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Dv 2014 european winers here

OnTheGo said:
Thanks, Susie. I will investigte. I actually made a typo in my post...I meant to say:

Do they have to report and file on salary income and interest income that relate to the period PRIOR TO (not: of) taking up the actual permanent residence in 2015?

But yeah...I guess some sort of dual status return would be applicable...to me it's just a difference between simply activating the GC vs. taking up permanent residence, when it comes to the question of what to report and file and at what point a FEIE comes into play. Moreover, I think FEIE does only apply to incomes like salary, but not for interest earned or other forms of passive income (ex: rental income).
It's all so complicated, and it's all just for the lack of a simple residence based taxation like the rest of the world.
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Well at the start it's very simple, what you earned before you got there and what you earned after are separate, and there is an exemption on some amount of foreign income.
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Taxation-of-Dual-Status-Aliens

As has been said countless time already, it's only complicated if you're not going to live in the US, and if you're not going to live there you shouldn't activate your green card. The stuff like FBAR where you have to declare foreign bank accounts is applicable to most countries I know of, at least the ones serious about countering tax evasion and money laundering, I have a similar requirement in my home country.
 
SusieQQQ said:
The stuff like FBAR where you have to declare foreign bank accounts is applicable to most countries I know of, at least the ones serious about countering tax evasion and money laundering, I have a similar requirement in my home country.
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While this isn't our immediate concern, you are confusing two things here. It is correct that most countries require their residents to declare income from anywhere in the world, based on taxation of income from world wide sources. However, what the US does, based on citizenship based taxation as opposed to residence based taxation that all other nations in the world (except those who even use a territorial tax system), is continuing to request tax filing from their "US persons" (citizens and LPR's) based on income no matter where in the world generated and taxed while actually living there!

So I would be surprised if South Africa had any rule whereby you as a SA citizen living in the USA, would continue to be obligated to file and declare your US source income and report your US based bank accounts to South Africa for as long as you remain a SA citizen.

The terms "tax evasion" and "tax cheats" have unfortunately been used all too many times by the US Govt and the media, in defense of the FATCA law coming to life as of July 1st.
But those are no tax cheats...they are mostly law abiding, tax paying people simply living outside of the US, paying mostly higher taxes there than they would have to in the US.

I have been following the developments as it affects 7 Mio US expats, including many hundreds of thousands of Canadians, who are all unfairly treated by this dragnet style approach.
It is not about FEIE or the like...this is a living nightmare for many, as the US does only consider their own rules and perspectives (ex. special savings accounts held by US expats where they are getting tax benefits in their country, yet the IRS does not accept the tax benefit, or pension plans...they may tax investment value increases even if those pension plans are not 'touched' until pension age) etc.

Again, for me, I am beyond the Fbar/Fatca issue...it is clear that it is unfair and unjustified, as they should be moving towards RBT, my question was about the practicalities of complying during the time of transition between two countries ... I actually found the same link (thanks BTW!) ....I have currently too many tabs open in my browser to read...lol!!
 
OnTheGo said:
While this isn't our immediate concern, you are confusing two things here. It is correct that most countries require their residents to declare income from anywhere in the world, based on taxation of income from world wide sources. However, what the US does, based on citizenship based taxation as opposed to residence based taxation that all other nations in the world (except those who even use a territorial tax system), is continuing to request tax filing from their "US persons" (citizens and LPR's) based on income no matter where in the world generated and taxed while actually living there!

So I would be surprised if South Africa had any rule whereby you as a SA citizen living in the USA, would continue to be obligated to file and declare your US source income and report your US based bank accounts to South Africa for as long as you remain a SA citizen.

The terms "tax evasion" and "tax cheats" have unfortunately been used all too many times by the US Govt and the media, in defense of the FATCA law coming to life as of July 1st.
But those are no tax cheats...they are mostly law abiding, tax paying people simply living outside of the US, paying mostly higher taxes there than they would have to in the US.

I have been following the developments as it affects 7 Mio US expats, including many hundreds of thousands of Canadians, who are all unfairly treated by this dragnet style approach.
It is not about FEIE or the like...this is a living nightmare for many, as the US does only consider their own rules and perspectives (ex. special savings accounts held by US expats where they are getting tax benefits in their country, yet the IRS does not accept the tax benefit, or pension plans...they may tax investment value increases even if those pension plans are not 'touched' until pension age) etc.

