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A comment on Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts. Parent comment

Re:Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks... by GFischer on Thursday September 25, 2014 @02:21PM (#8368708)
Totally 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 ).

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Re:Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks... by Vespasian on Thursday September 25, 2014 @02:38PM (#8368829)
Out 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.

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Re:Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks... by GFischer on Thursday September 25, 2014 @03:38PM (#8369262)
My grandfather was born to Prussian parents which came to Uruguay and then back to Prussia, but he was born in Uruguay, and lived in Uruguay from his teens onward.

When he went to obtain a German citizenship, he was asked to bring in a lot of additional paperwork (a church birth certificate being one I think). One of my uncles went to Germany to try to obtain it, but it was in vain.

I wasn't going to be granted German citizenship unless my grandfather, and then my father, were granted German citizenship.

My grandfather was as German as they come, but due to those quirks he wasn't granted citizenship, and so I wasn't able to.

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Re:Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks... by Vespasian on Thursday September 25, 2014 @03:57PM (#8369391)
A very interesting stroy. Thanks for sharing that!
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Re:Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks... by cruisername on Thursday September 25, 2014 @04:37PM (#8369603)
being denied german citizenship sucks for you, but with that last-name it's remarkably ironic.
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