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As a citizen of Uruguay I find the last paragraph very funny: “I feel about the same obligation to file US tax papers as you would if the supreme court of Urug
by GFischer 12y ago
As a citizen of Uruguay I find the last paragraph very funny:
“I feel about the same obligation to file US tax papers as you would if the supreme court of Uruguay all of a sudden decided you were a citizen and had to file a tax return there,” he tells the Guardian.
By the way, Uruguayan citizenship is VERY easy to acquire. American expatriates (and dollars :) ) welcome here :)
Edit: easy as in requirements. There's a lot of paperwork involved.
http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/03/09/top-5-best-second-residency-programs-central-south-america/ http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/03/09/top-5-best-second-resi...
http://flagtheory.com/citizenship-in-uruguay/ http://flagtheory.com/citizenship-in-uruguay/
"It will take approximately 3 years for a married couple, with a good amount of time spent in country. For singles, it will take 5 years – with a similar amount of time in country. This makes Uruguay more attractive for married couples rather than a single applicant.
Uruguay wants you to prove your residence by documentation – sometimes odd documents such as a doctor’s appointment slip, a library card. The idea is that they really want you to prove you are actually living in the country. This documentation is again, not always what you might expect – so document everything and when in doubt – shoe box it.
After you have received permanent residency, you should talk to an abogado about citizenship and travel document options. Again, permanent residency is required to be able to receive any kind of travel documents. Further, a cedula is somewhat considered a travel document as well and can allow you to get around South America in many instances.
Strong Travel Document
A Uruguayan passport is one of the strongest in the world. Under this passport, you can visit Europe visa free, and most Uruguayans have a 10 year American visa."
- toomuchtodo 12y agoCan I still maintain my US citizenship as an Uruguayan citizen if I so choose?
- GFischer 12y agoYes, although the U.S. will expect you to file and pay taxes (as the article above explains) :)
- toomuchtodo 12y agoRight right, no problems there. I'm comfortable, not wealthy, and a remote worker :)
- mahyarm 12y agoYou'll still have a $5k tax return to pay $0 in tax, have significantly higher penalty risk and have a hard time doing banking outside of the USA.
- toomuchtodo 12y agoI'm okay with that.
- ArtDev 12y agoYou want the foreign earned income tax credit. I am designing my life around it! Check out Belize and Costa Rica. Neither country will tax you at all. You even will qualify for a special residency visa! Greeting from Greece!
- tptacek 12y agoDoesn't the U.S. have a problem with citizens voluntarily and deliberately acquiring citizenship from foreign countries?
- GFischer 12y agoYes it does, but people do it anyways. If you become a U.S. citizen, you're expected to renounce your other nationalities. Edit: The biggest case was Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renouncing U.S. citizenship for the tax savings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Saverin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Saverin 2nd Edit: some discussion on Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3979669 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3979669 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4416258 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4416258
- Grazester 12y agoYou can become a U.S. citizen and maintain citizenship of your country of birth(or others your are holding)if the country wasn't China and a few others listed in the link I have provided. Half of my immediate family have become U.S. Citizens and maintained their other citizenships. http://www.immihelp.com/citizenship/dual-citizenship-recognize-countries.html http://www.immihelp.com/citizenship/dual-citizenship-recogni...
- GFischer 12y agoI was told by a friend who's getting U.S. citizenship you have to take an oath renouncing other citizenship.. here it is: "“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen…” from the Oath of Allegiance " http://www.newcitizen.us/dual.html http://www.newcitizen.us/dual.html apparently it is not binding: " the oath has never been enforced to require the actual termination of original citizenship" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law#cite_note-25 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law#c... Edit: can you ask your family if they took that oath, or is the information obsolete? Until now, I thought it was an actual requirement to renounce other citizenships.
- ggambetta 12y agoAs a fellow Uruguayan, I want to add that citizenship comes without too many obligations; no military service or anything like that. The only one I can think of is that voting is compulsory. On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend living in Uruguay; I had very good reasons to leave and I don't see myself returning anytime soon. And I'd argue any European passport is better than an Uruguay one - you can freely live and work in Europe, and you can visit the US without any visa.
- mrfusion 12y agoWhy don't you recommend living there? It sounds like a nice place?
- GFischer 12y agoTotally agreed on the European passports being overall superior (although some do come with obligations like military service for an Austrian passport for example), but they're much harder to obtain (I've been denied German citizenship). I've read about your reasons for leaving (security), and sadly, I have to agree that they're still an issue (and I'd love living in Switzerland). I think the risk can be minimized though. Ideally I'd want to live in Punta del Este or Maldonado rather than Montevideo, and the countryside is still pretty safe (though a computer nerd might die of boredom there :P ).
- Vespasian 12y agoOut of curiosity: If its not too personal can you share some general information what nationality you have or had while applying to the German citizenship and what were the main reasons it didn't work out.