Kind of like “What the butler saw!”, isn’t it?
I went to the lawyer today, as I said yesterday. Ferman Law is located near Bond Street Station, in a little road between Oxford Street and Hanover Square. I dressed in a suit with bow tie, of course, as I feel that professional consultations require good dress on both sides.
Mr Ferman is a dual citizen who practices immigration as well as other commercial law in the UK and US. He is articulate, and knows his stuff.
First I explained my situation, put forward in yesterday’s blog post pretty thoroughly. My questions were:
- What is the situation in regard to the Social Security money I paid in while I lived and worked in the United States?
- When travelling to the United States as a person who renounced American citizenship, how much hassle is one likely to meet?
As far as Social Security is concerned, there is no change at all. The money will be there, and (at least as far as current law is concerned) will be paid out when I reach retirement age regardless of my citizenship status. There is $65,000 in this account, and I worked for 14 years in the US so I paid in more than the 40 quarters needed to vest the money.
As for travelling to the US, he advised that if I were to renounce, I should carry my letter from the State Department confirming renunciation with me when I travel, as some airlines will not accept a foreign passport from someone they think is a US citizen (again, my passport has “Massachusetts” as my place of birth) and when I get to the immigration counter, the Border Protection officer may ask for my US passport when he sees the place of birth in my UK passport.
He then asked if I had ever been arrested or convicted of a crime (I haven’t). As an alien, I could be barred from the US were I to have a criminal record, were I a prostitute or a procurer, if I was infected with HIV or other communicable diseases, and several other reasons which escape me now. The online Visa Waiver website has the whole list of things.
I could also be barred permanently from the United States if I renounced my citizenship purely for tax reasons. Mr Ferman recommended that I write a statement giving my reasons for renunciation (not including tax reasons, of course) and that this be filed with the other papers at the Embassy.
My financial situation is such that no penalties, back, or continuing taxation will be necessary once I have renounced my citizenship. I will have to produce five years of tax returns and a balance sheet confirming that I have little or no resources or income, and no real property.
He remarked that the process is very paperwork-intensive, as the US is not eager to promote renunciation or make it easy.
The next available appointment at the US Embassy for renunciations is in August, 2009! They do about 10 a month, according to Mr Ferman, and this is more than any other US Embassy anywhere.
As it is a very serious and irrevocable act, they normally have a Consul, rather than a Vice-Consul or other lower official, conduct the interview. They want to make darn sure that you really want to renounce, so that later on if you change your mind, you cannot say that you were coerced or otherwise influenced against your will to renounce.
So what now?
I think I will wait until after my next trip to the US (May-the beginning of June) and then make the final decision. The fee for Mr. Ferman to do the paperworki is quite steep, so I may have to do it myself unless I get some paying work between now and then. None of it seemed to be particularly difficult, just time consuming.
Oh, and the final good news is that, in contradistinction to US visas, there is currently no charge for renouncing your citizenship.
