# US Renunciation: How to receive Loss of Nationality Certificate with no mailing address?



## streetindex (Jun 18, 2021)

Thanks for reading!

For those who have renounced US citizenship & successfully received their Loss of Nationality certificate, how did you go about doing it? 

I'm hoping there is no hesitation on the embassies' part when I list a post office box as my address. I am doing some traveling & plan to move aboard a sailboat so I will not be in one place for more than 6 months anyways. 

Any advice on mail forwarding or mailboxes?


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

streetindex said:


> Thanks for reading!
> 
> For those who have renounced US citizenship & successfully received their Loss of Nationality certificate, how did you go about doing it?
> 
> ...


Virtual Mailbox. From my research -- this one looks good.






Mail Forwarding & Virtual Mailbox Service


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www.usglobalmail.com





Sent from my Lenovo TB-8705F using Tapatalk


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## mattoleriver (Oct 21, 2011)

I don't think that very many people renounce their U.S. citizenship. I don't know anybody who has.There are lots of dual passport holders. My impression is that renunciation is something that is best left to those who suffer from having a bothersome excess of wealth.$$$$
Your's is probably a question best directed to an attorney and an accountant.


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## streetindex (Jun 18, 2021)

Stevenjb said:


> Virtual Mailbox. From my research -- this one looks good.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Awesome! Thanks for sharing. So much research goes into this. It's great to be pointed in the right direction : )


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

mattoleriver said:


> I don't think that very many people renounce their U.S. citizenship. I don't know anybody who has.There are lots of dual passport holders. My impression is that renunciation is something that is best left to those who suffer from having a bothersome excess of wealth.$$$$
> Your's is probably a question best directed to an attorney and an accountant.


And all this time I have been lamenting my lack of an excess of wealth. Not that I know it's bothersome, I will take a deep breath and get on cheerfully with my life.


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

There is a YouTuber called Nomad Capitalist who discusses renouncing US citizenship for financial reasons


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

I have no desire to renounce my US citizenship, but I was wondering about those who choose to do so. Can you survive in this world if you are not a citizen of any country at all?


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

There are about 12 million stateless people in the world, and while they are surviving, they are not to be envied. They typically are unable to cross national borders, at all, and also don't enjoy citizenship rights in the country they live in.

Remember those Thai kids that got trapped in a cave and had to be rescued a couple years ago? Three of them, and their coach, were stateless. The only reason they got Thai citizenship was the publicity, if they hadn't gotten themselves trapped they'd still be stateless today, along with many other "hill tribe" Thais.






Page doesn't exist


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As for the question of receiving mail, I highly recommend texashomebase.com. It's a family business that's been going for almost 20 years. I've used them for 5. Whenever I've needed any special handling of anything they've been quite helpful and on the ball. 

For the certificate in question, you'd give your texashomebase address to the state department, they'd mail it to texas, then Elaine or Dru at texashomebase would resend it to you by fed-ex or dhl international to you whenever you were going to be in one spot long enough for it to get to you. The service is popular with full-time RV people and should be perfect for a full-time liveaboard sailor too. I use the scanning option and only maybe once or twice a year have the original stuff forwarded. Like it or not, it's hard to completely eliminate all in-coming mail.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

streetindex said:


> Awesome! Thanks for sharing. So much research goes into this. It's great to be pointed in the right direction : )


If you choose to live aboard, and to sail, you will need an address to document your vessel. If you are a US citizen, you should document your vessel with the USA, rather than registering it with any state. 
When we spent several years sailing abroad, and living aboard full time, we used a mail drop/forwarding service, as mentioned above. That was before the days of internet or even GPS, so mail was our only option.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

mattoleriver said:


> I don't think that very many people renounce their U.S. citizenship.


"2020 saw 6,705 Americans renounce their citizenship, 260% more than 2019 when 2,577 Americans renounced. This number possibly would have been higher if U.S. Embassies worldwide had not been closed for large parts of the year due to COVID-19 regulations. If this trend continues 2021 renunciation numbers will be record-breaking."

Contrary to your belief that the main reason people would do this is to hide their wealth, this isn't true. Many people considered "US persons" by the IRS, resent having to file and pay US taxes when they do not live, nor earn money in the US. Some may never have stepped foot in the US, but are considered citizens because one of their parents was a US citizen.

I happen to know several people who have renounced their citizenship, and none of them are anywhere close to wealthy.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

So I would bet these people have citizenship from another country and do not want to have to deal with the paperwork or have the States get their nose in their affairs. Being Stateless is a real problem and not something to be after.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

citlali said:


> So I would bet these people have citizenship from another country and do not want to have to deal with the paperwork or have the States get their nose in their affairs. Being Stateless is a real problem and not something to be after.


Yes, the ones I know have Canadian citizenship and did it for those reasons. I agree that having no citizenship anywhere would present a lot of issues.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

In shopping for mail drops, understand that there are two types of services available. Some just do forwarding, they don't open the mail at all. They may scan the front of it for you. The other kind of service needs a durable limited power of attorney, and they open and scan your mail. Among the services that fully scan your mail, some simply email you the scans as they come in, while others provide an archival web site and notify you when you have something new on it to look at. 

I assume you've investigated the ramifications of renouncing US citizenship on things like your financial accounts and are prepared to close or internationalize them. Given that you are renouncing, you might want to select a mail scanning/forwarding service in some other country instead, and register your boat there.


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## streetindex (Jun 18, 2021)

eastwind said:


> In shopping for mail drops, understand that there are two types of services available. Some just do forwarding, they don't open the mail at all. They may scan the front of it for you. The other kind of service needs a durable limited power of attorney, and they open and scan your mail. Among the services that fully scan your mail, some simply email you the scans as they come in, while others provide an archival web site and notify you when you have something new on it to look at.
> 
> I assume you've investigated the ramifications of renouncing US citizenship on things like your financial accounts and are prepared to close or internationalize them. Given that you are renouncing, you might want to select a mail scanning/forwarding service in some other country instead, and register your boat there.


That is a really good observation. Being done with the US is the best part, no need to linger within it's systems. I really appreciate the mailing service breakdown!


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