This new post very well illustrates a lot that is in John Richardson’s presentation posted HERE.
Before that, however, it may be best to let you know a little about who I am. I am an American citizen who has lived most of my adult life in Japan. My spouse and our toddler are Japanese. I became aware of this problem around two years ago when applying for a new passport. There were statements on the application that I knew to be illegal. Searching into that issue lead me to your website and, well, you’ve been there, you know the rest.
This is today’s summarization, asking for input, corrections, etc. from other readers here. He says “Tear it apart.”:
Here is a summary I came up with from memory. My notes are unavailable to me while on the trains and subways of Tokyo, when I have time post.
Tear it apart! Any inaccuracies correct. I need this as spot on as possible.
Some time ago American bankers constructed a money transfer system that functions well enough and is secure enough that it is reported to be the most commonly used route to transfer money across borders. It functioned so well that it was cheaper for bankers in other countries to pay to use this system to move money than to build their own. If I want to send money from my bank here in Japan to someone in Germany, it will most likely pass through the US on its way. Buy something online from Spain, the credit card payment goes through this system. Vacationing in Thailand or Europe and go to an ATM to pull out cash, your money most likely passes through this network set up by American banks somewhere along its way to you. The US government has hijacked this system.
In 2010, President Obama signed the HIRE act into law. Attached to the bill was the required method of funding. In this case The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is the method of funding.
FATCA requires all foreign (from the perspective of the US) financial institutions (FFIs) to report all monthly financial activity of US Persons to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). FFIs include banks, investment firms, insurance companies, pension funds and others.
Who exactly are “US Persons” has not yet been defined despite reporting having started on October first of this year, but do include the following; all US citizens and many who once were a citizen of the US (So, even if I had become a Japanese citizen, I would still be a US Person.) their spouses, regardless of their nationality or residence and any children from such a union regardless of place of birth and/ or residence. Anyone who works for an American founded corporation is also a US Person. It was very recently reported that there are a record three million American citizens born in the US who now live abroad. The US government estimates that there are six to seven million US Persons living outside the US who are subject to US tax law. Who are these 3 to 4 million US Persons?
Any FFI that doesn’t dance to Washington’s tune will be charged a noncompliance fee of thirty percent (30%) of any amount sent to, from, within or through the US. This would cause severe damage to the financial industry of any nation and possibly be fatal to some. But how can the US enforce this? Remember that the most common way to transfer money around the world has been hijacked by the US. In a word, extortion. My government is extorting the world.
Compliance is not cheap, however. The president of Canada’s largest bank and at least two banking organizations with in Europe have estimated the cost of the new computer system needed to comply with the reporting requirements to be $100,000,000 per large bank.
Knowing that is illegal in most countries for FFIs to give such information to anyone, especially a foreign government, without some kind of due process, the US Treasury Department will allow foreign nations to enter into InterGovernmental Agreements (IGAs) in which the signatory nations would agree to amend or bend their laws to allow their financial institutions to comply with these dictates from Washington. In return, Treasury will allow FFIs to report to their own governments which would then forward the information on to the IRS, thereby greatly reducing the financial burden on the individual banks. Faced with a choice between paying an additional 30% in fees for any money transfer across borders or buying a $100,000,000 reporting system in the absence of an IGA, bankers petitioned their governments to sign the offered IGA or risk financial collapse.
These IGAs violate not only the laws of the nations signing them with the US, but also, most likely international law and certainly do violate US law as well!
What must be reported? Although the reports are sent annually, FFI’s must report the highest monthly balance within any account held by a US Person in Dollars. This is a momentous task. Even if the balance remains the same in the local currency, exchange rates fluctuate daily. This requires a daily calculation of an account’s balance in dollars. Insurance companies and pension funds are also required to report the highest monthly value in US dollars of all policies and accounts held by US persons.
Banks simply do not have the resources to perform this task and risk the penalties stated above if they misreport. Thus, banks in Europe and around the world are now forbidding Americans from opening new accounts and closing the accounts of current US Person account holders.
