This is one of those little catches anyone preaching to their relatives to emigrate don't say about.
I live in a third world country, and until Trump, nearly everyone wants a fucking green card thinking it's gonna make them happy.
this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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If you have two nationalities, couldn't you just be sneaky and never tell the authorities of the country you moved to? If you're not planning on going back, for example, what would be the problem?
Sounds like fraud. As long as no one finds out you'd probably get away with it, but you would be committing tax evasion according to US laws.
If you really don't want to go back you can get rid of your US citizenship and avoid the problem.
It's not because they banned us citizens. It's because the us government is one of the few ones that wants to tax stuff that their citizens earned in other countries, so banks and similar they need to report wealth and income to the government
The checkbox isn't "if you're American we can't offer you services", when you select that, then you have an extra form to fill, that's it
It's because the us government is one of the few ones that wants to tax stuff that their citizens earned in other countries
One of exactly two.
This is not because anyone wants to discriminate against Americans (maybe they do, but it's unrelated to this rule), but because of rules the US forces on the rest of the world. There are special tax reporting rules for US Persons that banks have to obey if they want to be able to do business with the US at all. If you can't or don't want to follow those special rules, avoiding having US Persons as customer is the easiest way to comply.
I've worked for several Dutch banks, and US Person is a special category they have to deal with. No other nationality has this. Maybe Ethiopia? But that's easily ignored. But nobody ignores the US. They have no choice but to comply. Vote for a different tax code if you don't like it.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Google FATCA, the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
Anyone anywhere in the world that is either US citizen, or a green card holder, or in other ways related to Murica, must pay US taxes. It's insane, but the US tax system is powerful enough to bully all other countries into compliance.
Don't get me started. 🤮
is powerful enough to bully all other countries into compliance
But not to tax the rich or corporations at all.
Exactly, how about the president pay taxes first lmao
Wish the American populace were brave enough to dump their tea in the harbor like before
They can do anything they want. That is just something they don't want to do. Again, 🤮
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Financial institutions in Japan ask the same thing. It is because Americans have to pay tax to American even when they don’t live in America. It just means there is more paperwork apparently.
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american in europe here,
this is true. it's very nearly impossible to open a bank account. There is exactly one bank in Switzerland who allows americans to open accounts, UBS. So far no banks in france have allowed me to open an account, even though I have a french residency permit. This makes it nearly impossible to take loans to buy things like houses or cars. Basically life here is impossible because being american fucking sucks.
This is crazy to learn about. Afaik no Americans in the UK have ever had issues opening bank accounts, even students.
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It’s not discriminatory. They don’t have any legal obligation to serve citizens of foreign countries. When they do serve American citizens it triggers a whole lot of regulatory work, and it’s understandable they don’t want to do that unless you’re a high net worth individual (ie they make enough profit to cover that cost)
The rule is not just for US citizens, but for a specific category called "US Person", which is broader, and I think it includes anyone with any tie to the US. I believe having American parents, having had US citizenship even if you renounced it, or having had a greencard, also count. Though I don't know the exact rules.
It’s not discriminatory.
I mean it quite literally is discriminatory, but it's legal and justified discrimination.
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I hate to recommend the evil empire, but there's a very good sub on this topic called r/AmerExit. Sometimes a community is too niche to exist on the Fediverse, and one must hold one's nose and visit Reddit for certain content.
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