Sarah1979

Hi there,

My mother was born in the U.S. to American parents and has a U.S. passport. As an adult she left America, married a British man and had children in a third world country. By way of our British father we all got British passports. My mother then took us for a brief period to the U.S. where she also got U.S. passports for me and my siblings.

I still have my U.S. passport but it expired 20 years ago. My brother got his renewed in early adulthood and now lives in the U.S.

Is my U.S. passport renewable despite having been expired for such a long time, and me never having worked or paid taxes in/to America?

I am married to a naturalised British citizen. We have two young children,
one of whom was born in Britain and the other was born abroad but got their passport due to my husband (being a naturalised British citizen is considered the same as British from birth unlike myself who got my British passport through my father).

I also have a 20 year old, adult son who has a British passport from birth, and who has a diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome. I am his official carer and he receives disability benefit. He is soon completing his Degree in Natural Sciences at University so is very capable of applying to study in the U.S., or even work there.

I'm a Masters graduate of Cambridge University but I have never worked, while my husband has been a production manager for many years.

Will it be possible for me to renew my U.S. passport and take my family to live in the U.S. for the long-term?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

S Folinsky

You post no reason why you cannot obtain a new US passport.

Do note that the process of immigrating your family to the US will involve production of your most recent US tax returns. So, you should take measures to rectify your apparent violations of US tax law.

Do note that it may be important to START your son's process before he turns 21.

There is a lot of information out there. However, it is intimidating to many people and there are many land mines there. (My university BFF called me the other day with her adult US born daughter about immigrating her husband. Two PhD's who thought they were carefully following the procedures, but we're made some very basic face-palm mistakes. I told daughter she was not an "idiot" as per her self-description, but was not fluent in the language "immigration.")

Definitely look into this. Good luck.

Sarah1979

Thanks for your reply. It's very helpful. I've never lived in the U.S. and I have dual nationality. I've always lived in the UK and paid taxes there. I wasn't aware that I was supposed to be doing U.S. tax returns. I don't actually know what they are. Please can you advise me on this?

S Folinsky

I refrain from giving specific advice here - it is necessary for me to avoid even the appearance of creation of an "attorney client relationship."

That said, your failure to comply with the US tax returns is not all that uncommon. It can probably be fixed with relative ease. But it is something you should take care of.

Good luck and take care.

ian-mstm

Yes. You're a US citizen regardless of where you've lived, whether you've paid taxes, or whether a previous passport is expired. They're all completely irrelevant. You're a US citizen... and that's all that matters.


Yes. If you want your family to move to the US, then in addition to all the visa paperwork you must file the most recent 3 years' worth of US tax returns. It's unlikely that you'll have any US tax burden at all, but you must still file. All the forms are at www.irs.gov and are fairly straight forward.

If your intent is to move to the US, you should probably be posting in the marriage-based forum where the knowledgeable members can better help you.

Ian

Pulaski

Great! So as Ian and S Folinsky said above, you can move to the US any time you like, full stop. ..... BTW You must, per US law, use a US passport to enter and leave the US, at all times.

Ian has given you a link to the IRS web site, but the returns are quite simple for US citizens resident outside the US - basically anything under about $100,000 per annum income can be set against an allowance for residents overseas and above that level you can set any tax paid in the UK against any liability for US taxes. So the likelihood of you owing any taxes to Uncle Sam is pretty slim.

The only significant risk of owing taxes is if you realize a very substantial capital gain on the sale of your home in the UK - which is exempt without limit from taxes in the UK, but only the first $250,000/$500,000 of the gain is tax free under US tax rules. ..... This is the problem that Boris Johnson had a couple of years ago.

scrubbedexpat099

I would just add that most USC's never have a Passport never mind not renewing one.

You may not have much time to act if your son in nearing 21, things take much longer after then.

And the biggie, you mention benefits and a medical issue, something that might be an issue in the US, certainly something you need to be both aware of and have a plan for.

A lot of the latter is State rather than Country.