Yeah, well so what, I’m not an American. It doesn’t effect me. You sort out your own problems and leave me alone!
Not so fast. By signing IGAs with the US, all signatory nations also agreed to exchange information amongst themselves. So, the UK agreed to also exchange all financial data of not only Japanese citizens who have accounts in the UK but of all Japanese residents. And so too did Japan agree to report to the UK all British nationals and UK residents who have accounts in Japan. And thus it is for all nations that have signed IGAs with the US.
This is how a friend of mine living just outside Tokyo, Japan, a British national has had his accounts in the UK closed. His now former banks have to report to the Japanese government and the reporting is too cumbersome to be bothered with. Likewise, he is experiencing great difficulty with his accounts in Japan as they have to report to the UK.
ARE YOU prepared for life without a bank account, insurance and pension?
My comment yesterday:
Thank you, Japan T, for your comment and your description of reaction of others to the subject of FATCA. I agree as many will here:
How do we, I, get such people to listen? They have no patience for anything that might upset their world view, just bat everything aside and reply in a manner that has nothing to do with what was just said. By the time it’s a reality to them, it will be too late. I have offered them this website’s address, none have bothered to check it out.
The importance of the information in the post of this particular thread and what you describe should not be overlooked. I think many have not taken their view past FATCA to GATCA.
Approaching GATCA? “Foreigners” (and not just U.S. foreigners) in Israel finding themselves ensnared …
P.S. THIS ARTICLE IS CERTAINLY RELEVANT: FATCA Costs on the Rise (Economia, November 2014).
Don’t give up trying to educate others. We must not!
Re: list of agreements. Here is a comprehensive list including GIIN registrars and all countries for FATCA and GATCA. It is really really thorough
The IRS site is not updated with the “in substance”
I think he updates it each month at
https://haydonperryman.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/november-1-2014-foreign-financial-institution-list.pdf
discussion
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/intfinlaw/2014/11/novembers-published-fatca-giin-list-analysis.html
The OECD signing list upon it is really interesting.
I think what is being transmitted through Japan T’s communications is that each government is thrilled with FATCA because it has forced them to hurry up and sign the OECD GATCA. All of the FATCAnatic software out on the market is programmed in preparation for the GATCA klauterfauch. Everybody is better off over interpreting this stuff rather than under interpreting it, so they might just as well close down everybody’s account.
If anybody has the technology to transform that pdf file I referred to above back into an Excell file it could be extremely helpful in any research work.
I heard of the inheritance of an estate in Europe in which everybody including the guy who died got the second degree and had to prove no links to America.
@Mark Twain and all.
If the above covers all US Persons for tax purposes, then why the concern for those who renounced or relinquished US citizenship and their spouses and children? I have collected articles of and even ran afoul of this myself where US citizens must file for their “non resident alien” spouses. It doesn’t seem that such persons are covered in the above definition of US persons.
Is it a case of that is what the law states but everyone, including the IRS, is ignoring it and applying their own definitions? Or am I just being dense and not seeing it there?
The folks I am trying to educate on this are an extremely hostile audience. I need concrete hard facts on how this is and will affect them.
The above does not seem to warrant concern for anyone except US citizens, foreign residents of the US and green card holders who returned to thir native countries. What am I missing?
@ Mark Twain
Thanks for the links. Insightful.
@ Foo
Not doubting your info but I still remain confused over why British banks operating in the UK should be at all concerned about Japanese law. Has every nation in the world just decided that they will no longer defend their financial sovereignty?
As an aside, he can not open any kind of investment account with local/ Japanese FIs either.
@Japan T
I have heard that Japan manages to twist the arms of foreign financial institutions somehow, perhaps by threatening to deny them access to the Japanese market? Don’t know the details, though, or even if that is what is really going on.
Now that is strange! I’ve seen some places in Japan state that they won’t open accounts for Americans (I’ve had that happen to me), or that they won’t allow Americans to do certain transactions, but I have never seen any explicit financial discrimination against other nationalities in Japan.
