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Linus Torvalds became US citizen
- ciupicri 16y agoNow he'll never get rid of US taxes.
- keltex 16y agoYep. U.S. citizens get the benefit of their worldwide income being taxed.
- ephesus 16y agoOnly income above the equivalent of $80,000.
- _delirium 16y agoIt's now up to $91,400 (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=97130,00.html http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,...). Plus if your income is in, say, Europe, it's effectively all excluded, because you can offset the European taxes (which are usually higher) one-for-one against U.S. taxes, ending up owing nothing.
- tlrobinson 16y agoProbably better for him if he doesn't have to pay taxes to Finland, since they're much higher.
- pavlov 16y agoHe doesn't pay taxes to Finland because he's not living in Finland. (Only certain countries like the USA tax their non-resident citizens.)
- eru 16y agoIf you are a citizen of a country with a territorial tax system, but make your money in the US. Who taxes your income?
- smallblacksun 16y agoThe US taxes income made in the US, or by US citizens outside the US.
- roadnottaken 16y agoThis makes me proud :)
- mike-cardwell 16y agoWhat of exactly?
- sp332 16y agoThe USA, for being appealing enough to make Linus want to (first) move here and (now) take on citizenship, instead of just telnetting from Finland - or anywhere else on the planet he might have liked better.
- pinksoda 16y agoSSH
- borism 16y agoanother excellent product originating in Finland not sure why you got downvoted...
- kiuyhjk 16y agoOr being so inflexible with regard to immigration that the only way to work there without facing immediate deportation if you change jobs is to become a citizen. I can live and work permanently in 27 countries (including Finland) without having to change nationality.
- avar 16y agoI'm pretty sure it's 30. I have an Icelandic citizenship (Iceland is one of the 30 in the EEA), and I'm working freely in one of the 27 EU countries currently. All I had to do after I moves was to register with the local city authorities to indicate that I had moved there, and provide documentation proving that I had a job so that they knew they didn't have to put me on social security. One might also make the counterpoint that while we can move between 30 states in the EEA US citizens can move between 50 states in their union, and their superstate comprises almost twice the surface area of the EU.
- unwind 16y agoA quick check of Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_nationality_law#Dual_citizenship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_nationality_law#Dual_ci...) seems to indicate that he's still a Finn, since Finland permits dual citizenship. The USA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law#Dual_citizenship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law#D...) seems to permit it, too. Of course I can't know if Mr Torvalds has done anything in particular to only be a US citizen, but at least that doesn't seem to be the default.
- nkassis 16y agoThat's interesting. I've heard that dual citizenship wasn't exactly liked by the US government. I was under the impression that US citizens that move to other countries had to renounce their US citizenship before becoming citizen of the other country.
- vessenes 16y agoThat might be so, but you're definitely not required to drop your citizenship elsewhere if you become a citizen here: the US just wants to be your 'number one' squeeze, as it were. Also, the US really hates it when you change your nationality for tax purposes. That is, when you change it AWAY from the US for tax purposes.
- ojbyrne 16y agohttp://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html#noway http://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html#noway Struck down by the courts a very long time ago.
- kevindication 16y agoRight, you can still do it but there can be some awkward consequences. This is highly unlikely, but for instance if you're eligible for a draft, and both countries draft you, one of them is not going to be happy with your response. There are probably some more likely scenarios where your obligations to one of your nations are in conflict with the other.
- planckscnst 16y agoEven more interesting, he's interested in the latency work that Desnoyers was working on last week.
- mjgoins 16y agoI'm sick of all these low-wage foreign workers stealing our precious jobs.
- ceci 16y agoDude, Linus Torvalds is not a low-wage foreign worker. He has done more to provide you with a job than you have done to get yourself a job. Opensource softwares have helped the US economy because lots of today's internet giants like Google benefitted from the use of opensource tools. They are paying taxes and employing Americans, ain't they. Linus Torvalds is synomymous with opensource. Mr America, if i might ask, what have you done to provide a job for yourself, because if you can't even provide a job for yourself, how do you provide for others. Make yourself competitive, read more and stay away from TV etc and you will soon land a job.
- mike-cardwell 16y agoIt's called a "joke"
- binomial 16y agoPerhaps Poe's Law applies here?: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poes_Law http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poes_Law
- philwelch 16y agoBefore you ask, you've been downvoted for failing to grasp irony.
- dctoedt 16y agoNot to be all nationalistic or anything (and it's been said before), but it is interesting that people seem to immigrate to the U.S. far more than they emigrate from it.
