An American burns his passport, renounces citizenship.

polya · Post by **polya** » September 24th, 2012, 3:31 pm

I think legally, he is still an American citizen, now without a passport. To legally renounce US citizenship you have to pay over $400 at an Embassy. Maybe if you adopt another countries' citizenship you can automatically lose your US citizenship!

Teal Lantern · Post by **Teal Lantern** » September 25th, 2012, 2:31 am

polya wrote:I think legally, he is still an American citizen, now without a passport. To legally renounce US citizenship you have to pay over $400 at an Embassy. Maybe if you adopt another countries' citizenship you can automatically lose your US citizenship!

I was wondering when someone was going to point out that destroying a passport doesn't end citizenship. In most cases, you have to get a passport from the new country, and turn in (by appointment and fee) the American passport at an American embassy there.

Rock · Post by **Rock** » September 25th, 2012, 5:06 am

Teal Lantern wrote:
polya wrote:I think legally, he is still an American citizen, now without a passport. To legally renounce US citizenship you have to pay over $400 at an Embassy. Maybe if you adopt another countries' citizenship you can automatically lose your US citizenship!
I was wondering when someone was going to point out that destroying a passport doesn't end citizenship. In most cases, you have to get a passport from the new country, and turn in (by appointment and fee) the American passport at an American embassy there.

You don't have to get a new passport, just be present overseas. You make an appointment with a US embassy or de-facto embassy overseas, fill in the paperwork, make your statement in front of an officer, then wait some weeks for your Certificate of Renunciation to arrive which makes it official. If you don't have any other citizenship, you become stateless. Also, renouncing does not eliminate previous US tax liabilities and if you meet certain asset and/or income thresholds, you will also be required to pay a (likely hefty) exit tax.

Here's a great source of related info on this topic:

http://renunciationguide.com/

Teal Lantern · Post by **Teal Lantern** » September 25th, 2012, 8:32 am

Thanks, Rock.
Looks like they keep changing the rules, to make it hard to follow them.

Check out this gem of an idea.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/ ... e-the-irs/