED, that you have to have an intrusive examination far worse than any doctor would give!! Because in their mind, relinquishing/renouncing is insane therefor a sane person would be forever a US Citizen, Only an insane person would renounce so we can not allow that because they are not sane.
Is there any western country that is as odd is this?
@Anne: I tweeted it to Cruz a few times. No reply.
I also submitted something similar to Texas newspapers. No interest.
In Germany you lose your citizenship automatically if you become a citizen of another country without getting approval to keep it beforehand. No fees to pay, no forms to fill out. Nothing.
@notamused: Until 1986, that was also the US law. That is why many of us were told decades ago we were “permanently and irrevocably” relinquishing U.S. citizenship. We were warned not to do it.
Most of us did not consider ourselves U.S. citizens until this nightmare was foisted on us. Now, we have to prove we believed the U.S. Consulate all those years ago and ask them to help us prove it to our banks. That is one of many reasons I am determined to never go anywhere near a U.S. Consulate.
I know many people have had friendly, respectful experiences with the staff at the Consulates. For me personally, I don’t trust either the Consulates or the IRS enough to give them my name and address. My determination was reconfirmed when it was reported that IRS Criminal Investigations unit will now be investigating relinquishments and renunciations.
I just want to be able to Cruz out of the US in peace.
@George: No, I don’t think there is a country as odd as the United States. When I tell American family and friends about all of this, the most common response is “Why do we wonder why everyone hates us so much.”
@Blaze
“My determination was reconfirmed when it was reported that IRS Criminal Investigations unit will now be investigating relinquishments and renunciations.”
Yes, I understand. If people are subject to criminal investigations simply for exercising their constitutional rights, something is very, very wrong. That is a characteristic of a rogue nation, not a free democratic society.
If renouncing Canadian citizenship is that easy and quick, then Cruz must be timing it for some reason.
@blaze “Most of us did not consider ourselves U.S. citizens until this nightmare was foisted on us. Now, we have to prove we believed the U.S. Consulate all those years ago and ask them to help us prove it to our banks. That is one of many reasons I am determined to never go anywhere near a U.S. Consulate. ”
You hit a cord so maybe you can help put something into perspective.
Prior to 1986 if you swore an Oath, you lost your citizenship, OK I understand that.
1.) Did you feel a need to apply for a CLN?
2.) Having committed an expatriating act, did you ever have an urge to maybe try to get a US Passport?
I am thinking under the old rules you would have never dreamed to cling on to the USA in any manner. I would think that you would have been afraid to travel to the USA on anything other than a Canadian Passport.
Flash forward to today. The “dirty deed” remains the same except that you have the intent to relinquish, so that means its yours to be given up not taken away.
In my mind I am getting closer and closer that requiring a person to get a CLN for relinquishment and having ANY burden in getting same is frankly unconstitutional. Thats what the Expatriation Act of 1868 clearly states and reminds us.
Can you or others see where I am heading to?
Here’s a choice quote from a State Dept 2002 memorandum discussing the inalienable right to expatriate:
“Since United States citizenship is considered by most to be a prized status, it is
usually the government which claims that the citizen has lost it, over the vigorous
opposition of the person facing the loss.” United States v. Matheson, 532 F.2d 809,
811 (2d Cir. 1976).
They are lining up around the block at consulates around the world to ditch their prize. I wonder why?
Re the inalienable right to expatriate: Did they forget to mention the exit tax, the 10 years of post-expatriation tax liability, the treatment of expatriates on a plane equivalent to terrorists (strike that – they have little difficulty in gaining entry to the country)?
@ANNE FRANK:
Do you have a pdf link to that old memo?
Found this little ditty, which has a large section on expatriation;
OPINIONS OF THE OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
CONSISTING OF SELECTED MEMORANDUM OPINIONS ADVISING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL,
http://www.justice.gov/olc/docs/op-olc-26.pdf
@George –
The link to the memo is: http://www.justice.gov/olc/opiniondocs/expatriation.pdf
It seems to be a copy of the same one that is buried in your link at p. 56.
From the legal opinion:
“In 1868, Congress declared that “the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“That declaration further stated that “any declaration, instruction, opinion, order, or decision of any officers of this government which denies, restricts, impairs, or questions the right of expatriation, is hereby declared inconsistent with the fundamental principles of this government.”
So how does the exit tax which essentially creates the fiction that the expatriating person has died and has to pay an estate tax square with the above?
Furthermore, how does the Reed amendment and the Schumer proposals square with the above?
Both the Exit Tax and the permanent Banishment from visiting the US are designed with the intent to deter people from expatriating. They are both in direct contradiction to what Congress had declared in 1868.
They are also both in contradiction to what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says about changing ones nationality.
@FromTheWilderness, the exit tax is probably unconstitutional, but to congress these days the constitution is merely a scrap of old paper.
A Constitution is fiction when it comes to money…….