What reason was he given? Is he perhaps here on a tourist visa or something? (Only residents of Japan are usually allowed to open accounts.)
Please let us know what you learn. This sounds like a potentially important development.
He is a long term resident with a Permanent Resident visa. The reason he was given is that you must be fluent enough to read and fully understand the fine print. He is not at that level of fluency. I do not know how recent this was. Will ask.
But this was for some kind of investment account not his normal bank account.
You have been denied a regular bank account in Japan?
@Japan T
Wow, never heard of that. Where was this? I’ve never been quizzed on whether I can understand the fine print, and have opened investment accounts. In fact, most places seem quite happy to have nobody read the fine print!
No, investment accounts. By the Japanese branches of companies that had US ties, aggravatingly enough. They said straight out that they didn’t want to deal with IRS and SEC regulations for US citizens. This was pre-FATCA, by the way, so this is not a new issue.
I’ll ask. The last bit of info from was a lot. He usually will not discuss this as it is on his words, “depressing”. So it may be a while before I learn where he tried to invest. I do know that he could not find the kinds of investments in Japan that he was wanting. So, perhaps the ones that didn’t turn him away did not have any offerings he was interested in.
But all this is really making it look like the days of businesses courting foreign investors is coming to an end.
Have you seen or heard of Americans losing their current regular bank accounts in Japan? That is my chief concern. If/ when that happens it’s a blue sheet in Ueno park for me.
My second greatest concern is if the US begins revoking passports for non compliance with FBAR. Then it is living in a tent in some very large wooded area in the States.
Here is my observation of how things have evolved over the past 15 years:
ca. 2000: The Japanese branches (or franchisees, as the case may be) of US financial companies refused to allow US citizens or green card holders to open investment accounts, citing IRS paperwork and SEC regulations. I actually wrote the SEC at that time to complain about this, and they told me that they did not consider me to be under their jurisdiction, and they saw no reason why I should be denied an account. Telling this to the investment company resulted in “sorry, but US rules change all the time, and we have decided not to take the risk of future exposure.” So I invest through purely Japanese institutions instead… only to discover that their investment products are considered PFICs in the US, with horribly punitive (some would say protectionist) taxation.
Some years later: the US introduces Foreign Qualified Intermediary rules, which are designed to make it expensive and unpleasant for foreign financial institutions to allow US persons to invest in US-based investments. As a result, even though US-based ETFs start to become available in Japan (yay, finally non-PFIC options are available!), US citizens are not allowed to invest in them through most purely Japanese brokerages. Grr.
2010: As an “improvement” on the Foreign Qualified Intermediary rules, FATCA is passed. Well, we all know the story from there. Now foreign financial institutions are disincentivized from providing access to any kind of investment to US persons, not just US-based ones.
2012,2013,2014: As Japan adopts US-style unilateral arm-twisting tactics, now even US-based brokerages start to shed Japan-resident customers. Now the circle is nearing completeion, wherein US persons in Japan will soon become persona non grata with all investment companies in the US, Japan, and anywhere else.
Happy retirement planning, US persons in Japan!
That I have not heard of. And if I read the US-Japan FATCA IGA correctly, most banks in Japan are exempt from reporting, so it is not likely to become a problem. Small favors.
I’ll switch to Japanese citizenship (if they’ll have me) rather than take that option.
Oh, retirement planning is easy! Work til death!
I stopped filing taxes years ago when the requirement to give the dollar amount for each payday was introduced. Spent all of golden week that year with a pencil and paper at home figuring out my taxes with frequent runs to the net cafe to get and verify exchange rates. After making up with my then significant other now spouse for a cancelled holiday, I have not completed a return since. As we are now married and have a young child and realized long ago that I’d most likely never go back.
If I understand correctly, I would have to file back returns and FBAR. The time and cost just so sky high out of reach for me that that is not an option for me. Then there is the increased fee. And if I believe the requirement to file yearly returns for the next ten years thereafter as I had not filed for the previous ten. If I were independently wealthy and will to give most of it up or could give up all of my current 7 jobs and devote my life to being compliant, then becoming Japanese would be an option.
