Consulate Report Directory (Brockers Describe their Consulate Meetings) and CLN Delivery Time Chart Part 2
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Wonder what really happens at the consulates? Find out in the Isaac Brock Society’s Consulate Report Directory, currently 279 pages of first-hand accounts of renunciation/relinquishment appointments, arranged by consulate location, along with further information and links to the required Dept of State forms and the Dept of State manuals used by the consulates in processing CLN applications, with an appendix containing a timeline chart (booking-meeting-CLN) as reported by consulate location.
The Directory is updated as consulate visit stories are posted on the website.
You can post here or elsewhere on the site (we’ll keep an eye out for them). Some comments may be excerpted or condensed slightly in the consulate reports. The original posts and comments remain on their threads are not edited.
Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences…and keep ’em coming! It’s a new experience for everyone and your information is really helpful.
To change or delete your report in the Directory, you can post the change as a comment on this thread or e-mail Pacifica@isaacbrocksociety.ca
Click here for the Consulate Report Directory
Notes:
Consulates are listed alphabetically by country and the Directory’s table of contents links to each section (they don’t look like links, but they are.)
This thread is a continuation of Consulate Report Directory Part 1, which contains earlier discussion on this topic, 929 comments from its inception in March 2012 through February 2013.
To Book an Appointment and/or Request Information from your Local Consulate:
This post by Eric, Almost No US Citizenship Renunciation Appointments Left During 2016 in Dublin, contains a chart of links to the consulates’ website pages on renunciation/relinquishment, for info on booking appointments and/or requesting information at your location. (The title highlights Dublin, but the charts, article and discussion cover consulates around the world.)
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@Em,
Rocky posted several months ago that he hadn’t got it yet. It was extremely long, over a year, so I suggested he contact the CLN office in DC as sometimes they fall through the cracks and doing that has had positive results.
I hope he’s got it by now, though as he posts from time to time, it strikes me he’d likely post if he did.
Yes, his renunciation story was an interesting one, and kind of upbeat, beating the fee hike from $450 to $2350 by travelling to a consulate which had an appt available before the fee hike took effect and basically making a mini-vacation out of it – I’d guess the travel probably cost less than the $1900 fee increase and for sure it’s a better use of money.
@ pacifica777
If Rocky still doesn’t have a CLN that would be outrageous. His trip to Tijuana was in September of 2014. It’s getting close to TWO YEARS!!!
I thought I’d read somewhere that he’d gotten it.
Imagine the Canadian government being more supportive of the right to expatiate. Must be because Canadian citizenship is less valuable than US (sarcasm font).
@ Bubblebustin
I hope (and expect) you are right. I sent an email to see if I could find out for sure. There are so many renunciation reports now that most of who is where in the process just slips through my many memory holes.
@EmBee and Bubblebustin,
This is his latest comment here. Hope you hear good news from him, EmBee! It’s been the longest wait reported here (the other longest wait reported here was 15 months from Jakarta) and I really hope it’s over. Ridiculous for DoS to delay processing these files for so long and, considering the importance of the document, really skuzzy.
Submitted on 2016/04/08 at 10:20 am
@ pacifica777
Oh no. From Sept 2014 to April 2016 is 20 months. If it’s ineffiency and incompetence that’s bad enough but if they are somehow punishing him for going public with his renunciation story then that is despicable.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1671945/meet-the-alberta-man-who-went-to-tijuana-to-renounce-his-u-s-citizenship/
@fn0
The email address that I have to the consulate at Tijuana is tijuanacitizenship@state.gov. This is the email address that I have used to communicate with them about my expatriation and my CLN.
Cheers,
Rocky
@pacifica777 and @embee
I did finally receive my CLN. It came mid to end of April. I had totally meant to post here that I had received it, but it slipped my mind after I had got it. I guess I closed that chapter of my life and didnt bother to reopen it to put my final comments in.
So, I will give a brief summation of what happened. Pacifica gave me the contact information to the state department back in Dec 2015. And then I sat on it and did nothing for a while. It was March I believe, when I finally sent an email off to the folks at Tijuana and if I recall correctly, I did not hear anything abck from them at that time. So I made the decision to call the State Department in Washington DC. Geoffery Martineau, I believe was the gentleman’s name. I called and left a message with him with all of my particulars, then he and I played phone tag for the next couple of weeks. I would leave him with any information he required and he would update me of the status of the CLN.
