Citizenship eligiblity

[JimandSarha 0]

Actually you ae held to lower standards if you are a USC, a whole raft of issues that can get you deported disappear.

Purely practical from my perspective. Benefits outweigh negatives by some margin.

There are actually some extremely good reasons not to apply for citizenship. In my own case, my wife is 25 years younger than me. Short of an accident, I will certainly die several decades before she does. Perhaps upto 40 or more years. We do not plan to have children together. When I die she may want to liquidate our assets and move back to China. If Sarha were to become a US Citizen she would not be able to move back easily without getting a Visa to be there or switching citizenship again. She would not be able to be in her home country conveniently. Of course she may just want to stay here. Or move elsewhere in the world. Who can say.

But for a woman with decades of life in front of her, no family and perhaps few attachments, the easiest answer may be to go home. I think citizenship is a big decision and I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to make it without a lot of deep honest thought.

Jim

[lucyrich 20]

There are actually some extremely good reasons not to apply for citizenship. In my own case, my wife is 25 years younger than me. Short of an accident, I will certainly die several decades before she does. Perhaps upto 40 or more years. We do not plan to have children together. When I die she may want to liquidate our assets and move back to China. If Sarha were to become a US Citizen she would not be able to move back easily without getting a Visa to be there or switching citizenship again. She would not be able to be in her home country conveniently. Of course she may just want to stay here. Or move elsewhere in the world. Who can say.

But for a woman with decades of life in front of her, no family and perhaps few attachments, the easiest answer may be to go home. I think citizenship is a big decision and I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to make it without a lot of deep honest thought.

Jim

There's another side of that scenario that might make it a very good idea for her to gain US Citizenship. If she's a US Citizen, she most likely won't have to pay estate tax on anything she inherits from you. But a non-Citizen doesn't qualify for that exemption. See here, or here, or here for some references I dug up via Google.

There are ways to create a trust to get around the estate tax issue, and there may be other considerations that trump this one, but the estate tax issue can be a good argument for citizenship in some cases. I agree it's something to be considered by each individual and not entered into lightly.

[JimandSarha 0]

There are actually some extremely good reasons not to apply for citizenship. In my own case, my wife is 25 years younger than me. Short of an accident, I will certainly die several decades before she does. Perhaps upto 40 or more years. We do not plan to have children together. When I die she may want to liquidate our assets and move back to China. If Sarha were to become a US Citizen she would not be able to move back easily without getting a Visa to be there or switching citizenship again. She would not be able to be in her home country conveniently. Of course she may just want to stay here. Or move elsewhere in the world. Who can say.

But for a woman with decades of life in front of her, no family and perhaps few attachments, the easiest answer may be to go home. I think citizenship is a big decision and I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to make it without a lot of deep honest thought.

Jim

There's another side of that scenario that might make it a very good idea for her to gain US Citizenship. If she's a US Citizen, she most likely won't have to pay estate tax on anything she inherits from you. But a non-Citizen doesn't qualify for that exemption. See here, or here, or here for some references I dug up via Google.

There are ways to create a trust to get around the estate tax issue, and there may be other considerations that trump this one, but the estate tax issue can be a good argument for citizenship in some cases. I agree it's something to be considered by each individual and not entered into lightly.

My money is already in a trust off shore and I try to never let any appreciable amount of money accumulate in America. Nor China for that matter. I rarely pay taxes and probably won't again. When I spoke of liquidating assets, I meant more of selling patents, partnerships and exclusive distribution rights that all add up to a lot of money. Personally, my choice for her would be to retain Chinese citizenship and also LPR status through living at various resort interests in the USA enough to maintain LPR status.

America will remain a nice place to be during her lifetime even though it is in decline. It remains to be seen if China will be a leading economic superpower or not. I suspect not from my own observations. I think the Indians will eat their lunch. But I'll be long dead when it tips one way or the other.

I do see advantages in having more than one nice place to live without making a serious commitment to it. Hell, given my druthers, I'd move to Singapore. Or Buenas Aires.

Jim

[diadromous mermaid 36]

The text claimed...

Generally, certain lawful permanent residents married to a U.S. citizen may file for naturalization after residing continuously in the United States for three years if immediately preceding the filing of the application:

the applicant has been married to and living in a valid marital union with the same U.S. citizen spouse for all three years;

the U.S. spouse has been a citizen for all three years and meets all physical presence and residence requirements; and

the applicant meets all other naturalization requirements.

Prior to AOS being approved, would you say a K3 applicant is already a legal permanent resident by definition?

Of course someone is not a legal permanent resident before AOS is approved. I hope I didn't imply otherwise. But a person certainly may reside in the US before AOS is approved, at least if you interpret the word "reside" in its ordinary English dictionary sense.

The point is, the quoted text only says you must be a lawful permanent resident at the time of filing for citizenship. It says nothing whatsoever about how long you must have held that LPR status. I think we agree that the law and the guide to naturalization both say the LPR status must have been held for three years, but I don't see that requirement expressed anywhere in the quoted text, unless I re-interpret the meaning of "residing continuously" to mean something like "residing continuously with LPR status". I'm just pointing out that the quoted informal description doesn't precisely say how long a person must have held LPR status.