Also, as I understand it, Japanese banks will be reporting to the ministry of finance who will then report to treasury?
@Japan T
You can get away with using a yearly average exchange rate, instead of having to calculate using the daily rates. The US Embassy even publishes the yearly average exchange rate for IRS purposes in January.
Never heard of this.
To be honest, I’m tempted anyway, just to be able to vote for people who have the same interests at heart that I do as a resident of Japan. US politicians have no interest in any of the issues that affect or concern me, and they don’t even have the jurisdiction to do anything about most of those issues anyway.
No, Japan is a Model 2 IGA country, which means banks report directly to the IRS.
Ah, you are talking about if you change citizenship? That is no longer the rule. Now there is just an exit tax to pay.
First, let me state that it is not my intention to be argumentative. I am only trying to discover what are the facts.
There are two points that I have differing information and or experience with.
First, for the requirement that covered expats continue to file for ten years after renouncing being changed. I am certain that this was posted on these pages before and someone responded with the relevant portions of the relevant publications showing that this requirement, while removed for some, remains in place for coved expats and that covered expats include those with assets over a certain amount and those who have not been in compliance for the previous five years. I hope I am wrong, but have read it from what was presented as a then current publication.
The second point will be lengthy, but I believe very important. I know that one can go to the US Embassy here in Tokyo and the people there will help you do your taxes using a yearly average. However, the year I figured out my pay in dollars for each payday, in the instructions for that year was a very clear statement that that was no longer allowed. The statement was something along the lines of ‘the use of a yearly average exchange rate to convert foreign currencies is no longer allowed. All foreign currencies must be converted to US dollars at the rate of exchange on the date received. Filers must include an essay stating the method used for conversion with the tax return’.
This being such a big change from the year before, searched to the best of my ability to find mention of other options and found none in print from the IRS. When a colleague told me that they went to the embassy and there used a yearly ave. rate, I called the IRS and was told that no, the ave. yearly rate could not be used, that I had to convert my income to dollars based on the exchange rate for the actual date each payment was received.
To all, please take this second point to heart. Back when I was a teenager filing out my first tax return, my parents told me to verify every bit of information on it. Bearing my signature, I was responsible for all information in it, even if I hire a professional tax preparer, I am legally responsible once I sign it.
Though not with taxes, this was made very real to me while in the Navy. While still in boot camp, my CC called me into his office and yelled “What the F did you do (my name), murder a family of four!??”. See, over the preceding several weeks I had spent such a large amount of time in legal counseling, that I must have done something horrendous. In fact, I was being threatened with ten years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. Compared to those who joined on drug waivers and with known criminal records, my hard card documentation was over the top.
After being allowed to serve in the navy and not the pen, during my first leave home I visited my recruiter and learned that the navy opened a criminal investigation on this matter into he and the chief of the recruiting station. These folks were serious, they were looking the throw us all in jail. So what heinous crime did I perpetrate?
At 17 I entered the navy’s Delayed Entry Program (DEP) with the required parental consent. This meant I was under contract to serve in the navy after graduation from high school. I was in this program for nearly a year and was required to visit the recruiting station monthly, I believe, to verify fitness to serve. At these meetings we were always asked the same questions, among them ” Have you ever used illicit drugs?” And have “Have you ever had any involvement with the police?”. After several of these meetings, I had to answer yes to the question on police involvement. My recruiters face turned very grim. “What happened?” He asked. “I got a speeding ticket.” I replied. Recruiter; “A speeding ticket?” Me; “Yes, a speeding ticket.”. R; “Only a speeding ticket, not DUI or drugs?”. Me; “Just a speeding ticket.”. R; “Did you pay it?”. Me; “Yes, that night”. R; “Oh, nothing to worry about, that’s not what they are looking for. They are looking for more serious crimes. Just check “No”.