We went back and forth until I finally chatted with him. I would say this was at the beginning of April. He said that the file and been stuck in some administrative thing and was now being processed. I asked him if I could call him back if I hadn’t received the information from Tijuana by the beginning of May and he assured me that would be no problem. Tijuana emailed me a day or two later for my address and I think that I finally got the package around the last week of April. I would say from the time that I engaged Martineau until I got my CLN was 6 weeks. After waiting a fair amount of time one would say. I think that from the time of my renunciation to receiving the CLN was 19.5 months. Let me know if you have another questions. I would be glad to answer them.
Cheers,
Rocky
@ Rocky
Thank you so much for that update. It’s great news to hear you FINALLY got your CLN but the long delay and hassle involved with your inquiries might be a bit disheartening for anyone else thinking about going the Tijiuana route. Not to blame the staff in Mexico though because your particular snafu seems to have happened stateside in the State Dept. Anyway, congratulations!
@ Rocky,
Congratulations! Glad to hear it arrived! Bummer it took so long and that you had to do the follow up with them. But great that it’s over and and out of your life now. Thanks for the update.
@Rocky, Congratulations! Geeze, what a long wait you had. Just goes to show you need to check up on things if you don’t hear back within a reasonable time.
@EmBee,
I am not sure where the hang up was, but it was well worth asking further. If I hadn’t started inquiring I am certain that it would still be unresolved, which is ridiculous on hand, but on the other, I had quit worrying about it as well.
@Medea Fleecestealer, Pacifica777 and @EmBee
Thanks for the kind words. It is about time i got it.
Cheers,
Rocky
@pacifica777
You said, “Yes, his renunciation story was an interesting one, and kind of upbeat, beating the fee hike from $450 to $2350 by travelling to a consulate which had an appt available before the fee hike took effect and basically making a mini-vacation out of it – I’d guess the travel probably cost less than the $1900 fee increase and for sure it’s a better use of money.”
Not only did the travel cost less than that, but it was considerably less. I think that the fee came to around $525 bucks Canadian, my flight was around $500 and I had some family living down there so I didn’t have to pay for a hotel. So I figure I saved around $1300 dollars or so. I think my original interview said $1900, but I forgot to subtract the cost of the renunciation fee. So, it was actually closer to $1300. I also figured that since I was saving so much money I throw some money towards the ADCS lawsuit. I won’t disclose how much, but it was a good portion of the saving that I had incurred. I figured I would have had to spend that money anyways so I should at least put a portion of the money towards the lawsuit. I guess I got a mini vacation out of it. I flew on a Wednesday got there mid afternoon, then went on down to Tijuana on the Thursday and took care of business and flew home on the Friday. My renunication date was Sept 11, 2014. I wish I could say that I had planned that, but when they asked me in the interview why I had picked Sept 11, I told them because the fee goes up on Sept 12. I would have loved to have planned doning the renunciation on so called Patriot day.
Cheers,
Rocky
Congratulations, Rocky — on your creative solution to avoiding the punitive increase in fee for US expatriation and FINALLY now receiving your CLN. And, thanks for your contribution to further the ADCS Canadian litigation.
Best to you going forward!!
Hi, all:
I have taken a long break from this site. Some may remember my relinquishment story. I applied for a back-dated relinquishment in July 2014 based on government employment (CBC) beginning in 1999 . Ten months later, I received a CLN, which was quickly followed by an email from the Calgary consulate telling me they’d issued my CLN “in error” and demanding I return it. After much soul-searching, I did return the CLN and surprise, surprise, my application was subsequently denied. The reason given was that the DoS did not consider the CBC a crown corporation.
