This week’s episode of 1001 Travel Tales podcast is an interview with Rina Mae Acosta, blogger at Finding Dutchland and co-author of The Happiest Kids in the World: How Dutch Parents Help Their Kids (and Themselves) by Doing Less. You can listen to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or just by clicking on the SoundCloud…
Watching America Fall Apart on my Renunciation Anniversary
One year ago today, I renounced my US citizenship. Here in the Netherlands, since last week’s US elections, friends and colleagues often ask me “Are you glad you gave up citizenship?” I always say “Yes!” but that’s a lie. I didn’t want give up citizenship then, and I still feel sad that I had to…
The US Election, as seen by Overseas Americans
Watching the American election season from abroad is like slowing down as you pass a car accident on the highway. You don’t really want to see the damage, yet you can’t seem to stop yourself from looking. It has nothing to do with you, yet you’re fascinated. The US presidential election I gave up citizenship almost…
On Receiving my California Voter Ballot
I won’t vote in the upcoming Presidential election. It’s not that I don’t want to, but I gave up citizenship last November, so I can’t vote in the US elections anymore. (If you want a general overview of my reasons for renouncing, here is my Medium article about it.) My renunciation date was November 18,…
Indignation Fatigue and FATCA
A lawsuit against FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, was filed back in 2014 by Senator Rand Paul and the Republicans Overseas and, while I am certainly no fan of the senator, I support this lawsuit. It was, however, dismissed in April because the Ohio federal judge who heard the case decided that the…
So You Think You Want to Emigrate …
“If Trump gets elected, I’m leaving the country.” I don’t live in the US, but I have read comments like this on social media and in the news. Apparently, sometimes this isn’t just an idle threat. The Guardian cites a Luminoso survey which found that: … about 4% of 4.5 million Donald Trump-related tweets contained threats…
On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
Almost five months after my renunciation day, I received my Certificate of Loss of Nationality today. It seems ironic that it arrived on Tax Day. People keep asking me how that feels, but I have trouble formulating an answer. Certificate of Loss of Nationality = divorce papers The best analogy I’ve been able to find…
The Ridiculous Story of a Pilot and his Taxes
I received a message recently from an American airline pilot living and working out of Hong Kong for a major airline. He told me the story of how America’s citizenship-based taxation affects him and I felt I had to write about it. Ridiculous I already thought the way overseas Americans are taxed by the US…
Vote … as a Non-Citizen? Really?
On my return from a short vacation with my family, I was surprised to find a letter from the Department of Elections of the City of San Francisco waiting for me, offering me the opportunity to vote in the Democratic primary. Before I moved to the Netherlands back in 1997, I lived in San Francisco, so San…