And thus it went for every monthly visit thereafter, and at MEPS for my first physical and again at MEPS for my final physical as I shipped out to boot camp. Some eight times in all with various persons at various stations….until I arrived at a Great Lakes. GREAT LAKES LEGAL (GLL); “Any police involvement?”. Me; “Yes, a speeding ticket.” GLL; “You checked “No” when asked this question at MEPS. That is fraudulent enlistment.”. Me; “I was told”… interrupting GLL “YOU signed this statement that you have had no involvement with the police, you have enlisted fraudulently.”
And thus began the nightmare outlined above. It would come back again, later in my service to haunt me.
Are you SURE that the IRS allows for a yearly average exchange rate to be used for each and every one of those years? Have you seen the IRS publication stating such? I looked, and I could not find such an option for the three or four years long ago that I was still trying to file. Granted, as a nearly starving English teacher on a shoe string budget, my greatest efforts in digging through IRS publications was severely limited. I didn’t even have my own computer. But with the statement from the IRS that this option was no longer allowed and verified by the IRS via a late night phone call, I remain convinced that was the case.
It is important to note that on these very pages, reports of Embassy staff requiring additional appointments and documentation that are not required by the law, telling persons trying to relinquish that they must instead renounce and just generally not knowing anywhere near as much of the actual law and rules as the Brockers dealing with them have been posted. And we trust them to know the current tax laws and IRS rules?
If this option is not supported by the IRS, all it takes is a “by the book” type to catch the error, or one of those petty individuals who get their kicks from abusing their position to make peoples’ lives miserable or just someone in a bad mood and you will be in for a very rude awakening. In hope I am wrong, but since that time over ten years ago to today, I have seen nothing from the IRS stating that a yearly average exchange rate is permissible. Please, prove me wrong.
@Japan T
Don’t worry, you don’t come across as argumentative. I hope I don’t, either. You’re right to be careful about what the rules are, as they can and will be used against us.
Regarding covered expatriates, the IRS says (for those expatriating after 1 Jan. 2013):
Source: http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8854/ar01.html#d0e731
The Section 877A tax is the mark-to-market exit tax based on a deemed disposition of all assets, and is a one-time thing. For gory details, see here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/877A
One thing to watch out for, though, is the tax on gifts and inheritance from covered expatriates:
http://hodgen.com/chapter-9-estate-and-gift-tax-for-the-covered-expatriate/
http://www.andersentax.com/uploads/tmpfiles/Estate_Planning_for_Expatriates_Under_Chapter_15.pdf
Regarding exchange rates, the IRS says:
Source: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Yearly-Average-Currency-Exchange-Rates
Of course, there is the caveat that the IRS disclaims all responsibility for the correctness of their guidance…
Rereading, I think I may have discovered that the problem lies not with who is or is not a US person but rather citizen.
Calgary411’s situation seems not to be covered by the above definition of US person. She relinquished her US citizenship 39 years ago when she swore the oath of allegiance to Canada. Years later, the US changes its mind. I (perhaps others?) see her as being in a different group of people not as a subgroup of citizen as it seems the IRS does.
So is it then correct to say “confusion over who is a US citizen has spooked banks into closing accounts of anyone suspected of ties to the US.”?
Also, I see no mention of the “US indicia” that comes up often in these posts. Where does this come from.
Is this one of those supposedly very easy to understand statements by the IRS that come with a 500 page book of explanation?
@foo and all.
Thanks. I am often accused of being argumentative, though I think it is only because the people I work with are intolerant of differing points of view. Just wanted to make sure that I didn’t seem to be here. No, you do not come across as argumentative.
When first read your post, I was first filled with fury. If it was the case back then that using a yearly average for regular income would suffice for regular income, why did the IRS tell me different? I could and would be compliant with income tax filing. I doubt I would have learned of FBAR any sooner that I did, but I would have been at least partially compliant.
