US Citizenship Archives - Rachel's Ruminations

Watching America Fall Apart on my Renunciation Anniversary

Rachel Heller — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 13:52:15 +0000

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...

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The US Election, as seen by Overseas Americans

Rachel Heller — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 12:31:29 +0000

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, but 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...

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On Receiving my California Voter Ballot

Rachel Heller — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 11:38:26 +0000

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,...

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Indignation Fatigue and FATCA

Rachel Heller — Fri, 20 May 2016 14:48:31 +0000

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 2016 because the Ohio federal judge who heard the case decided that...

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So You Think You Want to Emigrate …

Rachel Heller — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 16:43:16 +0000

“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...

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On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality

Rachel Heller — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 19:28:27 +0000

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. This certificate = divorce papers The best analogy I’ve been able to find is that renouncing...

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The Ridiculous Story of a Pilot and his Taxes

Rachel Heller — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 16:02:00 +0000

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...

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Vote … as a Non-Citizen? Really?

Rachel Heller — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 15:24:18 +0000

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...

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Renunciations in the News

Rachel Heller — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 15:15:20 +0000

Last week new numbers were published about how many overseas Americans renounced citizenship in the fourth quarter of 2015, and they show, as expected, an increase in 2015: a record year for renunciations. Each quarter a “name and shame” list is published by the US Treasury Department based on IRS figures of those renouncing, and in...

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Citizen of a Parallel World

Rachel Heller — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 18:52:52 +0000

This week the Board of Elections of Illinois decided that Ted Cruz is indeed a natural-born citizen as required by the US Constitution to be eligible to be President. Ted Cruz was already identified as a US citizen because his mother was a US citizen. His birthplace, however, is in Canada, hence the question of...

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