#184 Renunciation
Well, at long last, I can reveal what my task has been.
The 12th of September, 2023, I finally renounced my US citizenship. It has been a long time coming due to the COVID induced delay in getting my Argentinian citizenship, but it is finally done. I was tired of being tied to a government that wants to control and track me whilst giving me nothing in return. In fact, being a net NEGATIVE drag on my desire for a simple life.
They didn't make it easy. I had to keep asking people the time because the idiots in charge of security at the embassy took my smartwatch; you aren't even allowed to bring your phone to the embassy and leave it with security; you must walk in devoid of any electronic devices. What morons!
And I am afraid that I do not buy their security line for a minute. If they are really worried about security, they could put cell phone jammers in. What they want, although it will not be written down anywhere, I am sure, is to prevent people from taking photos of the interior or recording conversations. Because of course, they treat everybody very badly, and they don't want that documented.
The renunciation took almost 2 1/2 months to complete. I hired a lawyer to help me get all the forms done and arrange a schedule, and to me, it was well worth the fee that I paid him. It took a month to get a phone interview with a consular officer from the embassy. And I admit, he was quite polite and non-judgmental; he just went through a series of questions to see that I was aware of the consequences of renouncing.
The one question that I had a difficult time not laughing at was when he asked, "Are you aware that once you have renounced, you can never go to an American embassy for help again?". I so dearly wanted to tell him that in 62 years, I have never once gone to the American Embassy for anything because they are completely useless. My parents and I were evacuated from three conflict zones during our years living overseas, and not one single time, not even in Vietnam in April of 1975, did the US embassy lift a finger to help us.
My outrage at the way they treat people in US embassies worldwide leaves me almost speechless. It is a combination of treating you like you are criminal scum in the first place and that they are doing you a favor by just letting you in the door to speak with you. And they do their absolute level best to make sure that the American consular officers stay as far away from customers coming into the embassy as possible.
But they (State Department employees) have drunk the Kool-Aid. These are bureaucrats with a government organization that I find to be one of the most useless in the entire government. Granted, they have some stiff competition, but the State Department must rank right up there in the top five.
Anyway, after the initial interview by phone, which lasted about 15 minutes, I then had to wait almost two weeks for an e-mail from them giving me a date to come to the US embassy in person to sign the forms and, of course, I think from the point of view of the State Department, most importantly, to pay for the privilege of renouncing. The fee is $2350. As I waited for almost an hour for them to deal with me, I had a chance to peruse the fee schedule for the State Department. The fee for renouncing is the most expensive item on the list. By far. There was only one other item that was even close, and it dealt with the interpretation and handling of judicial papers from foreign diplomats or police. That was $2275. I can understand that. Different legal systems, and different languages could be involved. I get it.
Everything else was $40 - $500 at the most. So why is a renunciation so expensive? I asked, and of course was greeted with total ignorance.
But I find it extraordinarily interesting that the most expensive item is renouncing, which is nothing more than two, at most three, single-page forms and copies of my alternate passports. Everything is in English and sent back to the State Department.
And on top of the price, they're talking three to six months for me to get the Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN). And there are only 3,000 – 5,000 renunciations a year (15 - 20 per working day) – how can it take that long? And cost so much? However, the CLN will be dated the date that I took the oath of renunciation. The oath was nothing more than swearing that the contents of the documents were correct, "So help me God." I managed to restrain myself from pointing out that I was an atheist.
I was quite anxious leading up to this renunciation. I had been an "American" for 62 years. But I asked myself, what exactly is nationality? My analysis is that:
It is nothing more than an affiliation with a certain tribe.
And that affiliation grants you rights to legal documents that say who you are.
Which tribe you belong to dictates how powerful those identity documents are in terms of your ability to travel.
I suspect that, provided you have adequate income, which passport you have is irrelevant from the banking point of view.
This means that the most relevant factor is how easy it is to travel with those documents. And Argentina is certainly OK so far.
Am I a different person now that I have renounced? No, not in the least. I merely got rid of my connection to a government that does not represent me and has caused me innumerable complications with the way I live my life. And I have replaced my documents with those of a government that allows me to travel more or less freely, and just leaves me alone.
Two interesting statistics that I would like to comment about.
There are almost 9 million Americans living overseas. If we were a state we would be the 12th or 13th most populous state in the nation, yet we have zero representation as a group in Congress or the Senate.
There is an average of 3000 to 5000 people a year renouncing their US citizenship. This statistic only counts people who have a net worth higher than $2 million or have owed more than $173,000 in taxes for any of the preceding five years. So, incidentally, I would not be counted in this number.
I am astounded that nobody in the government has raised a red flag about this. Because, if not blatantly obvious, I will state it anyway. The people that are renouncing are among America's best and brightest. You would think that the people in government would be somewhat concerned about that. Obviously not.
In summary - I can only say that I feel a huge sense of relief. Even though it isn’t quite finished. I still have to file a final tax return next year for 2023. Then It is finally over.