How To Renounce Your Citizenship
by Alex Lloyd Gross
“If Trump wins another term I swear by all that is holy I am leaving the United States”. How many times have you heard that? “If Biden wins and raises my taxes I am leaving this place”. That too is a popular thought. Here is what has to happen. First, anyone with a few hundred thousand in the bank can buy a house in another country and go live there. Nothing needs to be done except changing your address. You are still a United States Citizen and are responsible for paying your taxes.
If you want to give up your citizenship you will have to go to the US Consulate, or Embassy in the country that you wish to reside in. You will have a meeting with the ambassador . This is mandatory. They will explain everything to you. All of your taxes must be paid before your citizenship is gone. This process cannot be undone. If you are visiting that country and have a house there, you are subject to their laws and tax system. Unless you have duel citizenship’s with that country, you are a person with no country.
If stopped by the police in that country, for any purpose , unless you are granted asylum, you could be treated as an illegal alien. You are under your host countries laws and according to the State Department, they will not help you if you get into any trouble. You are on your own. You may not be able to get healthcare or a job. You must find a place to live before you do this or you could be homeless.
So you think all of that is okay, you don’t anticipate getting into any trouble but you would like to visit friends and family back in the United States. Tough. Access denied. You cannot just present yourself at the border and say you lost your passport. A quick 15 second check on the computer will determine you resigned your citizenship and you are back on the next plane or boat out of here. If you want to come here, you would have to sneak across the border. Unless you are lucky to get a travel visa.
Assume you did that. You came in by a cigarette boat after transferring from a friends boat. You are now back on US soil. If you get stopped by the police, you will be taken into custody and you will stay in detention. Unless you are in a sanctuary city and have no active arrest warrants.
If you stay in your new country without incident and see that a really great candidate is running for president, you cannot vote. That right has been taken away from you. So you contact the State Department. You want to come back. Sorry, you gave up that right and it’s going to cost you a ton of money to hire an expensive lawyer who will be able to do nothing for you. For more information you can go here