US outland applicants' thread :)

[computergeek]

Does anyone have any information on WHEN/IF to apply for Dual Citizenship?

I'd think being once a PR, can't apply for citizenship for 7 yrs...but should I let the US know that I want to keep my citizenship....I won't be living back there again in the forseeable future...and don't want to be "booted"....

If I'm unemployed/a stay at home mom, I won't need to pay taxes, right?

Good cow...I'm sending in our app in 2 days and this last minute stuff is boggeling me...FORGIVE ME!! ??? Just thought, "OH NO! What if I need to send it at the same time I apply for PR!?"

It's 3 am...I should go back to bed. LOL

It is actually quite difficult to get rid of US Citizenship - there is a fee you must pay and an exit interview that you must attend to explain why you want to cease being a US Citizen.

When you renew your US passport, you must advise them if you have any other citizenship.

There are obligations that you have as a US Citizen - including filing your tax return. Remember, the US taxes you on your worldwide income, but then credits you on your foreign tax payments. If you don't file, it can cause problems renewing your passport. In addition, if you are a signatory on someone else's non-US bank account or you have your own non-US account, then you must file an FBAR (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=148849,00.html). Penalties for failing to file the correct paperwork with the US are onerous as well.

In general, if you are elected to office in a foreign country the US considers that an expatraiting act. I say "in general" because Canadian Citizenship seems to be a fairly broad exception, as there are high level Canadian politicians who have dual US citizenship. Perhaps if you became PM it might be an issue.

Note that US law requires that you enter the US on your US passport.

 

[OhCanadiana]

I don't think it's 7 years in Canada like it is for the US. I think that you just have to live in Canada for 3 years in a 4 year time period.

Couple clarifications:

1. To apply for Canadian citizenship, you need to have been physically present in Canada for 3 years (within the last 4; time before you became a PR that you are present in Canada contributes only 50% of the actual number of days present in Canada prior to becoming a PR). See http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/index.asp

2. To apply for naturalization in the US, you need to have been a PR for 3 years (and lived in the US for 18 months) if you've been married to a US citizen - or been a PR 5 years (and lived in the US for 30 months otherwise. See http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

 

[cgagnon]

It is actually quite difficult to get rid of US Citizenship - there is a fee you must pay and an exit interview that you must attend to explain why you want to cease being a US Citizen.

When you renew your US passport, you must advise them if you have any other citizenship.

There are obligations that you have as a US Citizen - including filing your tax return. Remember, the US taxes you on your worldwide income, but then credits you on your foreign tax payments. If you don't file, it can cause problems renewing your passport. In addition, if you are a signatory on someone else's non-US bank account or you have your own non-US account, then you must file an FBAR (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=148849,00.html). Penalties for failing to file the correct paperwork with the US are onerous as well.

In general, if you are elected to office in a foreign country the US considers that an expatraiting act. I say "in general" because Canadian Citizenship seems to be a fairly broad exception, as there are high level Canadian politicians who have dual US citizenship. Perhaps if you became PM it might be an issue.

Note that US law requires that you enter the US on your US passport.

Wow I sure learnt something new!! I did not know this..this will be good to know for my husbands income tax this year. This is going to be so confusing!

 

[parker24]

Wow I sure learnt something new!! I did not know this..this will be good to know for my husbands income tax this year. This is going to be so confusing!

I have a friend who sponsored her husband in 2009. They JUST found out he still has to file for taxes! whoops! Hopefully they can get it all figured out! My husband and I had a HELL of a time figuring it out. Come to find out I need a fake SSN *sigh* (Like a fake SIN haha) Hopefully next year will be smoother.

Oh to add onto new things I've discovered. Hubby can vote from Canada for the US President (Though he is not sure if he WANTS to, he doesn't like either dude).

http://canada.usembassy.gov/consular_services/voting.html

 

[computergeek]

I have a friend who sponsored her husband in 2009. They JUST found out he still has to file for taxes! whoops! Hopefully they can get it all figured out! My husband and I had a HELL of a time figuring it out. Come to find out I need a fake SSN *sigh* (Like a fake SIN haha) Hopefully next year will be smoother.

