Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Monthly Archives: June 2012

Waking up Canadian – Are you lucky?

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Came across this old article with a very funny video.  Posting it just in case any of the particulars apply to anyone here who may be Canadian and not know it.

“The Canadian government doesn’t know the precise number or location of individuals affected by the legislation. But it believes most are U.S. citizens, a spokeswoman for Canada’s immigration office said. U.S. Department of Homeland Security records show 240,000 Canadians were naturalized in the U.S. from 1948 to 1977; the new law fixes problems that occurred during those years.”

The article states that eligible individuals are automatically Canadian but have to apply for it in order to obtain proof. Also described are several situations where people felt they were unfairly denied their Canadian citizenship. I have never come across anything suggesting that those with Canadian eligibility have had trouble getting their status established.

“Some such cases languished in litigation for years. Others surfaced in 2007, when new U.S. rules requiring passports for travel between Canada and the U.S. uncovered significant numbers of people who thought they were Canadian, but weren’t.”

Canada Issues a Wake-Up Call: You May Be a Citizen

Any chance this could be good news for anyone here?

 

June 18, 1812: US Declares War On Canada

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US President James Madison Declared War on Canada two hundred years agao today and launched the War of 1812 Which Shaped Canada Forever.

Brigadier-General Isaac Brock heard the news while he was dining with American officers at Fort George. They finished the dinner in peace then withdrew to plan mutual destruction.

“My situation is most critical…Most of the people have lost all confidence.  I, however, speak loud and look big,” Brock wrote.

Today, we cannot lose confidence.  Just as Sir Isaac did 200 years ago, we must “speak loud and look big.” Together, we can win this war, too.

The list of atrocities keeps growing

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To add to the threats presented by the NDAA, execution of US citizens without trial when the President deems them to be terrorists, and all of the other police-state/totalitarian and unconstitutional practices of the US, here is an anecdote that absolutely disgusted me.

A friend of mine knows a Swiss lady who is married to an American.  Their child is also American (I am not sure if (s)he is/was also Swiss).   Her husband went to work in the US.  In Switzerland, an intended immigrant that doesn’t need a visa to enter can apply for a residence permit after entering on a tourist visa.   Without realizing that Homeland takes a dim view of intended immigrants arriving on tourist visa-waivers, the lady went to the US without applying for a visa first, and then went to Homeland Security to apply for a green card.  They forced her to sign a paper admitting that she entered the country illegally (under threat of arresting her, taking her child away from her and turning it over to social services), and exonerating Homeland for any wrongdoing.

I don’t know if she tried to apply for a visa subsequently from Switzerland, but the final result was that she went back to Switzerland with her child and her husband left the US and has never gone back.  I don’t know if the guy has renounced or is just a full ostrich.

An agreement signed under threat is not an agreement.  What happened was pure terrorism on the part of Homeland.     Another example of the US applying their officious rules in ways that can destroy families.

June 15 has come and gone and IRS has failed to provide promised procedures – Does the IRS really want compliance?

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Introduction: This post applies only to people who are U.S. persons (citizens, green card holders, etc.). Those who are long term residents of other countries and who have become citizens of that country should first investigate whether they are a U.S. person before doing anything. This may be the best advice you will get. Investigate the status of your U.S. citizenship.

The Compliance Problem:

Many U.S. citizens abroad want to come into compliance with U.S. tax laws. As Steven Mopsick has so aptly noted: Continue reading →

U.S. citizens abroad are disabled from retirement planning, I think – Contribute to the knowledge

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Subject to applying for an extension, your U.S. tax return was due this past Friday June 15. During tax season, the discussion of the problems of citizenship-based taxation have become louder and louder. After many discussions with U.S. citizens abroad, I have concluded that:

There is not a single investment vehicle outside the United States that will not plant the seeds of future U.S. tax problems. These problems if not attended to early (translation they must be eradicated) will eventually grow so big that: Continue reading →

The US is not alone in alienating its citizens overseas

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How would you react if your home country denied you the right to participate in the political process back home if you had been resident overseas for longer than 15 years?  Your home country does not overtly have citizenship-based taxation along the lines of the US, but refuses to let you go and claims that you will be tax-domiciled for your whole life, right up until your death.  Even if you change citizenship your home country would still considered you to be a domiciled tax resident and tax your estate accordingly, as if you had never left.

Sound familiar?  None of the above is hypothetical – The country that I am describing is the UK, and the above frustration is actually pushing some UK citizens to renounce their citizenship due to lack of representation and being made to feel like subjects and not citizens whilst overseas.  From a regional Iberian newspaper (in English):
Continue reading →

U.S. Naricissism and it’s impact on the sovereignty of other nations – Introduction

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Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship

Hot off the press from Phil Hodgen!! – Is this what one would expect from a narcissist?

The Internal Revenue Code uses the word “expatriate” to specifically refer to someone who goes through a process of terminating U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status. This is what you will find in Sections 877 and 877A of the Internal Revenue Code. Yes, it is a lazy and ego-centric way for the U.S. government to approach the world: “A word means only what we say it means.”

 

 

 

In an early post: Nationalistic Narcissism and U.S. citizenship – Being a U.S. citizen is like having a narcissist for a parent – I suggested  that the United States is a narcissist. On the most minimal level, narcissism includes the belief that everything and everybody should revolve around the narcissist. Anybody who has ever known a narcissist knows that narcissists do not recognize personal boundaries. To put it another way, a narcissist sees everybody as an extension of the narcissist – i.e cannot accept that other people are autonomous individuals. Although I am not suggesting that Wikipedia is extremely authoritative, I note the following comment: Continue reading →

Sauve Qui Peut

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In the past day or so, it has been interesting to juxtapose the anxieties of first-time posters with the ongoing perceptions and ruminations and strategems of longer-term crew on the Brock.

On the one side: How can this be? I don’t want this! How can I simultaneously clear this up while not stumbling into radar that will take me out? Surely there must be some solution. Where does this circle begin? Is there any reasonable way out? This is such a mess — certainly someone will have to fix it! Maybe I can just wait for this to clear up? Or keep on hiding indefinitely?

On the other side: (1) This is election year in the United States, and maybe we can make the extraterritorial predicament an issue, and maybe Romney would be better than Obama. (2) FATCA is so overreaching and fantastic, and it just has to damage the US economy, and the rest of the world will have to realize that national sovereignty and human rights can’t take a back seat, and the incredible details mean that the project just has to fail. (3) Surely Canada will have to treat US persons just like everybody else, and it will help if we work hard to lobby this or that branch of officialdom. (4) This is a big important story suppressed by mainstream media, and sooner or later it has to break anyway, and we can advance the cause by commenting and corresponding in all possible directions.
Continue reading →