Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
Quoting FlyingSicilian (Reply 2): She relinquished but did not renounce technically: |
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 4): The result is the same. It's just the process. You apparently also save a $450 fee if you can "relinquish" rather than "renounce". USER PROFILE |
Quoting alberchico (Reply 1): I thought Swiss citizenship was famous for being virtually impossible to get ? |
Quoting alberchico (Reply 1): I thought Swiss citizenship was famous for being virtually impossible to get ? |
Quoting Aesma (Reply 7): Quoting alberchico (Reply 1): I thought Swiss citizenship was famous for being virtually impossible to get ? 20 years for someone rich and famous gets pretty close to that ! |
Quoting alberchico (Reply 1): I thought Swiss citizenship was famous for being virtually impossible to get ? |
Quoting Goldenshield (Reply 5): What's patriotism got to do, got to with it? What's patriotism but a mis-interpreted notion? |
Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 10): I have read somewhere that one thing she liked about Europe (she used to live in Cologne as well for a while) is that she could e.g. go shopping in town and the people would respect her privacy. |
Quoting luckyone (Reply 12): Quoting Goldenshield (Reply 5): What's patriotism got to do, got to with it? What's patriotism but a mis-interpreted notion? She's been living in Europe since the early 1980s. |
Quoting daedaeg (Reply 13): It was a joke. And a clever one at that. You don't know of any of Tina's songs? Sing it with me "What's love got to do got to do with it. What's love but a second hand emotion" |
Quoting alberchico (Reply 1): I thought Swiss citizenship was famous for being virtually impossible to get ? |
Quoting Viscount724 (Thread starter): She's lived in Switzerland for about 20 years |
Quoting Goldenshield (Reply 5): What's patriotism got to do, got to with it? What's patriotism but a mis-interpreted notion? |
Quoting PanHAM (Reply 11): The quality of life in Switzerland is far better than most anywhere in the US, |
Quoting aloha73g (Reply 18): After what she put up with Ike I think she deserves whatever makes her happy. |
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 4): The result is the same. It's just the process. You apparently also save a $450 fee if you can "relinquish" rather than "renounce". |
Quoting Confuscius (Reply 3): The Swiss are cruel and heartless people. They took Tina and gave us this...unfair! I guess she's taking on a new direction. Oh well, who needs a heart when a heart can be broken. |
Quoting sccutler (Reply 19): One supposes that depends upon what you value in life experiences. Rather a broad brush... |
Quoting alberchico (Reply 1): I thought Swiss citizenship was famous for being virtually impossible to get ? |
Quoting solarflyer22 (Reply 27): Its an interesting process from what I read. |
Quoting flyingturtle (Reply 26): ...foreigners who live in Switzerland can choose to pay taxes like everybody else, or they can choose to be taxed based on their living expenses - if they do not earn money in Switzerland. |
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 29): |
Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 10): one thing she liked about Europe (she used to live in Cologne as well for a while) is that she could e.g. go shopping in town and the people would respect her privacy. |
Quoting PanHAM (Reply 23): Europe is safer and you don't even need 24 hour body guards and/or gated communities for that luxury. |
Quoting aloha73g (Reply 18): Good for her! I've always found her to be very classy & a very good entertainer. |
Quoting flyingturtle (Reply 26): If she lives in Switzerland, one point is taxation. I don't know how it works exactly, but I've read that the US can tax its citizen even abroad. So she can renounce her citizenship... and... |
Quoting Arrow (Reply 20): My U.S.-born wife became a Canadian citizen in 1974 and was told at the time her U.S. citizenship was gone (that was an acceptable price for her). More than 20 years later, and after a couple of court cases, the U.S. changed the rules and now taking on another citizenship no longer means automatic revocation. But they also reinstated citizenship retroactively for all those so-called lost souls like my wife (didn't ask them if they wanted it back, of course). And of course, being a U.S. citizen means filing tax returns with the IRS. When my wife discovered this she was livid -- made an appointment at the consulate and applied for a CLN -- Certificate of Lost Nationality. She got it a year ago, dated 1974. Unfortunately, the IRS won't likely recognize that and will ask her for tax returns. If that happens she'll tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine, and never venture across the border again. |
Quoting Arrow (Reply 20): Only two countries in the world levy income tax based on citizenship -- US and Eritrea. Everyone else does it based on residence. |
Quoting NoUFO (Reply 31): I have always been under the impression that it was the other way around. Celebs living in the U.S. and particularly in L.A. or NYC are feeling less bothered by fans than their European colleagues do. |
Quoting PanHAM (Reply 34): which are ex-terroitorial claims of Arab Family gangs. |
Quoting PanHAM (Reply 34): Besides, that body guard BS is more than often unnecessary and just an ego matter. |
