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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@purekiwi
Congratulations you are free!
Thanks for letting us know. It is 7 months today I went to the Toronto Counsel for my CLN. I am still waiting.
@pure kiwi….welcome to the rapidly growing family of taxpatriots worldwide…..
@purekiwi
Good to hear from a Kiwi. We don’t get many. Some of us have been following the FATCA IGA implementation process on IBS. Don’t know if you have been reading the posts, but there was posting on it, regarding the Select Committee submissions and testimony that was held last week.
Here is my report on it.
Glad you have freed yourself from the coming capitulation impacts. All the best.
@pacifica777: I moved to Canada from the US in the early 90s and became Canadian in 2001. In 2010, I renewed my lapsed US passport because I was getting hassled trying to enter the US on my Canadian passport. I have only used my US passport (since swearing Canadian citizenship in 2001) to enter the US. The renewal of my US passport was made under clear duress (I was told at the border, “If you don’t present a valid US passport, we won’t let you in and you’re violating US federal law”). I recently contacted my local consulate and faxed form DS-4079 with a request to relinquish as of 2001 (Canadian citizenship date). The consulate staff tells me that I absolutely cannot relinquish– I will be compelled to renounce as of the date I appear at the consulate. Do I have any recourse? I would prefer to relinquish as of 2001. If there is recourse, do you know what the process is? Thanks in advance. I am intentionally being vague on some of the details as my application is still before the consulate.
As with some of the other recent postings, I was told I can renounce my US citizenship with one visit to the consulate. To obtain an appointment, I e-mailed my local consulate this past week. I have been offered an appointment for the middle of March.
@ BC Doc. I’ll leave it to Pacifica to fill in the details, but if the passport under duress issue is the only means by which you have “exercised” US citizenship since naturalizing as a Canadian in 2001 you have the absolute right to claim that relinquishment. It all hinges on what your intent was at the time and only you can make that determination.
The consulate is dead wrong on this. Many have successfully claimed a past relinquishment under circumstances just as you have described. Sounds like the jerks at the Vancouver consulate to me.
@ BC Doc,
I agree with Maz57 that passport use doesn’t necessarily/automatically negate a relinquishment.
When I read that the consulate staff told you that you absolutely cannot relinquish, it struck me that “absolutely” is a very strong word. It’s not a slam-dunk, but it is not absolute either. This makes me wonder what level was that staff person? Was this following a conversation in which you discussed the circumstances of your having used/renewed the US passport? Or based solely on a reading of your 4079 (if you wrote the circumstances in your 4079 and they were not satisfied, they should at the least ask you for further clarification rather than a snap decision.)
It seems, based on the passport use cases and on cases in which the person had filed taxes all of a sudden due to misinformation, after the relinquishing act occurred, it comes down to the circumstances (eg duress, misunderstanding, etc.) because the circumstances indicate the intent.
Several people who have used a US passport after relinquishing had what were accepted as reasonable explanations for doing so. Three of them reported here. There’s a fourth I know of, at a consulate outside Canada, who did not report on it.
Reports Brock has received re relinquishment-based CLNs issued despite passport use:
Vancouver. p. 80-81.
Toronto. p.55
Halifax
It’s really good to ask questions on the website because you can get several opinions, including sometimes from a person who’s been through the exact, or a very similar, situation. I can understand, though, as you say, you’re being “intentionally vague” about some details on-line. So, if you’d like to provide me a little more information privately, maybe I could help shed a little more light on it – don’t know if I can, but maybe, and I’m certainly happy to help in any way I can. If so, you can e-mail me at pacifica at isaacbrocksociety dot ca
Possible recourses a person has that come to mind would be going higher up in American Citizen Services Dept at your consulate or contacting ACS Legal Affairs in Washington.
@purekiwi,
Can I ask, were you tax compliant when you renounced?
@mettleman…
Maybe they can simplify more for efficiency, move it street side, and do it via an ATM.
🙂
mvh
@Mr A
Yes, I was (am). I am in the later stages of a long, stressful journey with my US personhood. It has taken me a long time to get to this point but I am glad to have arrived here. I don’t actually need a CLN for FATCA purposes as I do not have a US birthplace, but I could not stand the feelings of oppression and serfdom that were thrust upon me and needed to severe all ties with the United States so that I can live the rest of my life as a free person. The scars will remain indefinitely, but I hope that time will heal most of them.
@all
I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone here for the knowledge, information and support. By the time I came to renounce I was able to make the decision with total confidence that I was making the right choice, and a large part of that was down to the members of this online community.
Thanks purekiwi, and congratulations!
@Maz57,
Thank you for your kind and helpful comments. I am living not far from Lotusland. My spouse and I also found the Vancouver consulate “challenging” to deal with in the past. I am leaning to using the Calgary consulate based on the initial response I’ve so far received.
@pacifica777,
I’ve sent an e-mail your way. Thanks.
@ BC Doc. Lucky guess, huh? (LOL!) Vancouver has been a “challenge” for me as well. If Calgary otherwise works for you and you just want to get it done that is probably the way to go. Good luck.
my cln took about a year from the time of making the appointment, or 10 1/2 months from the actual appointment date.
Coo loo coo coo, coo coo coo coo
(as the Mckenzie brothers would say)
@Pacifica777
Thanks for response on the other thread. Looks this thread is the one to use. I will follow up on my case and will post my eventual outcome, for the record.
Got my CLN yesterday.. My appointment was on Sept 24, 2013.. So it took about 5 months. It looks like it was processed by the state department on Feb 3rd. I’m soo glad to see this but it doesn’t mean it’s over quite yet. Still have to file for the last time..
My appointment was in Calgary for clarification..
@ pman
Congratulations! Your American relinquishment date was my husband’s Canadian citizenship date. If the Calgary CLNs continue to be processed at the same rate as yours he should be getting his CLN in June or July. His relinquishment appointment was early February. And yes … those final filings … ugh!
@pman, congratulations! Another one joins the “Ex” club.
@pm
great news
where did you get it? did they call you ?
I went July 15 and no news for me.
June till today for cln. 9 months .. Guess they have a load ..all people involved were great people.. Only wish them the best. Now. For visa etc.
There is a straightforward set of standards , follow directions and leave .. Far too much speculating .. Just take action
@ Robert,
Congratulations on your CLN! Nine months, yikes. It’s seems to be getting longer, ridiculously long, everywhere. Would you let us know which consulate you used? Thanks.
I live in Vancouver and flew out to Calgary so I could get an appointment in a reasonable time frame. What’s happening with Vancouver by the way, anyone know if things have changes since then?
I emailed Calgary a few weeks back to check up on the status but they hadn’t heard anything. It looks like it was processed within days of my inquiry.
@Pman, Vancouver did improve towards the end of last year. In September they changed to a one appointment only system which helped and their attitude has also improved. Just hope they keep it up. I don’t think anyone’s reported recently on their Vancouver experience. There does seem to be a large backlog for appointments there looking at the Consulate Report Directory so unless they’ve laid on a whole lot of extra slots for renunciations/relinquishments it sounds as if people still have to wait several months to get that appointment.