I filed my US return last year - 81 pages. I ended up doing it myself because the estimates from professionals to do it were all over $10,000... My total tax liability was US$1...

It's a wonderful system.

 

[parker24]

I filed my US return last year - 81 pages. I ended up doing it myself because the estimates from professionals to do it were all over $10,000... My total tax liability was US$1...

It's a wonderful system.

I hope you didn't spend it all in one place!

 

[Rose2D2]

It is actually quite difficult to get rid of US Citizenship - there is a fee you must pay and an exit interview that you must attend to explain why you want to cease being a US Citizen.

When you renew your US passport, you must advise them if you have any other citizenship.

There are obligations that you have as a US Citizen - including filing your tax return. Remember, the US taxes you on your worldwide income, but then credits you on your foreign tax payments. If you don't file, it can cause problems renewing your passport. In addition, if you are a signatory on someone else's non-US bank account or you have your own non-US account, then you must file an FBAR (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=148849,00.html). Penalties for failing to file the correct paperwork with the US are onerous as well.

In general, if you are elected to office in a foreign country the US considers that an expatraiting act. I say "in general" because Canadian Citizenship seems to be a fairly broad exception, as there are high level Canadian politicians who have dual US citizenship. Perhaps if you became PM it might be an issue.

Note that US law requires that you enter the US on your US passport.

Oh goodness, I didn't know about all that. I better get busy with my FBAR then.

 

[cgagnon]

I filed my US return last year - 81 pages. I ended up doing it myself because the estimates from professionals to do it were all over $10,000... My total tax liability was US$1...

It's a wonderful system.

I am so glad you posted all this.. I am going to look into it immediately! SO we have to file every year? That's BS!! But my question is since were married he has to put me down on it? This is another stressor I didn't need!

 

[sfp123]

I assume your partner is a US Citizen. If she can qualify for a NAFTA position, she could look for work in Canada - it doesn't require the employer do anything other than provide a job description and an offer. As long as the job itself qualifies under NAFTA and she has the skills necessary for the job, she takes the job description, offer letter, evidence she has the necessary qualifications, work permit application, two photos, and $150 to a POE and picks up her work permit. Then she has legal status in Canada to work and you can be together.

Yes, she's a US citizen (and I'm a Canadian citizen). She doesn't qualify nicely for any of the NAFTA categories (neither do I, part of why I couldn't stay here in the US!) I am right in thinking that she could also just get a non-NAFTA job offer (subject to the labour board approval thing) and get a TWP that way? While waiting for her PR (which we'll apply for outland)?

Thanks for the info about the FBI letter - I hadn't realized. So we should probably do that first? We are only just starting the process of this application. I hope it won't take 4 months to do the whole thing... though if there is a way for her to be in Canada and work while we're doing it, then I don't actually care much how long it takes! I just don't want to live apart for months and months...

Anyone else want to chime in with how long the whole "putting together the application" process took them? Or thoughts about working in Canada while waiting for PR?

 

[cgagnon]

Yes, she's a US citizen (and I'm a Canadian citizen). She doesn't qualify nicely for any of the NAFTA categories (neither do I, part of why I couldn't stay here in the US!) I am right in thinking that she could also just get a non-NAFTA job offer (subject to the labour board approval thing) and get a TWP that way? While waiting for her PR (which we'll apply for outland)?

Thanks for the info about the FBI letter - I hadn't realized. So we should probably do that first? We are only just starting the process of this application. I hope it won't take 4 months to do the whole thing... though if there is a way for her to be in Canada and work while we're doing it, then I don't actually care much how long it takes! I just don't want to live apart for months and months...

Anyone else want to chime in with how long the whole "putting together the application" process took them? Or thoughts about working in Canada while waiting for PR?

I had most of the documentation readily available and I started the forms with the help of my lawyers in November 2011, they did an initial review and sent me back the documentation to fix anything that needed it. All in all I wouldn't say it took me more than 2 weeks to do the longest part was waiting for my lawyers to respond. I sent them the final draft mid february and they file beginning of march. My husband had applied for the FBI in december as well as the medical so we had all that in time to send with the file. One of my suggestion is to pay all the fees up front to avoid any delays! You can do a whole bunch a research on this site for any questions you may have that have already been answered previously! Good luck and post if you need any help!

