4 ms·
USA is overreaching, European countries should stand up this crap. I'm a Polish and US Citizen and I remember a situation where I was at an airport in Poland a
by JacKTrocinskI 7y ago
USA is overreaching, European countries should stand up this crap. I'm a Polish and US Citizen and I remember a situation where I was at an airport in Poland and was not let onto a flight after presenting a valid US passport and Polish ID card to the Polish border patrol. They didn't allow me onto my flight due to lack of a Polish passport (Polish law says I need a Polish passport when travelling to the US). I called the US embassy which told me they couldn't help me because I was Polish citizen on Polish soil. In that case why should I pay taxes while abroad? Will the US come to my rescue if a war broke out or major disaster occurred? They couldn't even get me onto a flight back to the US.
I ended up getting a hotel for the night, bought a plane ticket to Germany the next day and another one from Germany to the US. I was offered a small refund for my round trip tickets from Poland to the US. Only person I could count on was myself that day.
- kgwgk 7y ago> USA is overreaching, European countries should stand up this crap. [Recounts story about issues at Polish border due to Polish law and Polish citizenship.] So you would have liked the US to stand against Polish crap on your behalf?
- JacKTrocinskI 7y agoI pay Polish taxes on the money I earn in Poland and I abide by Polish law while in Poland, why should I abide by US law while in Poland? What's the benefit to me? I mean if I'm paying an overreaching tax then yeah I kind of expect them to overreach for me.
- kgwgk 7y ago> (Polish law says I need a Polish passport when travelling to the US) What would you have expected the US to do? Smuggle you out of the country?
- JacKTrocinskI 7y agoHonestly, one call from the embassy and I would have been on that flight, believe me.
- kgwgk 7y agoAs far as I understand, if you were trying to fly from the US to Poland using a Polish passport you would have faced the same problem (or even worse, as you wouldn’t have had a legal way to exit the US at all without a passport).
- IG_Semmelweiss 7y agoI think he expected US consular services to fix his passport problem. After all, if hes paying taxes solely for consular services, and he is not getting that assistance, then it begs the question, why is he being taxed in the first olace if there are no benefits whatsovmever?
- kgwgk 7y agoHis “passport problem” was not having a Polish passport when Polish law requires Polish nationals to use one to enter and exit Poland (at least through non-EU borders, I guess). Not something the US consulate can help with, probably.
- mikl 7y agoNot really sure what you would have expected the embassy to do in that case? In Poland, Polish law applies to everyone, U.S. citizen or not.
- JacKTrocinskI 7y agoJust because something is the law doesn't mean it has to make sense or be justifiable. It was a frustrating situation to be in, I had evidence of being a citizen of both countries and despite that was not allowed to travel freely between them. I expected the USA and Poland to help me not fight me that day especially since I had done nothing wrong.
- seventhtiger 7y agoIt's the rule of master nationality. If you are in a country which you are a citizen of, that country may treat you as only a citizen of that country. That means you cannot be American in Poland. You are Polish and you may not leave without a passport. This is the only reason dual nationality is tolerated in the first place. Otherwise every dual citizen is a walking diplomatic disaster waiting to happen.