In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and in line with the Canadian government’s call to increase social distancing, the U.S. Embassy and all Consulates General in Canada are suspending all routine American Citizen Services from March 23 through August 4.
We will resume routine American Citizen Services as soon as possible but are unable to provide a specific date at this time.
The Embassy and Consulates will continue to provide emergency consular services to U.S. citizens.
My appointment WAS scheduled for March 24th. At the time I was told services were suspended until April 30th but no updates since then. It’s been very frustrating waiting and not knowing what the next step was. At least now I know nothing will happen until August.
They should drop the price and do it by mail.
Was something announced today, or is this simply a reposting of the initial notice of closure and suspension from earlier in the year? I see nothing new on the US embassy site.
There is a difference between suspended “suspended indefinitely” and “suspended through August 4”. What does the notice say?
Previously they purposely limited the number of available appointments in order to keep the renunciation numbers artificially low. Now COVID19 gives them perfect excuse to eliminate those appointments entirely. Not a big surprise, but nevertheless its a rotten thing to do.
I’ve been waiting to see if the US was going to pull something which prevents it’s citizen-slaves from leaving. COVID is the perfect excuse. Unbelievable & frightening, imho.
I don’t think the government gives two hoots about the few renouncing, though it clearly cares if they take their money with them.
It’s too easy to play down a few thousand renouncing as unreasonable tax protestors that don’t want to pay tax anywhere, and that’s what they do.
That’s IF the issue ever gets on the radar.
Renounce, god knows what the US government will do next with your own government only too eager to throw you under the bus.
@Jane
That hasn’t actually happened yet. I’ll complain if suspension becomes permanent, but not before.
Hopefully you will get it done before the election. The democrats brought in FATCA and will quite likely try to make it more draconian with the addition of more hoops to jump through
@JimA
The price was raised during the Obama administration, but no additional hoops were added to the renunciation process, as far as I’m aware.
The Trump administration made the tax situation worse for certain categories of people, but strictly speaking that has nothing to do with renunciation.
Raising the price was a major hoop. The renunciation process itself may not change right away but the requirements under FATCA likely will ( for the people who are currently complying). The democrats need to take the cities as well as the working class in states like Michigan etc. I doubt that Biden knows about the fallout from FATCA but the “billionaire expat tax cheat” shtick resonates well with the people whose votes he needs.
I can’t imagine an issue less relevant to the 2020 US electorate than FATCA and “offshore tax cheats” and all that.
It’s also possible that after the past 10 years somebody somewhere in the US government might have realized that there’s no real money to be made chasing non-residents, not that policy is driven by actual data very often any more.
“……the “billionaire expat tax cheat” shtick resonates well with the people whose votes he needs.”
I think you are referring to the “if you don’t like it then renounce and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out” crowd.
The only problem with that, at least for the foreseeable future, is that there is no door.
The republicans had a policy of eliminating FATCA. They controlled all three levels of government in 2017 and did not follow through. That was the clear signal to exit. The democrats are committed to FATCA and will double down on it so it is not likely to go away or get better.
It wasn’t a “policy” – some lobbyist snuck a sentence into a generally worthless pre-election platform document, that’s all. Was never on the radar of anyone who counted.
To be fair, they aren’t targeting renunciation appointments only, nor using the pandemic as an excuse purely to stop renunciations. The notice above says they are suspending “all routine American Citizen Services”, which would also include passport applications and renewals, certificates of birth abroad, notaries, and so on. Give them a break, they’re just trying to temporarily thin out their staff, for justifiable reasons.
I also tend to think the stale call to “tax the billionaire overseas tax cheats” is likely to recede behind far more pertinent issues this election year. Such as the freedom to walk around in public with a military-grade weapon but not a mask.
If is not a “ policy” and no big deal why is a FATCA lawsuit underway. They could give “expats” a “break” and reduce the fee to zero and allow the process to be done by mail. Taxes will be going up in the U.S. and people living overseas are an easy target.
People living overseas are not in fact easy targets. There’s little money to be found, and it’s difficult to collect. Ten years after FATCA and you don’t exactly see any tax enforcement, do you?
Well foreign governments around the world are handing over personal banking information to the U.S. and now requiring a TIN from identified dual citizens. Everyone is paying more in banking fees globally and banks are advising Americans to ditch their citizenship pronto. If Obama and company put this in place but meant it to be ignored then they have wasted a lot of everyone’s money and should be held to account. Good luck getting any action from Biden and company.
You’re absolutely right in that the previous US administration wasted a lot of everyone’s money, including their own. I see no evidence of increased efforts to enforce collection of US tax obligations against non-residents, nor do I expect that to change. Beyond the threat of passport revocation, which like FATCA is a measure aimed primarily at US residents, what has actually changed in the past ten years?
I have to wonder if the current unavailability of renunciation appointments would qualify as a “reasonable explanation” as to why one doesn’t have a CLN if it ever became an issue with one’s bank? Of course, its probably best to lie and avoid the issue entirely, but if someone was unlucky and somehow got FATCA-ed?
Sadly I know someone who has faced losing her bank account because she doesn’t have a SS or TIN, and she can’t obtain one whilst embassies are shut down. Her bank was unsympathetic. I did suggest that a European bank would have no idea whether a SS number were legitimate, surely, so perhaps if she followed the pattern of mine with a couple of digits transposed…
I have been trying to get an appointment to renounce my citizenship. The Embassy in Madrid states that “We are only doing emergency services for Americans”. I tried the Embassy in Amsterdam, basically they said the same thing, but since I´m not a resident in Holland, do it in Madrid. Finally after so many months of deliberation I finally made the decision, now I can´t renounce.
I think it’s shut down everywhere, for now, and I wouldn’t expect that to change for a while since even if life returns to normal in some countries this year, it won’t be anything close to normal back in the US where the processing is done.
This sucks if you need a CLN to solve FATCA problems or have compliance issues to deal with, but if you aren’t filing tax returns then it’s probably no great sacrifice to wait for another couple of years. One consolation, you can at least get the renunciation at half price now, and fully paid for if there’s another stimulus check.
@Susan,
“My appointment WAS scheduled for March 24th. At the time I was told services were suspended until April 30th but no updates since then. It’s been very frustrating waiting and not knowing what the next step was. At least now I know nothing will happen until August.”
I am curious as to when you requested that appointment to get it for 24 March 20? Its probably the most indicative of wait times + 4 months back log if we get started up in August.