After consulting with legal advice, I did what many others on this site have done. I decided that rather than appeal the decision, I wanted to pursue the easiest and fastest method of shedding my U.S. citizenship. In April of this year, I applied to every consulate across the country for the earliest renunciation appointment available. A few weeks later, I was granted an appointment in Quebec City on May 25. I flew all day from Calgary to Quebec City, renounced my citizenship the next morning and flew back to Calgary that evening. I’m happy to report I received my CLN last week. I’m now in the process of getting U.S. tax returns and FBARS completed. The ONLY reason I was able to accomplish this is because I am extremely fortunate to have a partner who is helping me pay for it all. This would have been impossible for me to afford on my own, and so far the cost is in the thousands: airfare, hotel, cabs, meals, the renunciation fee itself, and now all of the accounting fees for the U.S. tax returns and FBARS.
I will post more at a later date about my Quebec City experience, but I wanted to update everyone on my status. More importantly, I wanted to express my deepest gratitude to everyone on this site for their on-going support, advice, information and understanding. Only someone who is going through this truly understands how stressful it is. God bless all of you.
Molly, it is so good to hear from you (you have been on my mind often). Thanks for the report that you have now renounced. What you have gone through in having to return the CLN you were granted, the expenses you’ve incurred are, in my mind, criminal. Kudos to your supportive partner in helping you get this far. Good luck on the remaining to-do list to finish it all. Will look forward to the report on the actual Quebec City experience for renunciation. My best!
@ Molly,
I’m glad to hear you got your CLN and now you have the finality that the citizenship (or alleged citizenship) is officially over. I thought what they did with your case was particularly despicable, a really horrible ordeal. (Also cruddy, IMO, that when you decided to renounce, that given their major screw-up, they didn’t just let you renounce asap at Calgary.) So, I’m glad you got the DoS business wrapped up and hope the tax stuff goes smoothly, and you can just get this behind you, because you really went through a lot. I hope you have lots of good things and joy in your life from here on!
@Molly
Congratulations!!! They really put you through the wringer, I remember being so outraged on your behalf. I’m sorry to hear you had to jump through so many hoops to break free, but you did it. I also renounced this year and got my CLN, and it’s such a relief — I can really relate to, and take joy in, your happiness.
Good luck to both of us with the 8854, etc! Next year we’ll truly be able to celebrate July 4th!
Thank you so much @Calgary411, @pacifica777 and @WestCoaster.
@Molly, so glad to hear you’ve finally managed to get a CLN that you don’t have to return due to the US’s cock-up. It’s a shame you can’t bill them for all the extra costs (flights, etc) that you had. Well done for sticking with it and hopefully you’ll be totally free and clear soon.
This morning (August 24, 2016) I swore the “Oath of Renunciation” of U.S. citizenship at the U.S. Embassy in Iceland.
Background: Canadian citizen, prior to August 24 held (with full consent) U.S. citizenship, lived in Canada for last 40 plus years, Chair of ADCS and ADCT.
U.S. Iceland Embassy Renunciation Pros: Easy for me to make appointment for the next month. On July 19 requested renunciation appointment (Wednesdays) for August 24 – requested date was quickly granted. Unlike some U.S. Consulates, friendly Iceland Embassy responds to email questions. Renunciation process went very smoothly. Nexus card however was kept by Embassy. Was not asked as to why I wanted to renounce. Met another renunciant at the Embassy.
Iceland Cons: Airfare to and accommodation in Reykjavik are at present expensive (high season). If you consider “Wow” airline read reviews first. Costs apparently go down for everything in low (dark) season.
Many thanks to the kind, helpful commenters on these websites: Brock (esp. Pacifica, Eric, and Tricia), citizenshipsolutions.ca, Maple Sandbox, and Phil Hodgen’s blog.
@Stephen Kish, Congratulations! Go out and celebrate.
Btw where I am your post is marked with the time stamp 6.41am. I never knew embassies/consulates kept such accommodating hours. (wink)
Congratulations to you on your newly won freedom, and thank you for all you have done over the past several years. Please keep up the good work!
Congratulations Stephen Kish. Glad to hear that Iceland was so accommodating. We tried to do the same in Auckland and were denied an appointment (fortunately the waiting period wasn’t long in Sydney). I hope you’re able to enjoy your trip to Reykjavík now that the important business is done.
Hi Stephen Kish. Congrats to you, but a question. How does this affect your position within the American citizenship taxation law suit……or does it?