Quoting NoUFO (Reply 35): Quoting PanHAM (Reply 34): Besides, that body guard BS is more than often unnecessary and just an ego matter. Indeed! Coincidentally I recently stumbled over a picture of a c-grade "celeb" (ever heard of a crooner called Sandy Rose? No?) framed by 2 bodyguards! When I was living in Berlin - Prenzlauer Berg, I saw some truly famous heads (famous to Germans at least) now and then, and none of whom had bodyguards. |
Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 36): As for the American tax system, according to a German-American friend, who lives here in Germany, it is a pain in the @rse. While her income is well below the threshold for which she would have to pay tax in the US as well, she hates to compile the additional paperwork, added to her German tax return, which she has to do as well. |
Quoting NoUFO (Reply 35): With "claim" being the keyword. I spent 13 years living in Berlin, nearly 4 of which in a not so pretty neighborhood, Neukölln, which is often refered to as one of those areas where police were powerless. But in fact they weren't, it is all a matter of man power - and time. Police are very much willing to kick in your door at 3am, and they don't bring only 3 officers. A policeman's job can indeed be dangerous, but those talks about no-go areas seem to be calls for more policemen and better equipment first and foremost. |
Quoting JJJ (Reply 39): Or just use her Canadian passport to get through. |
Quoting Arrow (Reply 20): More than 20 years later, and after a couple of court cases, the U.S. changed the rules and now taking on another citizenship no longer means automatic revocation. But they also reinstated citizenship retroactively for all those so-called lost souls like my wife (didn't ask them if they wanted it back, of course). And of course, being a U.S. citizen means filing tax returns with the IRS. When my wife discovered this she was livid -- made an appointment at the consulate and applied for a CLN -- Certificate of Lost Nationality. She got it a year ago, dated 1974. Unfortunately, the IRS won't likely recognize that and will ask her for tax returns. If that happens she'll tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine, and never venture across the border again. |
Quoting JJJ (Reply 39): Or just use her Canadian passport to get through. |
Quoting Superfly (Reply 33): We can and it's absolutely criminal that our government does this. Expats aren't happy about this at all. |
Quoting SmittyOne (Reply 42): I can see why they aren't happy about it...but I wonder how many of these 'expats' would expect services/support from the local US Consulate or to be evacuated in the case of an emergency like other "US Citizens Living Abroad" often are. |
Quoting SmittyOne (Reply 42): If people want to cut the umbilical cord from the US I'm all for that, we should make it easy to do. |
Quoting SmittyOne (Reply 42): I wonder how many of these 'expats' would expect services/support from the local US Consulate or to be evacuated in the case of an emergency like other "US Citizens Living Abroad" often are. |
Quoting Arrow (Reply 41): The problem will come when the IRS and customs/border computer systems are fully integrated (that work is apparently in progress), and at that point any IRS ruling or statement will be available to the customs/border guys. We are trying to stay on top of that because if the IRS launches one of its typical jihads against my wife, we sure don't want to find out about it at the border. And yes, FATCA is coming. That's where the IRS strong arms Canadian banks (and other "foreign" banks) into sending detailed bank account info on any "US persons" it has as account holders. For my wife, that's probably the biggest value of the CLN -- it shows her Canadian bank she is no longer a US citizen. I sometimes wonder whether or not Tina's Swiss bankers told her they would terminate all her accounts if she didn't ditch the US citizenship -- they've done that to a lot of other US expats in Europe. Lots of horror stories there, too. |
Quoting PHX787 (Reply 24): Wasn't she a democrat or am I mistaking her for something?! |
Quoting Superfly (Reply 44): What service? The US Consulate provides the same basic service as all other Western nation Consulates; UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, etc and none of those countries tax their people like this. I've found the US Consulate here in Thailand totally useless - not that I expect anything from them anyway. I remember when we had the floods here in Thailand two years ago, they send out an email saying; 'Stay away from flood waters. Go home if you can'. Gee such wonderful service. |
Quoting Superfly (Reply 37): In 1998, I met fmr. President Jimmy Carter at a book signing at a bookstore in San Francisco. He had no bodyguards. |
Quoting Arrow (Reply 41): I sometimes wonder whether or not Tina's Swiss bankers told her they would terminate all her accounts if she didn't ditch the US citizenship |
Quoting SmittyOne (Reply 45): if there was some substantial benefit provided to citizens |
Quoting SmittyOne (Reply 45): the US gov't acts like an overly attached girlfriend when people try to leave. |
Quoting KiwiRob (Reply 46): I don't know how true that last statement is, it's just what she told me.. |
Quoting KiwiRob (Reply 46): Now that I don't believe, US Presidents (until Bush the idiot) have a Secret Service detail until the day they kick the bucket, you probably just didn't see them. |