Growing liability of being a citizen of the U.S.

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Buying citizenship: Which nations are affordable?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101198433

St. Kitts is looking like a pretty good deal right now .
 
I read the article, yet I do not believe I would be better off on Antigua or anywhere else in the Caribbean. I lived and worked on Antigua Auxiliary Airfield for over a year, and let me tell you that it was no picnic. Antigua is a third world nation with high crime and overpopulation. They also hate white people.

Most of the Caribbean basin is in the same boat. The islands are grossly overpopulated and cannot "carry" their populations without significant external support on nearly every level. A few years back I took my family on a 10 day break to Barbados at Christmas time. The island was beautiful and the weather was perfect, but again, if the external flow of goods and money ever stops it will be lord of the flies time.

The only island I have been to that could possibly support [carrying capacity] their population is maybe Trinidad and Tobago. Even there, the population density is heavy and they have no particular love of white Europeans. Remember, most of these nations are only two generations away from colony status so there are deep seated feelings that have not mellowed out yet.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and for those thinking about expatriating, I would put a hell of a lot of thought in to it before you go. Will the local population take exception to a foreigner in their midst? Will you be taking a job away from a local? Do you have enough money to be self sufficient?

I have traveled to a great number of countries in my life and I have lived on three continents. I will say with absolute certainty that the time to leave was twenty five years ago. The attitude of the world has changed in fundamental ways since the days of Reagan, and not in a good way. The world now has a poor view of Americans that will be hard to shake. The hitch hiking I did across Europe in 1985 would not be possible today. Camping out in the Spanish countryside would not be possible today, or at least not nearly as safe as it once was. You can no longer walk safely through the souks in Egypt without an automatic weapon.

I think I will have to stay here and ride this one out. Maybe Little Ancona will find it easier sometime in the future.
 

mam, I sooo agree with you. Bought land in Pagadian City 15-20 years ago (can't remember when we bought it) but we are surrounded by families land, still it has gotten so bad there we don't even have an illusion of living there. The last time we were there the rest of my family was going up into the mountains to Bayog where Bing and I went on our "honeymoon" 20 years ago, and Bing stopped me and said "you can't go". When I asked her why, she was very frank "they'll kill you". We'll be riding it our here, I'm sure. We've gone back and forth to the Philippines for a while now, and each trip is more difficult and more expensive (from 600 dollar round trip ticket to 1700 round trip). And the thing is, if my child was starving, I'm sure I'd feel the same way.
 
Taxation before loss of representation.
 
Soon enough they will make it illegal to renounce your citizenship. They will institute a program within which you can pay a fine, maybe 10% of your net wages for official permission to live and work in another country.
 
I can't say that I blame them. Ours is the only large government that demands a pound of flesh from citizens that neither live in the US, nor use any of the services provided through taxation.
 
Agreed. Financial consequences and a mountain of pain in the rear paperwork will eventually outweigh patriotism and nostalgia.

For those who are in a fairly stable situation in a nice country, like living in an English speaking country while married to a native, it can be a pretty clear decision.



Or you could bug out to Liberia. You'll have the whole place to yourself pretty soon and all the bushmeat you can eat!:banana:
 
Yet another record:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/recor...or-long-term-residency-in-2014-183139878.html

"A record 3,415 individuals renounced their U.S. citizenship or long-term residency in 2014"

"The 2014 number was up 14% from 2,999 individuals in 2013, which was also a record."

"According to a recent survey of 1,546 U.S. citizens and former citizens living abroad, 31% of participants have actively considered renouncing their U.S. citizenship and 3% are in the process of doing so. Many who were considering the move cited increasingly onerous and intrusive financial reporting requirements."
 
I've been saying for many years Rome is falling (it didn't fall in a day either) and it looks like the rats are fleeing the sinking ship. May be time to redouble efforts of stacking all kinds of stuff.
 
it sounds good when considered on a %age increase but these numbers are so small as a %age of the total US population it amazes me they get reported at all ......
 
Yeah, I actually am surprised at how low the number is given the size of the US expat population working abroad.
 

went home last month for a month, now under martial law.
 
Good to see you are still with us Jay. Sorry to hear that things have not improved over there. Bugging out ain't easy!
 
Very few places outside of the U.S. entice me to leave here. I did like the climate description of Port Moresby But I think it's too crowded for me, & not sure about the gun laws there. New Zealand's south island sounds pretty decent to me, and from what I've seen & read, they're fairly close to the U.S. in what they allow for firearms. Just don't know if I could make that move, or any out of country move, certainly not without being pretty much independently wealthy. I have found myself pondering these moves a lot more in the last 8 or 9 years though.
 
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Ever since seeing the see film 'Lord of The Rings' Ive dreamed of living in South Island NZ.

Lots of dirt roads ( and they drive on the left )
Fabulous mountains and fjords
Limited to no building control in the boonies
They speak English
And the highest per capita ownership of diggers of any country !

Its just that Im having too much fun in Blighty otherwise I would try and sneak in.

Think I could blag it as a Vicar or summat as over a certain age they don't let you stay ...
 


More citizens have renounced in 6 months of 2020 than all of 2016 (which was a record year at the time).
 
Interestingly, US News and World report claims the reason for the record renunciations is FATCA:


More: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-co...s-renouncing-us-citizenship-in-record-numbers
 
Out of 330 million thats an incredibly small number
kinda 1 in 55,000
Every time I see one of these articles about the flood of US Citizens renouncing their citizenship, I cant help wondering wtf they are on about ........
 
Try Thailand, Philippines, Panama, Uruguay, and Portugal to relocate. You can get an apartment in Bangkok for $500 month and slow travel across Asia from there.
 
Out of 330 million thats an incredibly small number
kinda 1 in 55,000
Every time I see one of these articles about the flood of US Citizens renouncing their citizenship, I cant help wondering wtf they are on about ........
They left out the word "relative".

As in, the number of renunciations of citizenship today is very high relative to the historic norms.
 
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