- kiuyhjk 16y agoPerhaps because those in it are unaware that there are any countries out of it? When good americans die - they go to Paris
- jan_g 16y agoThat is generally true for all developed countries.
- duke_sam 16y agoExcept Ireland. We're generally very good at getting the hell out of dodge when the government manages to do something horrible to the economy.
- philwelch 16y agoFor centuries, even. That's how so many of you got over here!
- ciupicri 16y agoI was under the impression that Ireland is/was the Celtic tiger (of Europe).
- duke_sam 16y agoWas is the correct tense there. The current round of bank bailouts have been pretty crippling. We aren't quite Iceland or Greece but we are up to our necks in debt.
- kiuyhjk 16y agoA lot of US companies put their HQ in Ireland because, they speak English (mostly), they have very low corporation tax and lots of golf courses - the Irish government also did an excellent job of marketing Irish-American links. Unfortunately as soon as the EU cracked down on the corporation tax scams, eastern europe became cheaper and US companies cut back on golfing holidays they realized they didn't actually have an economy. But it was a great place to work for 10years - as long as you didn't buy a house!
- goatforce5 16y agoI'll guess he originally came in on an EB2(C) visa, which is for people of exceptional ability in their field who the US will allow in, regardless of whether or not they have a specific job offer. This means that, until he became a citizen, he'd immigration status in the US would have been: "exceptional alien". That's not a status i'd give up easily. :)
- muriithi 16y agoIs there also an expedited path to citizenship for "exceptional alien" ? I was reading an article today about an Indian nanny who saved the life of a 2 year old Israeli boy during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Israel honored her by granting her honorary citizenship and temporary residency in Israel. Link : http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/14/israel.mumbai.nanny/index.html?hpt=C2 http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/09/14/israel.mumbai....
- sethg 16y agoN.B.: Indian citizens cannot be dual nationals: if they accept citizenship or a passport from another country, they lose their Indian citizenship. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_nationality_law#Automatic_Termination_of_Indian_citizenship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_nationality_law#Automati...) I assume this is why the nanny’s Israeli citizenship is only “honorary”.
- solutionyogi 16y agoThis is absolutely incorrect. EB2 Visa (i.e. Employment Based Category 2 Visa) definitely needs employer sponsorship. Also, there is no EB2 (C) category. (C) -> Probably specifies that the particular visa category is 'Current'.
- goatforce5 16y agoThe first two categories require a job offer. The third is for people who are so freakin' awesome that their mere presence will make the US a better place. "National Interest Waiver - Aliens seeking a national interest waiver are requesting that the Labor Certification be waived because it is in the interest of the United States. [...] Those seeking a national interest waiver may self-petition (they do not need an employer to sponsor them)" http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=816a83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=816a83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b... So, it is employment based, but without any sponsorship required from a particular employer. You're self-certifying that you're really really really good at what you do, and what you can offer to the US will benefit the US as a whole. They will, of course, want lots of evidence to support the above. The upside to this route is that you're not tied to a particular employer.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- scrrr 16y agoCountries are such an old-school concept somehow. EDIT: Downvotes? Come on. Especially today, especially in our world of modern technology, physical location is less important than ever before. Where's the sci-fi novel where they abolished countries after they found out we all live on a tiny planet orbiting one of a billion stars?
- exit 16y agoyes. symptom of a dark age.
- mike-cardwell 16y agoThere is more to a country than being a place of work.
- scrrr 16y agoSure, but this is also true for the city you are in, the neighborhood and the street. I'm not historian but I suppose throughout history the space that we call home became bigger and bigger as time went by. Perhaps first it was a cave, at some point it was a village, then it was a city and eventually it was a country. I guess what I mean is that eventually countries will go away. And calling them "old-school" was assuming we were there yet. But maybe we are not yet. But surely you would agree one day this day will come?
- mike-cardwell 16y agoI don't see that happening ever. Not unless the human condition changes significantly. I currently see it more likely that we will end up with more countries, not less countries. If countries "go away", what do you suggest they would be replaced by?
- scrrr 16y agoThings like the European Union. It's not always pretty but it works. Perhaps after that it will be planets (if you like Futurama), or religions, philosophies or even brands. :) Who knows.
- ramki 16y agoup voted for irony and funny comments.
- known 16y agoRenunciation of U.S. Citizenship http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_776.html http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_776.html
- ciupicri 16y agoI wonder what happens if you want your U.S. citizenship back (not reversing the renunciation).