Steps after US citizenship [living abroad]

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Asylee104

Registered Users (C)
Hello,

I've been a long time lurker on the forums.

We will be getting our citizenship sometime in January 2010. After that we plan to move back to our home country (india). Someone told us that US citizens living abroad HAVE to report their whereabout to local police authorities of the country after every 6 months or so....

Can someone please tell me if this is a necessary step after US ciizenship or this is an option and not mandatory.

According to this US govt website it does not seem like a mandatory step: "If you are planning to live abroad, you should also take advantage of our "Register With Embassies" program. Registering at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate (in the country you are living in) makes your whereabouts known, in the event of an emergency. During any kind of emergency, American consular officers will be able to reach you...if we know where you are."

Can someone shed some light?
 
Asylee104 said:
According to this US govt website it does not seem like a mandatory step: "If you are planning to live abroad, you should also take advantage of our "Register With Embassies" program. Registering at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate (in the country you are living in) makes your whereabouts known, in the event of an emergency. During any kind of emergency, American consular officers will be able to reach you...if we know where you are."

Can someone shed some light?
Click to expand...

It is pretty much intended to help you. I can see at least one advantage,
if you lose your passport etc you can easily get replacement if you register.

But if you don't want that kind of help I don't think you need to register.
It is totally up to you.
 
Asylee104 said:
Hello,

I've been a long time lurker on the forums.

We will be getting our citizenship sometime in January 2010. After that we plan to move back to our home country (india). Someone told us that US citizens living abroad HAVE to report their whereabout to local police authorities of the country after every 6 months or so....
Click to expand...

If by local police you mean Indian police, then you should check out the Indian
immigration laws instead of American laws. American embassy in India may not
remind American citizens to report to Indian police regardless of the Indian law requires
it or not (just check the website of Indian embassy in DC to see if Indian Embassy
reminds Indian citizens to report AR-11 form after each move or not or warn Indian
citizens not to vote in American political election or not)

American laws requires alien to report each moves. Other countries must have similar
laws that can be loose or tougher than American laws. And just like American can deport
a non US citizen other countries can also deport an American citizens to USA.

So if you live in India as a US citizens, there are two sets of law
you need to be familair with. One set is Indian laws regarding non-Indian-citizens living in India,
the other set of laws is US laws regarding US citizens living outside USA.

By the way, since India is your home country, you can get a PIO card after you become a citizen of USA.
You can study the terms of PIO card and get to learn the rights and responsibility of PIO card holders
living and working in India
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Asylee104 said:
Hello,

I've been a long time lurker on the forums.

We will be getting our citizenship sometime in January 2010. After that we plan to move back to our home country (india). Someone told us that US citizens living abroad HAVE to report their whereabout to local police authorities of the country after every 6 months or so....

Can someone please tell me if this is a necessary step after US ciizenship or this is an option and not mandatory.

According to this US govt website it does not seem like a mandatory step: "If you are planning to live abroad, you should also take advantage of our "Register With Embassies" program. Registering at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate (in the country you are living in) makes your whereabouts known, in the event of an emergency. During any kind of emergency, American consular officers will be able to reach you...if we know where you are."

Can someone shed some light?
Click to expand...

There are two things

1. US State Dept 'recommends' that you as USCitizen register with local US Consulate/Embassy. This is optional and intended to help you incase you need help/evacuation etc.

2. The host govt where you are planning to live (India) may (and does) require all foreign citizens to register with local police/ministry of home. This is a requirements and not optional. However, if you get OCI/PIO , then these requirements are relaxed.

And then there are whole set of other things like filing your US taxes, keeping your address current with various US Govt agencies as you see fit etc. And there are forum threads on this site dealing with all that in Life After Citizenship, Indian OCI/PIO category.
Hope that helps.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
2. The host govt where you are planning to live (India) may (and does) require all foreign citizens to register with local police/ministry of home. This is a requirements and not optional. However, if you get OCI/PIO , then these requirements are relaxed.

Slight correction : If you get OCI these requirements are relaxed. If you get PIO you will need to register yourself every six months.
 
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