The following question and answer session is based on what I think people might ask after reading this guide. Some of them are questions I asked myself during my own expatriation process, so I hope the answers will be of benefit to you.

Q: You wrote this guide anonymously, so why should I trust anything you say?

A: With all things important – our relationships, our health, our money, and our freedom – we alone are responsible for our decisions. I try to seek out the best information and advice I can, and then I use my instincts and reason to do what feels right. I encourage you to do the same. Verify anything I’ve written with other sources you consider reliable. Parts of this guide will undoubtedly become obsolete as the U.S. government continues to change the laws and costs surrounding expatriation. All I can tell you is I’ve reached out the best way I know how regarding a choice that was transformational in my own life.

Q: If I expatriate and live somewhere else, won’t I just be trading U.S. government aggravations for some other version? After all, no situation is perfect.

A: Expatriation is about improving your life, not attaining perfection. If you’d be more free, more happy and more wealthy by expatriating, then that’s a massive improvement. That’s certainly been the case for me. I no longer file tax returns. I have privacy and control over my assets and how I use them. I can bank and invest wherever I want and be welcomed with a smile instead of being rejected as a “toxic citizen.” I can think clearly and rationally about investing, while paying no attention to “weighing tax implications.” I have more money available to donate to causes I support. If I think a currency will tank, I can convert to other currencies or gold – and not be taxed for preserving my purchasing power. Lastly, I sleep better knowing that I’m no longer fuel for the U.S. political juggernaut.

Q: Isn’t anybody who expatriates just being greedy for no longer sharing their money with the government? What about the idea of paying “my fair share?”

A: The act of sharing is a voluntary one. That’s what makes it sharing. If you’re compelled by threat of imprisonment to give somebody something, then it’s not sharing. Nor is it fair. Paying your fair share is what you do when you go out to dinner with friends. But when strangers whose salaries you’re forced to pay decide how much of your money to take, in order to spend it on things you often detest, then fairness is not part of the equation.

Q: Isn’t it Un-American not to be positive and optimistic about the country’s future?

A: Is it positive or optimistic to believe in bombing for peace and borrowing your way out of debt? I welcome the accusation that I’m being cynical, pessimistic, negative…any adjective that attempts to avert people’s gaze from reality.

In other nations, if you’re fed up you can just leave. That acts as a powerful check on the reach of politicians into people’s lives and wallets. But Americans are stuck getting taken to the cleaners day after day, no matter where they go or what they do.
22Care for some examples? Start by Googling “363 TONS of cash.” How the government “misplaced” 726,000 pounds of $100 bills should be a point of vexation to a rational mind.

Now let’s put on an astronaut suit and go stratospheric. Google “2.3 trillion missing.” This revelation, made one day before 9/11, has been swept into the dustbin of mainstream media history. When thousands of billions of dollars of your money “go missing,” what is there left to talk about?

Q: Don’t we just need more laws and regulations to make things better?

A: Americans are the most regulated people on the planet. Consider that the Federal Register – for 2008 alone! – had 80,700 pages of laws and regulations. Read up on this legal kraken here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Register
I’ll be shocked if the 2010 Federal Register doesn’t break 100,000 pages. And don’t forget about the hundreds of thousands of pages of laws and regulations at the state and local levels. The sheer annual output of all the federal and state “lawmakers” makes the 70,000 page IRS code seem measured by comparison.

Will adding a few hundred thousand more pages make people’s lives in America more productive, happy and free? Perhaps the six-figure salaried SEC regulators who surfed porn while ignoring Madoff whistleblowers beating down their door could elucidate.

Q:> But if only X politician were elected, or Y political party could get more control, wouldn’t the whole system change? Shouldn’t I be out there writing Congressmen, signing petitions, and protesting in the streets?

A: The system is rotten to the core. No individual, no matter how noble and righteous, can save it. Once it collapses under its own weight, hopefully something much better will emerge from the wreckage. Protesting against it is about as effective as protesting against the plague. You can spend your time and energy agitating and making noise, but the fastest way to change the system is to cut off access to its power source: You.

Q: What if I have kids?

A: Knowing what I know now, I wish my parents had expatriated long ago. I would have thanked them for opening up the world to me. And I would have gotten a much better education. For an example of how much further ahead your kids would be if they were schooled elsewhere, see this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trends_in_International_Mathematics_and_Science_Study#Results
Of course kids raised outside the U.S. are much more likely to be bilingual or trilingual as well. The benefits to your children of an international perspective can’t be overestimated in the 21st century.

There’s nothing more important a parent can do than teach a child to think and be responsible for himself. The culture of compliance in the U.S. is a deadening force to a young mind. Here is an opportunity to show your child that when something’s not right, you need to take action – not talk. Expatriation teaches them that there is, actually, a limit to what an individual should put up with from any government.