Yes, I see where you are going with that...

...unless you consider the "catch-all" at the end of the citation!

and the applicant meets all other naturalization requirements.

[nscvet 0]

There are actually some extremely good reasons not to apply for citizenship. In my own case, my wife is 25 years younger than me. Short of an accident, I will certainly die several decades before she does. Perhaps upto 40 or more years. We do not plan to have children together. When I die she may want to liquidate our assets and move back to China. If Sarha were to become a US Citizen she would not be able to move back easily without getting a Visa to be there or switching citizenship again. She would not be able to be in her home country conveniently. Of course she may just want to stay here. Or move elsewhere in the world. Who can say.

But for a woman with decades of life in front of her, no family and perhaps few attachments, the easiest answer may be to go home. I think citizenship is a big decision and I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to make it without a lot of deep honest thought.

Jim

There's another side of that scenario that might make it a very good idea for her to gain US Citizenship. If she's a US Citizen, she most likely won't have to pay estate tax on anything she inherits from you. But a non-Citizen doesn't qualify for that exemption. See here, or here, or here for some references I dug up via Google.

There are ways to create a trust to get around the estate tax issue, and there may be other considerations that trump this one, but the estate tax issue can be a good argument for citizenship in some cases. I agree it's something to be considered by each individual and not entered into lightly.

My money is already in a trust off shore and I try to never let any appreciable amount of money accumulate in America. Nor China for that matter. I rarely pay taxes and probably won't again. When I spoke of liquidating assets, I meant more of selling patents, partnerships and exclusive distribution rights that all add up to a lot of money. Personally, my choice for her would be to retain Chinese citizenship and also LPR status through living at various resort interests in the USA enough to maintain LPR status.

America will remain a nice place to be during her lifetime even though it is in decline. It remains to be seen if China will be a leading economic superpower or not. I suspect not from my own observations. I think the Indians will eat their lunch. But I'll be long dead when it tips one way or the other.

I do see advantages in having more than one nice place to live without making a serious commitment to it. Hell, given my druthers, I'd move to Singapore. Or Buenas Aires.

Jim

Jim

My wife is much younger than I am so you and I are on the same page. For my wife and I, the big advantage in her getting USC is that she can stay out of the country as long as she likes. I was an expat when I met her and look forward to being one again. LPRs can be hassled if they are out of the country too long and too often, even made to remain in the U.S. for certain specified lengths of time to keep their LPR status. My wife does not have to give up her Thai citizenship to get USC. Is that not the case in China? I'm looking into Buenas Aires and Santiago.

Bob

[JimandSarha 0]

We were going to be gone most of the time anyway. So we were going to get hassled as it was. Now, I just don't care. I'm pretty well pissed at the hypocrisy of the government of The United States of Mexico Jr. and have decided to just move to China.

In China, I'm never questioned. I can yell at policemen and they apologize to me. In China they neveer ask me why I'm there or when I intend to leave and why I bought anything. In China, everyone is a capitalist and socialism is dead. In China I pay no taxes and can live unfettered. The guards at the community walk my dog and carry my wife's groceries. In China, everyone that works for me is genuinely happy to have a job.

Other than that here are the only differences:

In America you can yell at the President and Congress and tell them you wish they were dead. In China this will get you dead.

In America if you yell at a judge you will go to jail. If you yell at a policeman (San Diego) you will likely get shot to death several times over. In China, you can do both, its expected.

In America, the government says its a republic but is socialist. In China the government says its a republic but is socialist. Wait a minute.....

Jim

[Boiler 45,519]

We were going to be gone most of the time anyway. So we were going to get hassled as it was. Now, I just don't care. I'm pretty well pissed at the hypocrisy of the government of The United States of Mexico Jr. and have decided to just move to China.

In China, I'm never questioned. I can yell at policemen and they apologize to me. In China they neveer ask me why I'm there or when I intend to leave and why I bought anything. In China, everyone is a capitalist and socialism is dead. In China I pay no taxes and can live unfettered. The guards at the community walk my dog and carry my wife's groceries. In China, everyone that works for me is genuinely happy to have a job.

Other than that here are the only differences:

In America you can yell at the President and Congress and tell them you wish they were dead. In China this will get you dead.

In America if you yell at a judge you will go to jail. If you yell at a policeman (San Diego) you will likely get shot to death several times over. In China, you can do both, its expected.

In America, the government says its a republic but is socialist. In China the government says its a republic but is socialist. Wait a minute.....

Jim

Your wife is in the unusual position of having to chose Citizenship, which might bring others issues into play.

For most of us, its just an addition.

[MJA 0]

China does not allow dual citizenship and that is the main issue to consider for Chinese citizens whether it is of any benefit to apply for US citizenship, especially if they want to move back to China at some point. If China had allowed dual citizenship, it would be beneficial to have both US and Chinese citizenships.

[gatorlink 0]

Another benefit to being a citizen is social security, however flawed the system may be. Even though LPR's contribute at the same rate they do not get the same payout

Edited March 1, 2007 by gatorlink