I think of it this way: how insane would it be if my wife, a Russian citizen and US permanent resident who's lived and worked in the US for 12 years, could not open a checking account and was required by law to file taxes to the Russian Federation for her American high school teaching job?

I live in Singapore and when I was signing up for a stock trading account I asked what would have happened if I had to answer yes in the box that asked if I was liable to pay income tax in the US. The answer was plain: "you wouldn't be allowed to have an account with us".

It's one of the easiest places to open a bank account, actually.

Hardly the 1%

Studies repeatedly show that that that majority of almost 8 million Americans living abroad moved to look for work, to find love, explore the world, do volunteer work, teach, and so on. We're largely middle class, just like most Americans back home. We're not rich (many of us teaching or volunteering are dirt poor), but we're putting up with a tax horror that Americans back home would revolt over if they had to endure it.

This is affecting expats and accidental americans in their daily lives, even if they have no income. I am not the first to suggest it, but reread the article, and image that you earn $30K and live in france, and for some reason you're account is being closed, and you need to spend 1K post tax a year filing for a country you don't live in.

The best option would be same country exemption for FBAR and FACTA. Or stop taxing non-resident citizens.