Is it worth it?

[akdiver 3]

Citizens have full rights and protections under the United States Constitution

Which means exactly jack ###### these days. Havent you read the papers?

Oh yes, protect the children, and protect national security - amen. *barf*

Cheers!

AKDiver

In Canada, unlike the US, you do not vote for Prime Minister - you vote for the representative of the area in which you live.

Uh, no...most of the people in the U.S. don't vote. Those who do don't vote for prime minister either. They don't even vote for president! They vote for electors, who then vote for president. It's a republic, not a democracy - thank god.

Cheers!

AKDiver

[KarenCee 3]

Citizens have full rights and protections under the United States Constitution

Which means exactly jack ###### these days. Havent you read the papers?

Oh yes, protect the children, and protect national security - amen. *barf*

Cheers!

AKDiver

In Canada, unlike the US, you do not vote for Prime Minister - you vote for the representative of the area in which you live.

Uh, no...most of the people in the U.S. don't vote. Those who do don't vote for prime minister either. They don't even vote for president! They vote for electors, who then vote for president. It's a republic, not a democracy - thank god.

Cheers!

AKDiver

Wow...a little hostility there, eh?

We both plan on getting our duals...not sure if I posted this here before or not. At any rate, not having to deal with immigration ever again is worth it for us. Just our opinion of course.

[loli 0]

We only talked about the benefits of becoming a USC, are they any drawbacks?

I think I've heard that if you ever go back to your home country you will have to pay US income taxes on income earned outside of the US. Does anyone know the details ?

[Boiler 45,538]

We only talked about the benefits of becoming a USC, are they any drawbacks?

I think I've heard that if you ever go back to your home country you will have to pay US income taxes on income earned outside of the US. Does anyone know the details ?

Not an isue for most people, dual taxation treaties usually take care of it.

Not my original intent either, but really a no brainer. Not sure about the oath ceremoney, sounds a bit naff.

[meauxna 15]

Not sure about the oath ceremoney, sounds a bit naff.

Eh, you'll be sniffling like a little old lady on your day.

[Yodrak 7]

Or the Foreign Earned Income exemption.

Yodrak

.....

I think I've heard that if you ever go back to your home country you will have to pay US income taxes on income earned outside of the US. Does anyone know the details ?

Not an isue for most people, dual taxation treaties usually take care of it.

.....

Edited October 9, 2006 by Yodrak

[CarolineM 0]

Sterwart will prolly get dual...and I want our kids to have dual - and i'll prolly eventually have dual too - but we have to move to Oz first and live there a while

[cmartyn 0]

When I went to register to vote they had a little electrical dancing flag on the counter that they energized for me. That was a bonus :-)

I regestered independant but the confirmation says Republican... now I gotta go back and correct it. Grrrr..

[warlord 73]

One thing that will really work for me to get USC is the fact the US passport is good for 10 years, not 5 like in Canada. Also since I don't really have many ties back to Canada, it eventually will get harder for me to maintain my Canadian passport as now there's very few people that can actually vouch who I am (one of the requirements to confirm a person is a doctor or dentist or lawyer etc). Eventually I won't have our one nurse that has known me since a kid, and I may no longer be able to easily obtain a passport there every 5 years.

Being a USC, can eliminate that problem. On the downside, I've been enjoying not having to be summoned for Jury Duty...

[john_and_marlene 162]

One thing that will really work for me to get USC is the fact the US passport is good for 10 years, not 5 like in Canada. Also since I don't really have many ties back to Canada, it eventually will get harder for me to maintain my Canadian passport as now there's very few people that can actually vouch who I am (one of the requirements to confirm a person is a doctor or dentist or lawyer etc). Eventually I won't have our one nurse that has known me since a kid, and I may no longer be able to easily obtain a passport there every 5 years.

Being a USC, can eliminate that problem. On the downside, I've been enjoying not having to be summoned for Jury Duty...

I thought the US went back to 5 year passports this year.

[diadromous mermaid 36]

Great answer kezzie--the main reason i'm cosidering it now is because they keep extending my 1-551 WITHOUT REMOVING CONDITIONS for no reason. it looks like i'm going to be eligible to apply for citizenship before my conditions are removed. See my recent post in the removing conditions forum for more info.sigh.

inheritance tax laws

social security survivor benefits rules

address change reporting

restriction of some government jobs

can be deported for some crimes (not everyone who gets convicted was guilty)

release of sponsor/cosponsors from financial responsibility

i had forgotten about the address change reporting. That's definitely one to consider. Especially since the system doesn't seem too great. i'm not too worried about the government jobs thing, i looked up the criminal deportation thing--i figure if i'm convicted of one of those crimes being deported will be the least of my problems. I'm interested in learning more about the inheritance tax laws and ss survivor benefits. Any good links? As for releasing my sponsor from financial responsibility? he'd be much worse off if he didn't have me around, so i feel no guilt there. I bring in the big bucks!

J

Even though the non-U.S. citizen may have resided in the United States all of his or her life, certain tax consequences stem from the simple fact that the individual is not a U.S. citizen. In addition, certain countries, such as the United Kingdom, have a long-term tracking system for their former residents.

Under U.K. inheritance tax law a U.K. citizen could reside in the United States for ten or fifteen years without being deemed to have renounced U.K. domicile for inheritance tax purposes by adopting what U.K. law terms a new “domicile of choice” in the United States. The United Kingdom imposes its inheritance tax on the worldwide assets of its residents at a flat rate of 40% on the amount of the decedent’s net taxable estate that exceeds $350,000. This compares unfavorably with a U.S. exclusion amount of $1 million (beginning next year), increasing to $3.5 million in 2009.