But then there is that caveat, that the IRS will not own responsibility for the correctness of its guidance. In that case its guidance is of no value, absolutely worthless. The guidance I received was that I must compute the dollar amount of my regular pay for the date received. The guidance given above says differently, obviously one of these is incorrect. But if the guidance referred to by foo may or may not be correct how does one find out? Is it only after a lengthy and costly court battle with the IRS that one can learn if they are following the law or not? That is not “the rule of law”. This is really very scary.
How are we to know beforehand which guidance is correct? How can we know if someone maliciously gives incorrect guidance? Or change the rules and say “Sorry, the guidance was incorrect. Shame on us, here is your fine. Have a nice day. Next.” We have already seen the IRS’s bait and switch tactics with the overseas disclosure schemes, so this is not a far fetched scenario, is it?
But I am still at a loss. I am trying to convey the danger to those who are new to this in an as easily to understand manner as possible. To do so, I need to get to the nitty gritty facts. But all I can find is smoke. Lots of smoke and an increasing amount of it. I can’t find the fire.
I understood that the definition of US person to be vague and that many persons who had no reason to suspect that they were such are in deep financial trouble because they are. Yet the definition given here seems to exclude many of those who have been thus labeled.
I report on a British friend having to declare and prove that he does not work for a US created corporation or be forced to file tax returns as a US Person. Posts here cite that it is to be partners only, not employees. Yet, he did have to declare and prove he did not work for a US created corporation as an employee. Some have offered explanations for this, and thanks, but now I ask for help devising and short and sweet summary of this.
I am beginning to suspect that these issues people are reporting ARE NOT supported by the actual laws, regulations nor rules. I wonder if it may be the case that those enforcing the rules have never actually read them and are only following the instructions of those above in the belief that those above have read and understood them when in fact they too have not read them. Personally, I have run into such cases more than once in the Navy and since leaving the service.
Thoughts please.
@Japan T
Calgary411’s problem is really about her son, as I understand it. She herself is clearly no longer a US citizen, but her son is a US citizen, and he cannot relinquish or renounce his US citizenship because he is developmentally disabled, and the US State Department will not recognize any renunciation claim from him, because he can’t fully understand what it means. And they won’t allow her to renounce on his behalf.
It is not just suspected citizens. Green card holders are also denied accounts or services. Possibly the biggest ambiguity is suspected green card holders, actually. Or snowbirds, who don’t have green cards, but spend enough time in the US every year to be considered taxable by the US.
That is part of the FATCA legislation and rules, and is what the US Treasury directs non-US banks to look for in order to find suspected US citizens, green card holders, and other US persons.
So, I don’t think one can say it is just confusion over who is a citizen. It is confusion over who is a “US person.”
A $42,000 price tag to renounce after having relingished is a huge problem for me. I know that this amount includes advice regarding her son, but this number is close to amount paid by others to re-renounce. She should not have had to pay a single sent, nor spend a moment of her time with it.
For your other two points, that is what I gather from the discussions here too, but the difinition quoted by Calagary 411 doesn’t cover these, does it? You, I and others who have somehow been drawn into studying these issues know this. But everyone save three individuals I have tried to talk to about this will not take the time to even visit this site and educate themselves. I need the fire, the smoking gun, to get them to pull their collective head out of the sand. Instead, they cite the above and say, “my sister who married an American is not on this list. ” Or, “I am not in this list, my green expired x years ago. No, I never bothered to send it in, I thought I would keep it as a momento, so what, it’s expired.”.
I can’t respond to these if I do not have comcrete info. The definition above says nothing of persons who renounced before a certain date now being US citizens again. It makes no mention of the CLN. And yet I’m told it is complete.
Please bear with with me as I play the block head about this. I have to convince block heads.
Hi Japan T,
At a philosophical level, why work so hard to save them from themselves?
You gave them a warning, they chose to ignore it, and if they suffer it is on their heads.
Who knows, maybe the expired green card holder never will get found out.
And maybe the sister who married the American has a husband who has been smart enough not to file Married Filing Jointly, and so she really isn’t exposed.