Again, for me, I am beyond the Fbar/Fatca issue...it is clear that it is unfair and unjustified, as they should be moving towards RBT, my question was about the practicalities of complying during the time of transition between two countries ... I actually found the same link (thanks BTW!) ....I have currently too many tabs open in my browser to read...lol!!
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Yep, and the whole matter is well documented and has been discussed extensively. This is how the US tax system and the IRS work, well based on established US law. If you decide to become a LPR, this is part what you acknowledge. Complaining about the injustice of the system won't help you much here in the US, I guess. Best of luck.
 
The point that seems to be constantly missed by - or perhaps purposely avoided by - OTG is that by choosing to get a green card you are declaring your intention to BECOME RESIDENT in the US. The point of getting a green card is NOT to go live somewhere other than the US and then moan about being taxed, indeed if you do go live somewhere else you have abandoned residency and lose your green card and your IRS obligation along with it.

In SA I need to declare all my assets and liabilities to our tax authorities, inside and outside the country. And yes I pay tax on income earned overseas even if i have already paid tax on it there. I fail to see why FBAR or FATCA is any more onerous than what I do at the moment. In fact I relish the thought of being able to live somewhere where I don't have to jump through a thousand hoops to be able to move my own money to where I want it to be. It's just taken me a month of admin, forms and clearances to be able to move some money out of SA. When I make the final move it will probably take close to 6 months just to be able to move my money, and even if I don't the simple fact that I will become a non-resident for tax purposes triggers a capital gains tax liability on all my assets whether or not I actually sell them . So OTG, please don't tell me how much more reasonable my current tax regime is than the US. It's not.
 
EURO2014 said:
Yep, and the whole matter is well documented and has been discussed extensively. This is how the US tax system and the IRS work, well based on established US law. If you decide to become a LPR, this is part what you acknowledge. Complaining about the injustice of the system won't help you much here in the US, I guess. Best of luck.
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I wasn't. Just responding to Susie's assumption that there was no difference in Fbar reporting to the tax systems in other nations. Also, I was not intending to stir up Fatca/Fbar cr@p, but on the other hand, why come in here and lament about me bringing up and reminding of very important issues that certainly not everyone is thinking about. Only because YOU may have seen the 'well documented' topic here, does not mean everyone has, I guess ;)
 
SusieQQQ said:
The point that seems to be constantly missed by - or perhaps purposely avoided by - OTG is that by choosing to get a green card you are declaring your intention to BECOME RESIDENT in the US. The point of getting a green card is NOT to go live somewhere other than the US and then moan about being taxed, indeed if you do go live somewhere else you have abandoned residency and lose your green card and your IRS obligation along with it.
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I have not stated anywhere that I do not understand that, I have not started another debate on that. That's why I stated:
Again, for me, I am beyond the Fbar/Fatca issue...it is clear that it is unfair and unjustified, as they should be moving towards RBT, my question was about the practicalities of complying

SusieQQQ said:
In SA I need to declare all my assets and liabilities to our tax authorities, inside and outside the country. And yes I pay tax on income earned overseas even if i have already paid tax on it there. I fail to see why FBAR or FATCA is any more onerous than what I do at the moment.
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The emphasis is on "In SA" ... but once you live outside of SA, you will eventually no longer be required to file taxes to SA. FBAR/FATCA and CBT is different.

Again, my question was NOT about discussing FBAR/FATCA or CBT....as you can see from my original post.
 
OnTheGo said:
I have not stated anywhere that I do not understand that, I have not started another debate on that. That's why I stated:
Again, for me, I am beyond the Fbar/Fatca issue...it is clear that it is unfair and unjustified, as they should be moving towards RBT, my question was about the practicalities of complying



The emphasis is on "In SA" ... but once you live outside of SA, you will eventually no longer be required to file taxes to SA. FBAR/FATCA and CBT is different.

Again, my question was NOT about discussing FBAR/FATCA or CBT....as you can see from my original post.
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Suggest we simply drop this now, does not seem to add a lot of value to anyone, really...
 
OnTheGo said:
Sorry, who are you to dictate who is adding what on this forum to pass your "value" test? You have been here ..how long? 20 days?
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OTG, you somehow seem to be overly aggressive: my post says "Suggest we simply drop this now, does not seem to add a lot of value to anyone, really...", nobody is dictating anything here. However your response speaks for itself, I therefore repeat my earlier suggestion above, SusieQQQ has responded and clarified your concerns in detail already...
 
Hello Britsimon. I'm winner of DV 2014 and my CN is EU51XXX.Do you think if I'll have a chance to be interviewed?
Thank you!
 
kristi75 said:
Hello Britsimon. I'm winner of DV 2014 and my CN is EU51XXX.Do you think if I'll have a chance to be interviewed?
Thank you!
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I've answered by PM.