The U.S. estate tax is imposed on the estates of U.S. citizens and residents at rates that vary from 18% to 55%. For a U.S. citizen or resident, the current credit against estate tax is sufficient to allow the decedent to transfer to a non-spouse $675,000 (termed the “exclusion amount”) in 2001. The exclusion amount will increase to $1 million for estates of decedents dying in 2002-2003, $1.5 million for estates of decedents dying in 2004-2005, $2 million for estates of decedents dying in 2006-2008, and $3.5 million for estates of decedents dying in 2009. The estate tax is set to be repealed in 2010, only to be reinstated at its current rates in 2011 for federal Budget Act reasons.

In addition to an increase in exclusion amount, the highest rates of the estate tax will be reduced progressively from 49% in 2003 to 45% in 2007-2009. Under domestic law, an estate tax credit at the level sufficient to exempt $675,000 in assets in 2001 is allowed only to U.S. citizens and non-U.S. citizens who are

domiciled in the United States for estate tax purposes. The exclusion amount for a non-U.S. citizen who is not domiciled in the United States generally is only $60,000.

The Internal Revenue Code increases the estate tax credit for nonresident aliens when a treaty requires some form of equality of treatment. The credit is then increased to an estate tax credit that exempts the amount of net worth set forth above (the “exclusion amount”) pro rata to a fraction, of which the value of U.S.-situs property is the numerator and the worldwide gross estate is the denominator. Nevertheless, to claim a credit that will exempt more than $60,000 in assets, the decedent’s heirs must file with the IRS a

detailed description of the decedent’s worldwide assets determined and valued under U.S. estate tax rules, a task many nonresident heirs are willing to forego rather than claim a slightly increased U.S. exclusion amount. This means that your non-citizen client may have a taxable estate at merely $60,000 in U.S.-situs assets merely because the client has non-resident status for U.S. estate tax purposes.

As is rather well-known, transfers between spouses at death qualify for the unlimited marital deduction for estate tax purposes. Nevertheless, the unlimited marital deduction will not apply to transfers made by a U.S. person to a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen. For a transfer from a citizen decedent spouse to a noncitizen surviving spouse to qualify for the estate tax marital deduction, the transfer must be made into a special trust (termed a “Qualified Domestic Trust,” or QDOT) to preserve the right of the United States to tax the amount in the trust upon the death of the surviving spouse.8 The QDOT instrument must provide that any distribution (other than one based on the surviving spouse’s financial hardship) from the QDOT trust will be subject to the federal estate tax at the highest marginal rate that would have applied to the additional

amount transferred by the U.S.-citizen decedent to the non-U.S.-citizen decedent. This means that special drafting is required whenever a non-citizen spouse’s estate plan is being prepared in your office, unless you have documentation in your file that the decedent will not have a taxable estate.

.

www.vtbar.org/ezstatic/data/vtbar/journal/dec_2001/Newman.pdf

[Kathryn41 3,205]

One thing that will really work for me to get USC is the fact the US passport is good for 10 years, not 5 like in Canada. Also since I don't really have many ties back to Canada, it eventually will get harder for me to maintain my Canadian passport as now there's very few people that can actually vouch who I am (one of the requirements to confirm a person is a doctor or dentist or lawyer etc). Eventually I won't have our one nurse that has known me since a kid, and I may no longer be able to easily obtain a passport there every 5 years.

Actually, the Canadian passport does allow for a US guarantor who meets the guarantor qualifications to fill out passport requirements for Canadians who are residing in the US. Check out the Canadian Passport site info on guarantors: http://www.ppt.gc.ca/usa/guarantor.aspx?lang=e

[DeadPoolX 9]

I thought the US went back to 5 year passports this year.

I don't think they did.

I got my passport in 2005, and it expires in 2015. My brother got his passport this year, and it expires in 2016. So as far as I can tell, the U.S. is still using ten year passports. Which is a good thing, in my opinion. I think five year passports are a rip-off.

Anyone else think it's somewhat odd that, given how paranoid and security-minded the U.S. is, it doesn't require a guarantor, while Canada, which is lax on security (when compared to the U.S.) does require one? I just think that's weird.

Anyway, it's good to know that there are individuals within the U.S. that can act as guarantors as well, so when my fiancee is living here, she can get a new passport. Of course, that's assuming she doesn't naturalize and become a citizen. She might very well do that. I think what she's concerned about is losing her Canadian citizenship, and she wants to hold onto that. If she can keep that (and become an American citizen), then I don't think there would be a problem.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Anyway, it's good to know that there are individuals within the U.S. that can act as guarantors as well, so when my fiancee is living here, she can get a new passport. Of course, that's assuming she doesn't naturalize and become a citizen. She might very well do that. I think what she's concerned about is losing her Canadian citizenship, and she wants to hold onto that. If she can keep that (and become an American citizen), then I don't think there would be a problem.

Yes, she will remain a Canadian citizen. The only way she can lose her Canadian citizenship is if she officially renounces it in writing on a specific form that she files with the Canadian government. Ideally, she would keep both passports valid and use her Canadian passport to enter Canada and her US passport to enter the States.

Edited October 28, 2006 by Kathryn41

[amelynn43 0]

How does someone become a dual citizen? I thought they had to give up their citizenship to become an American Citizen. Are they able to then reapply for citizenship in their original country?