As for your British friend, I have no idea why he got grilled about his employer. Maybe his bank knows something we don’t, maybe they have misinterpreted someting, or maybe they are being overcautious. I don’t know. But I would commiserate with him, since he at least knows some of what you are going through.
I find with those around me, some know all about this stuff and are just as outraged as I am or even more, while others are completely oblivious and don’t want to hear about it. I don’t try to force the latter to adopt my point of view. They have their own reasons for taking the approach they do about it all, and I have mine. Heck, sometimes I feel I’d like to take the blue pill myself and go back to the world of ignorance-is-bliss.
I hear ya on self medicating back to a state of ignorant bliss.
To answer the question of why work so hard to reach theses numbskulls.
First is philosophical. While it is true that you can lead a horse to water but can’t make it drink, that does not relieve the farmer of the responsibility of leading his horse to water.
The secon reason is personal. My spouse, a Japanese National, has worked in the US for a total of six months and has a US Taxpayer ID number. Our child, around a year old, has not been registered at the Embassy. It had been my dream to teach our child of the good and bad of both countries so that they could make an informed decision as to which they would choose to be a citizen of. After learning of this madness, I now need to protect our child from the US. As a military vet, this chargrins me greatly. I want this nonsense corrected soon enough that I have something other than bitterness towards my country to pass on to our child. It also burns me up that the country I volunteered to protect has caused innocents such as Calgary 411 such hardship. A nation that does such things can not justifiably call itself good. I hope that this problem is solved soon enough that she can enjoy her remaining years in peace knowing that my country won’t be robbing her son.
The last is professional. My colleages and I teach English part time at various colleges and other institutions. As we are teaching English and the US having the largest population of native English speakers, the US is a very popular destination for our students to continue their studies and many wish to live and work there for some time before returning to Japan. Just as we teachers counsel our on the risks and benefits of working in various parts of the world, we should also be aware of the risks of spending a long time in the States so that our students may make an informed decision. Further, we have US citizens, Japanese whose mothers accompanied their fathers who were working or studying at the time and were born in the States only to “return” to Japan as soon as old enough to travel, within our student body. Some with green card holders. It is our, my colleages and myself, duty to be sufficiently informed to be able to counsel our students.
Sorry, for the typos. Can no longer enter text on my computer and I grew tired of trying to scroll through the text field on my iPad.
Japan T and foo,
The blue pill of ignorant bliss — yes, I think we communicating here can all relate to the fantasy of being able to go back to before each our own OMG moments. Once we do know the next responsible step is reading and educating ourselves so we can determine the best choice for ourselves and our families — or we can choose to live in a fantasy. One of the choices we might make is to do nothing, but it has to be a choice based on our risk tolerance, whether or not we need / want to travel to the US as any other free citizen, whether we have the capability to deal with our “foreign financial institutions” effectively to be able to carry on our lives as most of us will need them in order to do so (i.e. buy groceries, pay for the roof over our heads, save for our children’s education, disability or our own retirements) and/ or whether or not we have the good luck to have an other country passport that does not identify our US place of birth as we are criminalized by that place of birth (for all of us an accident — we had no choice in that as did not any of the other so “entitled” Americans). That, combined with the US citizenship-based taxation law of the US (rather than residence-based taxation of the rest of the world — yes, yes, save Eritrea) and the IGAs that our countries have signed with the US make us second-class to any other of our countrymen, no matter their or their parents’ national origin.
Thank you, Japan T, for giving your students the knowledge they need to make their own responsible choices about green cards, citizenship, where they will live and work and what they will pass on to their children. That knowledge will be valuable for their and their families’ futures. I dare say that most of us would have liked to have such education about US citizenship-based taxation, its responsibilities and consequences, in our student years. Your students need to know if they make the choice of obtaining green-cards and/or eventual US citizenship, they must now accept all the continuing responsibilities along with any benefit that will come with a US citizenship. Reality is a good thing to go forward with.
This Isaac Brock Society blog and the Maple Sandbox blog are all about education — most of it after the fact for persons who find that they have a ‘US citizenship problem’.