AS I said I wish I could be more optimistic for you - but all you can dfo is wait to see the VB in a couple of weeks time. Good luck to you....
 
Hello , so I would like to share my experience of the interview at the U.S embassy in London.

Our appointment was at 8am. At 7.15am we were standing at the the embassy gates, at 7.45am we were already in the building. They gave us a number so we waited until we were called up. At 8am we were called at the first window to give all the documents, I had all the required documents and a copy of each original, but she said that I had to have 2 copies of my marriage certificate as I had only one as instructed, she then did a second copy her self, with no fee :), then she took fingerprints of me , my husband and my son, however my daughter is 11 years so she didn't have to do that..She checked that all the documents are in order and we were seated to wait for the actual interview. 8.55am we were called to the other window and the very nice lady told us to do the oath (except my daughter) and asked some questions. "Do I work?", "Where were we going to live in the states?", "When are we going to go there?". She said that we have to enter US before our medical expires (not visa). "What does my husband do?". She also checked and told us to sign the documents ( 230) and said "Congratulations, I approve your application and we will have our visas within 10 days." 9.30am. we were out, and very very happy.

Thanks everyone for the helpful information
And Good Luck for those how will be having interviews, it is not as scary as I thought. :)))
 
Dangie said:
Hello , so I would like to share my experience of the interview at the U.S embassy in London.

Our appointment was at 8am. At 7.15am we were standing at the the embassy gates, at 7.45am we were already in the building. They gave us a number so we waited until we were called up. At 8am we were called at the first window to give all the documents, I had all the required documents and a copy of each original, but she said that I had to have 2 copies of my marriage certificate as I had only one as instructed, she then did a second copy her self, with no fee :), then she took fingerprints of me , my husband and my son, however my daughter is 11 years so she didn't have to do that..She checked that all the documents are in order and we were seated to wait for the actual interview. 8.55am we were called to the other window and the very nice lady told us to do the oath (except my daughter) and asked some questions. "Do I work?", "Where were we going to live in the states?", "When are we going to go there?". She said that we have to enter US before our medical expires (not visa). "What does my husband do?". She also checked and told us to sign the documents ( 230) and said "Congratulations, I approve your application and we will have our visas within 10 days." 9.30am. we were out, and very very happy.

Thanks everyone for the helpful information
And Good Luck for those how will be having interviews, it is not as scary as I thought. :)))
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Congratulations on successfully getting to the end of this journey.

Some clafification for those wondering about wether the whether the validity of when to enter the US is tied to the visa or medical exam: In the case of this OP, even though the CO told them they needed to enter the US before the expiration of their medical exam, the truth is the expiry date of the visa will be tied to that of the medical exam if the medical exam has less than 6 months validity. So people should not assume that they will be allowed to enter the US with an expired visa while their medical hasn't.
 
Sm1smom said:
Congratulations on successfully getting to the end of this journey.

Some clafification for those wondering about wether the whether the validity of when to enter the US is tied to the visa or medical exam: In the case of this OP, even though the CO told them they needed to enter the US before the expiration of their medical exam, the truth is the expiry date of the visa will be tied to that of the medical exam if the medical exam has less than 6 months validity. So people should not assume that they will be allowed to enter the US with an expired visa while their medical hasn't.
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Thanks.
I am sure You are right, I however say what I was told, they specifically told me to enter U.S. no later than the end of November. We had our medicals on 30 of May. :)
 
Dangie said:
Thanks.
I am sure You are right, I however say what I was told, they specifically told me to enter U.S. no later than the end of November. We had our medicals on 30 of May. :)
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That means for some reason, your medical was only valid for 6 months. May to November is 6 months :)
 
Sm1smom said:
That means for some reason, your medical was only valid for 6 months. May to November is 6 months :)
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Yep 6 months, but I kinda thought and think read somewhere that medicals usually valid only 6 months, So it possible that it can be valid longer than that ?
 
Is there any ways (filing a proper form or requesting it?) to make your first entry later than the validity of the medicals, and if yes, there is a way, it is advisable? I am talking about leaving for good after the interview in 8-10 months worst case scenario.
 
one said:
Is there any ways (filing a proper form or requesting it?) to make your first entry later than the validity of the medicals, and if yes, there is a way, it is advisable? I am talking about leaving for good after the interview in 8-10 months worst case scenario.
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Not as far as I know. If you cannot move for good within the time allowed on your visa (which is normally 6 months but can be less depending on medical expiry), then you should plan on taking a short activation trip within the allowed time - and then go back for good when you are ready (within 12 months after the initial activation).
 
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