Markstone492

Not sure if this has been asked before, couldn't find it when i looked back through the posts, but apologies if i'm repeating a question.

We are considering trying for a third child, and may be moving to Florida (on an L1A associated with my job) before this happens. If our child is born in the USA, and is therefore a US Citizen, what rights to residence does this give us? Would we need to / be able to change our visa classification?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

Regards,

Mark

Silverdragon102

until child reaches 21 gives you no right of residence.

civilservant

Your child would be able to petition for you when they become 21. Until then it wouldn't change anything.

Markstone492

OK great, thanks guys.

Pulaski

Then the child can petition for permanent residence status for his/ her parents, and you have to jump through the usual hoops. I think I heard that the ease of petitioning for parents was one of the things bring considered for major changes in the immigration reform proposals, so who knows what the process may be 21+ years from now?

Markstone492

Thanks Pulaski, much appreciated.

NatashaB

If you're on an L1A then it should be a relatively quick process to get a green card (and you can then naturalize 5 years later). Ours only took 4 months in 2010. Your employer has to sponsor the GC process though.

Lbjen

Make sure you get your employer to agree to apply for green cards ASAP as part of your relocation package, especially if you are going to have a US born child. Also be aware of the consequences of being a US citizen, including the requirement to file and possibly pay taxes every year no matter where you live. If you're certain the US won't be your permanent home you may want to reconsider whether having your child here is wise.

penguinsix

Your child will have some of the following requirements placed on them being a US citizen.

1) Must file tax returns every year (if their income is greater than a rather low filing threshold). They won't necessarily owe taxes to the US, especially if they live overseas, given a number of deductions and credits, but once they start earning they will have this requirement.

2) Must report all foreign bank accounts if the aggregate total amount is > $10,000.

3) Must report ownership of foreign companies if they control more than about 10% of the stock and are a director.

4) Must register for military service (conscription) on their 18th birthday if a male.

5) Must enter and leave the USA ONLY on their US passport no matter how many other passports they have.

6) Are not allowed to travel to Cuba (more or less).

nun

The financial life of a US citizen if the live outside the US is complicated by having to comply with IRS regulations. If your child were to keep US citizenship and move back to the UK they would find it hard to invest in the UK and dealing with things like pensions and many insurance products for US tax purposes would give then nasty headaches.

Being an American also comes with other disadvantages. You have to be careful not to let the hubris bone grow too large and the arrogance organ can also become prominent. Many French and the British citizens suffer form those afflictions too, but they are endemic in Americans.

Pulaski

Which, it should be said they are completely powerless to enforce, even if you are a visitor to the US. The only time it would become an issue is (i) if their income exceeded the threshold for paying tax on foreign earned income AND (ii) the US income tax exceeded the tax paid in the UK (or wherever they were working, AND (iii) they wanted to go and live in the US. Only if all three applied, AND they had also spent time working in a very low tax country, such as one of the oil-rich countries in the Middle East, would there be any tax to pay.

We know from the many people who come here as "coincidental" USCs who have lived most or all of their life outside the US, that the requirement to file returns is widely ignored through ignorance, and there appear to be no consequences.
That is simply not true! As a dual citizen in the UK you are British first and foremost. And there would be absolutely no need to even tell people you are a US citizen. Furthermore when Mrs P came to live in the UK, as a born and bred USC who had spent her entire life in the US, she had no problems opening bank accounts nor with pensions. Ironically she had a problem on returning to the US with a employer-based profit share broker account because they thought she was British!

NatashaB

I have never known any Americans living in the UK to have to do anything more than file a US tax return. None of them were ever liable to pay more tax than they'd already paid via PAYE, so I assume UK taxes are higher than US ones. That would be different if a US citizen lives in a country with a very low/no tax threshold, I guess.

nun

This might be a matter of degree, but many UK financial products present complications for the US tax payer. Many applications for UK financial accounts now ask if you are a US citizen and in the eyes of the IRS you are just a US citizen and subject to tax on your worldwide income. The most common issues are usually those associated with stocks and shares ISAs and self directed pensions.The issues are not the worst thing in the world, but deciding how you want the IRS to tax your employer's contributions to your pension pot takes some planning.

nun

The net US tax bill is often zero because of the higher UK tax rates. But the lax enforcement of the IRS in previous years is changing. FBAR and FATCA are being strictly enforced and the ignorance of many US expats about how to handle UK investments like unit trusts and the taxabity of UK pension gains and contributions without claiming the relevant treaty rights will cause them a lot more trouble in the future. There is the thing of complying with the law rather than putting your head in the sand as well.

Pulaski

Agreed, and while there are some matters to consider, for most people most of the time, having dual citizenship opens up some additional life choices that are interesting and welcome. .... And the chances that the US will ever again start conscripting its citizens into the military is absolutely zero. There is an on-going regional war in Pakistan Afghanistan, and the Middle East (most notably Yemen), with zero "troops on the ground" except for Afghanistan, where numbers are steadily declining. The military will never again need the sort of manpower that conscription would be needed to provide. In fact at the moment the US military is turning away an increasing number of applicants who don't meet arbitrary qualification thresholds, so the traditional fall-back plan of "if all else fails and I completely screw up my life at high-school I can always join the military" no longer applies.