what's the most you can stay outside of USA

[daphne2109 0]

when you became a citizen, and you have a US passport?

Maybe it's a frequent question, and I'm sorry if it has been already asked too many times by VJ users. Tks anyway.

[Staashi 371]

when you became a citizen, and you have a US passport?

Maybe it's a frequent question, and I'm sorry if it has been already asked too many times by VJ users. Tks anyway.

Once you have a passport it doesn't matter. You will just have to keep filing your income taxes

[lucyrich 20]

You can stay outside the US for as long as you want. You can't lose citizenship by leaving the US, no matter for how long.

As long as you're a US citizen, you have the absolute legal right to enter the US. Nobody else has that legal right - it's a privilege for most people, including green card holders. Non-citizens always have the burden of proving eligibility for entry, but citizens can always enter.

You can't lose citizenship unless you do one of the following acts voluntarily and with the intent of relinquishing citizenship.

* becoming a naturalized citizen of another country, or declaring allegiance to another country, after reaching age 18;

* serving as an officer in a foreign country's military service, or serving in the armed forces of a country which is engaged in hostilities against the US;

* working for a foreign government (e.g., in political office or as a civil servant);

* formally renouncing one's US citizenship before duly authorized US officials; or

* committing treason against, or attempting or conspiring to overthrow the government of, the US.

Note that if you do one of these things without intending to give up your US citizenship, then you still haven't given up your US citizenship. If you don't do anything on this list, you haven't given up your citizenship, no matter what you intended.

Even failure to file taxes doesn't result in loss of citizenship or loss of the ability to enter the US. It may, however result in civil or criminal charges. So if your tax evasion case is serious enough, you might be able to enter the US and go directly to jail. But at least you get to enter the US.

[motu 5]

At least some of us on VJ and several others that I know of - are intending to live in a foreign country for the rest of our lives. Almost all the countries have a US consulate and one of their jobs is to reissue Passports (if you want to continue to travel). They also issue citizenship papers (or something to that effect) for children born to US citizens in the foreign country - its all to allow for easy access back to USA later on.

For us personally, we will move to either Colombia or Costa Rica or another country, a few years after my wife has her citizenship - we are still deciding on where to live. I would like her to have the US passport so we can travel easily (one of the big advantages of having a US passport). We can of course visit or come back to USA if we change our mind. Good Luck

[daphne2109 0]

At least some of us on VJ and several others that I know of - are intending to live in a foreign country for the rest of our lives. Almost all the countries have a US consulate and one of their jobs is to reissue Passports (if you want to continue to travel). They also issue citizenship papers (or something to that effect) for children born to US citizens in the foreign country - its all to allow for easy access back to USA later on.

For us personally, we will move to either Colombia or Costa Rica or another country, a few years after my wife has her citizenship - we are still deciding on where to live. I would like her to have the US passport so we can travel easily (one of the big advantages of having a US passport). We can of course visit or come back to USA if we change our mind. Good Luck

Thanks alot for yr reply, that's the reason I asked for this question, because in the future (long term future) me & my husband might decide to stay for a while in US & for a while in my country. Tks again.

[daphne2109 0]

You can stay outside the US for as long as you want. You can't lose citizenship by leaving the US, no matter for how long.

As long as you're a US citizen, you have the absolute legal right to enter the US. Nobody else has that legal right - it's a privilege for most people, including green card holders. Non-citizens always have the burden of proving eligibility for entry, but citizens can always enter.

You can't lose citizenship unless you do one of the following acts voluntarily and with the intent of relinquishing citizenship.

* becoming a naturalized citizen of another country, or declaring allegiance to another country, after reaching age 18;

* serving as an officer in a foreign country's military service, or serving in the armed forces of a country which is engaged in hostilities against the US;

* working for a foreign government (e.g., in political office or as a civil servant);

* formally renouncing one's US citizenship before duly authorized US officials; or

* committing treason against, or attempting or conspiring to overthrow the government of, the US.

Note that if you do one of these things without intending to give up your US citizenship, then you still haven't given up your US citizenship. If you don't do anything on this list, you haven't given up your citizenship, no matter what you intended.

Even failure to file taxes doesn't result in loss of citizenship or loss of the ability to enter the US. It may, however result in civil or criminal charges. So if your tax evasion case is serious enough, you might be able to enter the US and go directly to jail. But at least you get to enter the US.

Thank you for your reply in detail!!!

Do you know if even if you get the US citizenship, can you keep your dual citizenship (where the country of the non- US citizen allows that) without having problem to get back to the USA, and if you stay away from US for a while without presenting the file taxes, (since you haven't worked in US during that time) is still ok to enter US without having problems.

I hope my above question is clear!!!! Tks again!!!!!

[lucyrich 20]

Do you know if even if you get the US citizenship, can you keep your dual citizenship (where the country of the non- US citizen allows that) without having problem to get back to the USA, and if you stay away from US for a while without presenting the file taxes, (since you haven't worked in US during that time) is still ok to enter US without having problems.

I hope my above question is clear!!!! Tks again!!!!!

Whether you remain a citizen of your old country is a matter of your old country's laws. It's not a problem from the US law perspective. So you can be a dual (or triple, quadruple, or multiple) citizen after naturalization to the US.

However, whether you're working in the US or not, when you're a US citizen, you have to file taxes any time your worldwide income exceeds the limits that require anyone to file taxes. For practical purposes, that probably means you have to file taxes every year, even if all your income came from outside the US. However, in many cases, income earned outside the US is not subject to US taxation, so while you have to fill out the returns, you may not have to pay any tax, or it may be a very small amount.

Failure to file taxes won't cause you to lose your citizenship or be unable to enter the US, but it may cause very serious problems with the IRS when you finally do re-enter, just as it would cause problems for a citizen who remained inside the US and failed to file taxes.