mrken30

I agree. I think being a USC opens more doors than it closes.

And not having to update your address with USCIS everytime you move house is a bonus.

Giantaxe

I left off NJ (and one other) as they have both an estate tax and an inheritance tax and each has some form of credit from what is paid, if anything, on the former to the latter.

mrken30

Maybe we should try to find a list of States not to retire too. My plan was to retire to WA due to no income tax.

mrken30

For some a disadvantage is that you no longer travel outside of the US on vacation and lose the ability and opportunity to drive a manual car.

Englishmum

I've told my husband that we are definitely not going to be resident in NJ when he reaches retirement age! I've told him that we are going to spend our twilight years in England

I've noticed in my neighbourhood that there are hardly any old people....I used to have next door neighbours who were both teachers and had lived in the same house for 30 years. As soon as they had both retired they sold up and moved to Cape Cod, MA and I guess one of the major reasons for this is because of the estate and inheritance taxes.

rbackhouse

WTF are you talking about ?

SultanOfSwing

The vacation allowance/cost of travel is the same disadvantage for a permanent resident, of course.

Manual cars can be found though. I think Pulaski and Nutek drive manuals for a kick off.

rbackhouse

We have 3 in the family.

Pulaski

We do too, and no automatics. I have never owned an automatic, and neither has Mrs P, even before we met.

mrken30

I was making fun of a stereotypical American. My warped sense of humour

Bob

Jury duty.

It's a massive throbbing, pain in the cock, where I am at least....because the county court is in Woburn.

For a start, it's a shit hole and secondly, it's the corner polar opposite side of the county to where we live. There's also sod all to do there, except get robbed.

The missus has had to do it twice and I've been called twice and not been able to do it for obvious reasons. I dread when I will be able to.

Bob

They're weirdly quite pricey to find new ones though...and are worthless second hand down my way at least.

Shame really.

Though I did see a pair of sup'ed up Subie's at the mall the other day that were manuals. I think they were the first manuals I have seen in years though.

SultanOfSwing

I've been a citizen for six years, still to be called. Kind of meh, either way I suppose. It's probably pretty easy to make yourself appear unsuitable if you do get called, but if it's not for a six week murder trial, it won't be so bad.

Our county court is about half an hour away from home, so that's no big deal.

I've long since passed the point where I care anyway. Not having to change gears frees up a hand for ball scratching and nose picking anyway

durham_lad

I've been called for jury duty 5 times in the last 10 years and my wife 3 times. I wasn't chosen for a trial last time (a few months ago) but was chosen the other 4 times and had to go to a courthouse for the trial. One time I turned up and the case had been settled right before the trial was due to start so the clerk simply handed out attendance forms to hand in to work. I went through jury questioning 3 times and was selected once for a family abuse case. The trial lasted 3 days. My wife had to serve on a case of theft and her case took 2 days.

While I don't mind doing my civic duty, being called every other year grows old pretty quickly.

FUB05

On the Tax Implications, my understanding is that whether you are a USC living abroad or a GC holder living abroad temporarily, then you have to declare your worldwide income and complete a US Tax Return. If you resided in the UK and had a job and paying tax, then the double taxation treaty between the USA and UK would negate you having to pay tax on this income in the USA. This is for both GC holders and Citizens so I'm not sure where the disadvantage of being a US Citizen over being a GC holder comes in here for tax purposes. They both are required to declare their worldwide income whilst living abroad. Please correct me if what i am saying is incorrect.
thanks