What are advantages and disadvantages of USA citizenship

B

bkhote

Registered Users (C)
Its not as superficial as it sounds. Let me start with few and then please add as you come across.

Advantages:
1) Right to vote at town/country level
2) Less docs to carry while traveling
2) No visa while visiting few country( how often u do this?)

Disadvantages:
1) Can't own agricultural land in India.
2) Tax implications.
3) How local agency would treat you.


Rgds
BK
 
You can keep any agricultural land you've inherited. You just can't acquire any new land on your own. As for taxes, it depends on your income. And the visa issue is a huge advantage, especially if you travel often.
 
bkhote said:
Its not as superficial as it sounds. Let me start with few and then please add as you come across.

Advantages:
1) Right to vote at town/country level
2) Less docs to carry while traveling
2) No visa while visiting few country( how often u do this?)

Disadvantages:
1) Can't buy agricultural land/farm house in India.
2) Tax implications.
3) How local agency would treat you.
4) cant vote
5) if your child US citizen and want to study in India then more fees.
6) one cant get Govt job.
7) one cant be MLA,MLC or MP.
8) No Ration Card, No voter ID card.

Rgds
BK
Click to expand...
Read the link for Tax
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Taxman_has_no_love_for_global_citizens/articleshow/1143445.cms
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bkhote said:
Its not as superficial as it sounds. Let me start with few and then please add as you come across.

Advantages:
1) Right to vote at town/country level
2) Less docs to carry while traveling
2) No visa while visiting few country( how often u do this?)

Disadvantages:
1) Can't own agricultural land in India.
2) Tax implications.
3) How local agency would treat you.


Rgds
BK
Click to expand...
What you say may be true for Indian citizens, but not everyone on these boards is from India.

I'm from the UK, which makes the list for me and my fellow country men:

Advantages-
1) The right to vote
2) Ability to work in some jobs that require US-citizen security clearance (*)
3) Ability to live and work anywhere in the US or Western Europe for any length of time

Disadvantages-
None I can think of

The number of documents one has to carry doesn't really change. With a Greencard you need passport + GC. With citizenship one could use just the US passport but for travel to Europe it is best to carry both US and UK passports to avoid filling in arrival documentation and waiting in long lines.

(*) For some security-cleared jobs it is very hard to get clearance if you hold multiple citizenships. I for one would be very unwilling to give up my British citizenship, so I guess those jobs would still be out of reach for me.
 
dms1

why western europe, should it not be the EU rather. Could you actually work in non EU western suropean countries- switzerland, norway or iceland for example? on the other hand could you not work in the baltic states, poland or czech republic, among other central and eastern wuropean nations?
 
schandrag said:
dms1

why western europe, should it not be the EU rather. Could you actually work in non EU western suropean countries- switzerland, norway or iceland for example? on the other hand could you not work in the baltic states, poland or czech republic, among other central and eastern wuropean nations?
Click to expand...

I guess you're right, though I would suggest EEA rather than EU because although EU-nation passport holders do not have an automatic right to work in non-EU EEA nations (and Switzerland), they do have an easier path than, say, a US citizen.
 
Oh man..I can't own land in India now...crap! I wish they told me beforehand...Oh wait, I can't even afford land anywhere. crap!..haha
 
IMO citizenship should be more than looking at tangible (mostly material ) benefits. One should become a citizen only if one truly wants to emotionally. Citizenship carries responsibilities along with rights/benefits.
 
schandrag said:
IMO citizenship should be more than looking at tangible (mostly material ) benefits. One should become a citizen only if one truly wants to emotionally. Citizenship carries responsibilities along with rights/benefits.
Click to expand...

I think you might have read a bit too much American propaganda. I'm sure the majority of people on this forum are seeking citizenship for purely practical purposes, which is why they are weighing up the pros and cons.
 
dms1 said:
I think you might have read a bit too much American propaganda. I'm sure the majority of people on this forum are seeking citizenship for purely practical purposes, which is why they are weighing up the pros and cons.
Click to expand...

Similarly, the majority of people here don't consider not being able to own agricultural land in India a disadvantage. Nor does the majority care about ration cards or being able to have a government job in India.
 
USER2345 , Mr. Vertigo,
You are naive or in don't care camp( which might change as you read ).
Property prices in India ( even second /third tier cities and towns) have increased
3 - 5 folds in the last 10 years. Now this is not inflation. Indian currency has
also appreciated recently( which is cooling off from a 10 year high appreciation
against dollars). And the future is only exiting.

I should have mentioned Indian v/s US citizenship in my question.
Its really funny, 10 years ago, asking above question would be a joke. But me and many
are considering this in itself means something.
And people who have visited India in the recent past would attest.

Any way, I don't want to make this thread a patriotic forum( for any one country).
I am exploring things like educating kids in India to avoid cost of education in USA and
things like that. Its just from point of view of convenience and does not reflect any emotional or idealogical shift.
 
Taxes anyone?

One big disadvantage that I can think of is Taxes.

As long as you're US citizen, you will have to pay taxes on your income (some exceptions). So even if you decide to settle down in some other country 20-30 years from now, you will be liable for US taxes.
 
yhoomajor said:
As long as you're US citizen, you will have to pay taxes on your income (some exceptions). So even if you decide to settle down in some other country 20-30 years from now, you will be liable for US taxes.
Click to expand...

It's not really any different from being a Permanent Resident. It's worth noting that there is a provision in the tax code that allows the IRS to tax you for 10 years after abandoning Permanent Residency if they deem that you are doing so for tax savings.
 
It is different.

Imagine 20-30 years from now China or India become the hot destination for businesses/jobs. If you're citizen of that country and on LPR in US, you could simply go back to your country and forget everything about US.

If you're US citizen, you will ALWAYS be liable for paying US taxes no matter where you live or work (some exceptions). You can file to get rid of US citizenship, but you would be at the mercy of US government whether to grant or deny that request.
 
bkhote said:
USER2345 , Mr. Vertigo,
You are naive or in don't care camp
Click to expand...

I clearly don't care - I'm a European and have no intention of going to India to buy agricultural land or to have ration cards. This is meant not as an insult to India, but as a simple fact of life. If you're Indian - that's fine, that's an issue for you to think about. But the majority of people getting citizenship are not Indian and thus do not qualify for that agricultural land or ration card anyway.

I'm not so sure what's so hard to understand here.
 
Not everyone on this board here is from Europe. Or from India or China for that matter.

People from different countries are here. I think original poster should have put "India" in the subject text to avoid confusion.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
yhoomajor said:
Not everyone on this board here is from Europe. Or from India or China for that matter.

People from different countries are here. I think original poster should have put "India" in the subject text to avoid confusion.
Click to expand...

Isn't that the point though? Not everyone cares about agricultural land in India, just like not everyone cares about losing German citizenship when acquiring American. Things need to be put into context, and your suggestion about putting India into the subject text is a sound one.
 
yhoomajor said:
Not everyone on this board here is from Europe. Or from India or China for that matter.

People from different countries are here. I think original poster should have put "India" in the subject text to avoid confusion.
Click to expand...
In which case it should be moved to the OCI forum too since I believe that is specifically for issues with giving up Indian citizenship.

In general, people in these forums need to be more aware of the fact that there are many nationalities represented here. In this case, it was fairly clear from the original posting what the poster's nationality is. However, I frequently see questions along the lines of "I'm in the US on an (X5) visa and am planning to fly home through (Turkmenistan). What paperwork do I need?". Answering such questions without knowledge of the poster's citizenship is impossible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top