Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports

Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by officialchicken on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @06:40PM (#11207071)

Yes, as absolute numbers. But how many of those are "high net worth" individuals, who may (or may not) contribute considerably more in taxes each year than the average tax payer? I believe, "Is there an exodus of people with access to large amounts of capital", is the real question with various long-term implications.

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Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by scottwhudson on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @07:04PM (#11207205)

It's also worth noting that more and more American students are moving to Europe for free university and staying for the jobs. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this demographic begins to explain the increase in the US exodus, at least partially. Student debt can be a scary thing.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/why-american-students-are-...

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Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by dalke on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @08:10PM (#11207484)

In looking at recent history, it's well worth remembering all of the Americans who emigrated to Canada and Europe to avoid the Vietnam draft. Many stayed.

It's very unlikely that the uptick in expatriation is due to a recent increase in the number of US students enrolled overseas. It takes 6-8 years of residency to get German citizenship, and while I don't know the details for Germany, in Sweden that excludes residency as a student.

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Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by klipt on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @08:23PM (#11207534)

> It takes 6-8 years of residency to get German citizenship

That doesn't sound any slower than the US - it'll probably take me around 8 years of post-student residency to become a US citizen (3 on H1-B, then 5 on a green card - and bear in mind it's much faster for me than for someone born in India or China, who face massively backlogged green card quotas).

A lot of people fixate on citizenship, but permanent residency is 99% as good as citizenship. Ask any green card holder, they'll tell you the real challenge is getting the green card. The subsequent 5 year wait for US citizenship is gravy by comparison.

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Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by dalke on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @08:41PM (#11207588)

We're talking about expatriation. It's difficult to live as a stateless person. You really want to have citizenship in another country before giving up US citizenship.

While permanent residency might be a possible substitute, the lack of any citizenship will likely make it more difficult to travel to another country, and there may be legal problems should you have a child as a stateless mother.

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Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by klipt on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @09:02PM (#11207655)

True, assuming you're not a dual citizen to start off. Some of the Americans moving to Europe might already have a European citizenship by descent (although not necessarily of the country they end up settling in).

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Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by CyberDildonics on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @08:39PM (#11207581)

> It's very unlikely that the uptick in expatriation is due to a recent increase in the number of US students enrolled overseas.

He didn't say that it was.

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Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by dalke on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @08:45PM (#11207601)

Oh, I see! I read "begins to explain the increase in the US exodus" and interpreted it as "exodus from US citizenship"/expatriation not "exodus from US residency"/emigration.

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Re:Record number of Americans dump U.S. passports by st3v3r on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @10:32PM (#11207934)

"who may (or may not) contribute considerably more in taxes each year than the average tax payer?"

Likely not. If they're so angry at paying taxes to the country that helped them build their wealth, they're likely already employing several other ways to cheat on taxes.

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