 

[Lindissa]

Congrats on those who have had movement, that's AWESOME!!
So here's where Carlissa and I stand atm..

1.) Got my fingerprints done at the local RCMP station ($50) and sent away for my FBI criminal check, I'm going to look into this FBI Channeler letter thing in case I don't get the results back before we want to file..
2.) Going to take my medical exam Oct 1st..
3.) Waiting on letters from our friends/family
4.) In the process of labeling our pictures
5.) All of the paperwork is completed, passport, marriage cert, phone records, skype records etc etc..

Going along nicely, fingers crossed we will be filing in Oct. I will be going back to Florida Oct 16th until April so I can make some more money lol My 6 months as a visitor will be up, I'll spend 6 months in the States (carl will visit for christmas and long weekends if we can swing it) and I'll come back in April whether or not paperwork has gone through since I can spend another 6 months in Canada..

I'm not a prayer but for those of you that are, give us a shout-out to the Big Man would ya?!

Question- Can we send a copy of our marriage cert?! Does it have to be notarized?

 

[maverick.dexter]

Most police stations will do fingerprinting. I called mine to ask about it, and they did it for something like $10. Took about 15 minutes, from parking, to finding the right floor of the building, to getting done and out.

thanks isometry! how much time did it take to get ur fbi certificate?do we also need to submit state police certificates with the application?

 

[Kiri]

There are obligations that you have as a US Citizen - including filing your tax return. Remember, the US taxes you on your worldwide income, but then credits you on your foreign tax payments. If you don't file, it can cause problems renewing your passport. In addition, if you are a signatory on someone else's non-US bank account or you have your own non-US account, then you must file an FBAR (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=148849,00.html). Penalties for failing to file the correct paperwork with the US are onerous as well.

But look:

Exceptions to the Reporting Requirement

Exceptions to the FBAR reporting requirements can be found in the FBAR instructions. There are filing exceptions for the following United States persons or foreign financial accounts:

Certain foreign financial accounts jointly owned by spouses;
United States persons included in a consolidated FBAR;
Correspondent/nostro accounts;
Foreign financial accounts owned by a governmental entity;
Foreign financial accounts owned by an international financial institution;
IRA owners and beneficiaries;
Participants in and beneficiaries of tax-qualified retirement plans;
Certain individuals with signature authority over but no financial interest in a foreign financial account;
Trust beneficiaries; and
Foreign financial accounts maintained on a United States military banking facility.

Those apply to me. I have a joint bank account (he added my name to his account for immigration purposes and allow me access to the money if I wanted access. So it's jointly owned financial account. Second, I have the authority to the joint account, but right now I have no financial interest in it... I will once I become a PR, but as a temporary resident, I'm fine maintaining my US bank accounts and using them. Would this exempt me from FBAR?

 

[Rose2D2]

But look:

Those apply to me. I have a joint bank account (he added my name to his account for immigration purposes and allow me access to the money if I wanted access. So it's jointly owned financial account. Second, I have the authority to the joint account, but right now I have no financial interest in it... I will once I become a PR, but as a temporary resident, I'm fine maintaining my US bank accounts and using them. Would this exempt me from FBAR?

Reading the instructions on the form a little closer for both the exemptions you highlighted (I am in the same situation as you, I have access to his Canadian account), it's explained a little better. I think you'd have to still file an FBAR. I think that first exemption is so both spouses don't have to file an FBAR on the same account, and the second is for business class accounts. But, I'm not an accountant, and I intend on chatting my accountant friend up about this Anyone else have a better idea/hold on this?

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f90221.pdf

 

[parker24]

I am so glad you posted all this.. I am going to look into it immediately! SO we have to file every year? That's BS!! But my question is since were married he has to put me down on it? This is another stressor I didn't need!

Yep. No kidding! But thanks to my amazing friend, here's the form you have to fill out and send in. Less stress for you to try and find it!

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf