Fabien Lehagre, founder of l’Association des’Américains Accidentels/ the Association of Accidental Americans is instituting a lawsuit, aiming to force the State Department to reopen the services of the US Embassy that handle renunciation / relinquishment requests.
The lawsuit’s purposes are:
➡️ Because this action will allow us to publicize the fact that the State Department is depriving tens of thousands of people of a fundamental right.
➡️ Because this action will allow us to make the link with our first complaint which aims to make it free to obtain a certificate of loss of nationality.
➡️ Because this action will allow us to shed light on the reasons why tens of thousands of citizens who have American nationality want to renounce American nationality: discrimination induced by FATCA, impact of Citizenship Based Taxation, difficulty in investing as a US Citizen.
➡️ Because the fees necessary to finance this litigation are very low compared to the real cost of a lawsuit in the United States.
PLEDGE SUPPORT and/or CONTACT Fabien for further information at this link!
It is incredible that the EU countries are abandoning their citizens. I donated for the suit. No argues against the US tracking down rich Americans with assets abroad. But acidenytal Americans? Oh Pharaoh, let the people go!
Accidental Americans aren’t being “tracked down” by the IRS. The problem they face is losing access to banking services because of their US birthplace, due to banks overreacting to FATCA reporting requirements.
I put off renouncing for more than 10 years because I thought maybe some lawmakers would realize how ridiculous it is, or maybe Trump could do something — Now, i have people at banks thinking that I am a criminal or tax cheat because they have to call me down to give my US Tax ID, but I’m definitely not. My parents are still alive, but I don’t want my own life cut short due to stress over this. I should have renounced 10 years back when it was FREE or just $450. My fear is that the fee will go much higher after COVID has passed completely and there is a flood of people waiting to get the oppressor out of their lives. This is the year I’m doing it. I truly wish none of us were put into this situation. Nobody deserves this.
@ge…ez
What’s the waiting list like in your country, and are the consulates even open? Coming up on a year since I put in the request in Canada, haven’t heard a peep.
One good thing about COVID was that if you were sly enough, you could offset the renunciation fee (and then some) by collecting the US stimulus benefit.
@RonH,
They’re probably not up to yours yet. I’ve heard from someone who sent in their forms in Spring 2020 and was contacted by the consulate about a month ago and got an appointment in late Autumn. No harm to send a follow-up, though. Probably you’ll get some robo-reply, but it might contain an indication of what the wait period for getting scheduled is..
@Pacifica
Thanks. We’re semi-mobile for the rest of the year so I’ll wait until January, see what they say. A good sign if someone six months ahead of me is getting an appointment for this year, means it might happen in 2022.