Q: When I go to my expatriation appointment, should I bring an attorney with me?

A: I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s better to go on your own or with your spouse and kids if your whole family is expatriating. The official likely will be uneasy if you show up with a lawyer in tow to speak for you. Besides, there’s really no reason for it. Since the appointment mostly consists of the official signing forms and witnessing you signing forms, it’s really not necessary to have a lawyer present. The officials aren’t there to grill you with questions about why you’re expatriating. (And even if they were, you’d just calmly tell them your answer from the forms.) What the official will do is make sure you fully understand what you are doing. Beyond that, the whole thing is quite mechanical.

Q: I already have a non-U.S. passport. How do I find out if I can visit the U.S. without a visa?

A: Search online for the list of countries which participate in the “Visa Waiver Program.” The list is on the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) site. The list is short when compared to all the countries not on the list, so the next question is geared more towards the assumption that you’ll need a visa.

By the way, airlines are a terrific resource for finding where you can travel visa-free – and how long you can stay – on any given passport. Why? Because they’re responsible if they fly you someplace where you’re required to have a visa. Call or use the airline websites to find out the answer if you’re ever unsure. Here’s a helpful site: www.klm.com/travel/ch_en/prepare_for_travel/travel_planning/travel_clinic/visaform.htm

Q: My non-U.S. passport requires a visa to visit the U.S. Any tips on getting a B1/B2 visa?

A: Expatriation is a right, but applying for a visa is a request. Be courteous, forthright and non-confrontational. Explain right up front that you’ve expatriated but would like to visit the U.S. for XYZ reason — for example, to visit family. You’ll probably be asked why you expatriated. It’s best to keep the answer soft-edged. And do not mention taxes. If the decision to expatriate was a personal choice that seemed like the right thing for you, who can justly say otherwise? After all you decided to move out of the U.S. with no intention of living there again. You want to be truthful and sincere, without launching into any speeches. You’ll be asked how long you want to visit. It’s typically better to plan your first trip on the shorter side – less than a month.

A U.S. visa can be tough to get if the visa official suspects the reason you’re applying is to stay permanently in America. In other words, poor families who want to visit people in the U.S. will typically get stiff-armed. But applying for a visa after you’ve expatriated demonstrates that you obviously have no intention to stay in America. That’s probably why I’ve never heard of an expat having trouble getting one.

One last thing: Note on the visa application it asks, “Have you ever renounced U.S. citizenship for the purpose of avoiding taxation?” You of course need to answer every question on the application truthfully. I’m guessing that many readers of this guide who decide to expatriate will do so for personal and philosophical reasons, which in that case would mean checking “NO.”

Q: So once I expatriate, how long can I stay in America when I visit without falling back into the global U.S. tax net?

A: The practical answer is about 4 months per year. It doesn’t matter if the time is continual. In other words you could visit the U.S. for two weeks eight times per year, or winter in Florida for a single four month stretch. If you stay longer than that, you’re at risk of falling back into the U.S. tax net, even though you’re no longer a citizen. There’s a specific test called the “substantial presence test” the IRS uses to determine whether you’re “deemed resident” and are therefore subject to the worldwide U.S. tax net. To read the details, check out page 4 of IRS Publication 519 here: www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf

One thing to keep in mind is that their formula takes into account the number of days you spent in the U.S. during the previous two years. If you’ve spent all your time in the U.S. prior to renunciation, it will initially reduce the number of days you can spend visiting.

Q: Are there any hidden fees for expatriating?

A: Not so much hidden as new. In 2010, the U.S. government started imposing a $450 processing fee on each person who expatriates. There’s never been one in the past, so why start now? I believe it’s because they’ve never dealt with so many people leaving.

Parting Thoughts

Millions of Americans are fed up with the lies, the debts, the taxes, the bailouts, the hypocrisy, the rip-offs, and the wars. Record numbers of people are leaving, and I expect renunciation to become increasingly onerous and costly as more Americans exercise the right.
Although it is a right, history repeatedly has shown that governments are capable of doing, quite literally, anything. Your ability to divorce the political power structure – and thereby deny it further access to your time, talent, and money – is a terrifying proposition to a government bent on expanding its size and control. It’s entirely conceivable, if faced with a panic that sparks a U.S. dollar or bond crisis, that Congress would enact “emergency measures” to keep the sheep in the pen, so to speak. Forced asset repatriations, wealth taxes, outright capital controls…all are well within their capabilities.

The good news is that the world is a big and exciting place, filled with kind-hearted people and endless opportunities. I hope you enjoy it to the fullest. And whether or not you choose to part ways with the U.S. government, I wish you peace and good fortune on your travels.