I saw some posts about american wanting to move to Europe; so just before you guys make the move, double-triple check insurances/banks, because literally every time I (not american) do smth financially related in France, they ask me if I am american? If yes, they won’t even open accounts/ give me insurance etc… Sounds discriminatory but apperently because legal
I dont know if that expands to any other field
EDIT: lol i am now wondering what are people are downvoting for? You dont like that fact, so you downvote whoever told you that fact? Some reactions are hilarious
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.
They can do anything they want. That is just something they don’t want to do. Again, 🤮
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.
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.
Open an account at Service CU out of NH. Designed to work in Europe (IBAN, free foreign ATMs, etc). Everyone who works for the state department gets it, and afaik it’s open to the public.
iban thing is nice, do you know if you can finance cars or homes? right now i have to have to drive around a beater because no european bank = no loan
I’ve used ServiceCU for more than 20 years and yes you can buy cars and such through them
thanks! I’m going to check them out.
Never tried that. Worth emailing their rep probably.
You have residency, but do you have an official French ID, like a police ID? In Finland at least the residency permit does not count as a valid ID and you have to get a separate one (like a driver’s license or police ID) in order to for example open a bank account.
Renounce your citizenship.
i don’t have a second citizenship to fall back on, so i’d be stateless. also, i can’t afford to since you have to pay all the taxes on potential income for the next 10 years or something
I want to add that renouncing your citizenship also isn’t a valid option for many during the stages they talked about
One of the hard requirements for renouncing your citizenship is having citizenship in another country, and that is easier said than done in many countries. Like for example, Canada, you have to be a perm resident in the country for four years and also have lived there for the past six, Mexico requires 5 years. most of the EU has 5-10 years as their resident requirement.
And that’s also ignoring the cost that they require of a citizen to renounce their Citizenship. It’s 2300+ USD to do if you manage to get it first try, and that can be denied still.
Once you are established somewhere else as a citizen, fully agree. But that’s defo easier said than done.
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 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.
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.
I wonder if you could/would get extradited for not paying taxes to Uncle Sam. 🤔
But yeah, just renouncing the citizenship seems to be the way forward if you’re not planning on coming back.
Don’t think extradited, but US would try to garnish/seize money going into that account, which is why foreign banks don’t want to deal with the hassle of having a US customer. The extra legal requirements to have an account for you is just not worth it to them. The exception is only when you have a great deal of money, and then they can actually make money from your deposits. But then that amount of money in a bank is a sure sign you don’t know how to manage your money.
Wait… You didn’t know off-shore bank accounts are only for the rich and powerful?
Downvotes likely from non-Americans. Europeans specifically. They like to downvote stuff about America and Americans on Lemmy. A common prejudice on Lemmy, unfortunately.
If you’re not American, why are you telling the institutions that you are?
Huh? Where i said that
My question was genuine. You wrote:
they ask me if I am american? If yes, they won’t even open accounts/ give me insurance etc…
And my misunderstanding is genuine? I dont know how you derived that fact from what i posted lol i never stated “i am american” to anyone, because it is not only factually false but also would bring me problems
How do you know that they won’t open an account if you say yes? Do you know people who have had this experience, or did the banks tell you that they would not provide these services for Americans?
The insurance told me, but you can google that information yourself, or simply call any bank in france usually they do have english speaking line
I believe you. My understanding of your post:
- I’m not American
- But I’m sometimes asked if I’m American
- If “yes”, I face repercussions
Hence my question. That’s all.
Alright maybe my English is at fault. “If yes” meant to be: when I asked “what d happen in the hypothesis I was american”?
Well, my reading comprehension as also not the best some times so I’m definitely not innocent here. I can take things to literally (and not understand sarcasm). Thanks for clarifying. I hope I didn’t cause offence.
