# Am I an American Expat? (Dual Citizen)



## dudelove (Jan 14, 2014)

Hi Everyone, I'm a first time poster.

My mother is from the USA, My father is 100% Canadian.

I was born in Canada and never lived or worked a day of my life in the United States. I do however have dual citizenship. I got an American Passport about 20 years ago when I was around 16 years of age.

My mom encouraged me to get a US passport because she always was proud of America and told me it would be great to have in case if I ever wanted to move or work there one day. I guess it doesn't really matter the reason, but I am however losing sleep over this and it's causing a lot of stress. Does anyone know if this means I'm an American expat?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Dude Love


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

What's the question?

You have an American passport - are you asking whether you are an American citizen?

What does the passport tell you?


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

you are a dual citizen ...always keep both passports up to date


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

You are a dual citizen, and as far as the IRS is concerned, an "overseas taxpayer" (or American citizen resident overseas). 
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Is there a 99% Canadian?


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

Expat? No. An expat (short for expatriate) is someone who is residing outside of the country of their upbringing. Since you were born and raised in Canada and are still living in Canada, then you are not an expat. It could be argued that if you moved to the US, you would be a Canadian expat in the US.

As a dual Canadian/US citizen you have the right to live/work in either country. Note that US citizens are expected (by US law!) to identify themselves as US citizens to US immigration officials and to leave/enter the US on US passports. So you really should have a valid US passport and use that if you travel to/from the US.

As a US citizen, you are liable to file US tax returns. If you haven't been doing so, you will want to rectify that situation fast. Tax treaties mean that you are unlikely to be double taxed on income.

As a US citizen, you should also have registered for Selective Service when you were 18. You are outside the age range now but there might be consequences (which can include fines and prison time) if you did not register. 

More info here:
Selective Service System: Who Must Register?
Selective Service System: Registration Is The Law

You have rights as a US citizen but you also have responsibilities. You might want to consult with a lawyer familiar with all of this to make sure that you don't run into any unexpected trouble with US authorities. I'm not trying to scare you but you need to deal with these issues. Many people are in the same boat (some don't even know that they are US citizens) but you may need some professional help to get yourself sorted out.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Please, don't scare the original poster unnecessarily. I don't think anybody has been prosecuted for a Selective Service violation since 1986, a violation must be willful and intentional to be prosecutable, and the statute of limitations generally runs out (and would have in the original poster's case) when the individual reaches his 31st birthday.

The original poster might have difficulty qualifying for U.S. federal government student aid, but even that problem is surmountable and, I strongly suspect, not something he would be worried about as a 36 year old lifelong resident of Canada.

....Turning to the positive, Dudelove, you might be eligible to vote in U.S. federal government elections (House of Representatives, Senate, President). If you are, you would vote by mail in the district that includes the place where your mother was last resident in the United States. Not all states allow this "one degree of separation" voting, but some do. Do you happen to know which state she lived in just before she moved to Canada?


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

I'm not trying to scare him - in fact, I said exactly that. Regardless of Selective Service, the more serious issue is probably the filing of US tax returns. That needs to be addressed. And he really needs a US passport to travel to/from the US.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

"...But there might be consequences (which can include fines and prison time) if you did not register" is scary! Fortunately those are most emphatically not risks for the original poster.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

MarylandNed said:


> I'm not trying to scare him - in fact, I said exactly that. Regardless of Selective Service, the more serious issue is probably the filing of US tax returns. That needs to be addressed. And he really needs a US passport to travel to/from the US.


The sound of music ... 

If OP is past the age range for Select Service - so what. When was the last time the US had an activation call or someone was actually prosecuted for not registering?

Does OP need a US passport? Only if he plans to enter the US. How many US citizens do not have a passport?

OP has not filed US tax reports. He can do that without much effort. Bevdevorges posted a great IRS link a while back which addressed a similar situation.


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## DavidMcKeegan (Aug 27, 2012)

I definitely think the bigger issue here (the only real issue) is getting caught up on your US taxes. You will definitely want to report those Federal returns, along with any foreign bank accounts (if the balance of all accounts is more than 10K total) as soon as possible. With all the FATCA regulations coming into effect, you are better safe than sorry, and should just get caught up.

Fortunately there is the Streamlined filing. With that you can file the last three years of returns, and six years of FBAR (if needed), and be considered caught up. You would likely be fine to do a quiet disclosure even (i.e. not formally fill out the Streamlined questionnaire), as it is unlikely you are on the IRS radar.

As said earlier, with the tax treaty in place between the US and Canada, it is unlikely that you will owe much (if anything) to the US, so it should just be a matter of paperwork.

Hope this helps! 
Best of luck,
David


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

twostep said:


> The sound of music ...
> 
> If OP is past the age range for Select Service - so what. When was the last time the US had an activation call or someone was actually prosecuted for not registering?


There are other consequences for not registering in addition to prison or fines regardless of how unlikely the OP would suffer those particular penalties.

Registering for the Draft: It's Still the Law

_Penalties for Failure to Register for the Draft

Men who do not register could be prosecuted and, if convicted, fined up to $250,000 and/or serve up to five years in prison. In addition, men who fail to register with Selective Service before turning age 26, even if not prosecuted, will become ineligible for:

Student Financial Aid - including Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans.

U.S. Citizenship - if the man first arrived in the U.S. before his 26th birthday.

Federal Job Training - The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) offers programs that can train young men for jobs in auto mechanics and other skills. This program is only open to those men who register with Selective Service.

Federal Jobs - men born after December 31, 1959 must be registered to be eligible for jobs in the Executive Branch of the Federal government and the U.S. Postal Service.

In addition, several states have added additional penalties for those who fail to register.
_



twostep said:


> Does OP need a US passport? Only if he plans to enter the US. How many US citizens do not have a passport?


Isn't that what I said? That he needs a US passport if he's going to travel to the US? The percentage of USC's who don't have a US passport is irrelevant to the OP. Many USC's don't have passports because they don't venture outside the US. The OP is already outside the US so if he wants to ever travel there he will require a US passport. That's all I said so not sure what you're adding here.



twostep said:


> OP has not filed US tax reports. He can do that without much effort. Bevdevorges posted a great IRS link a while back which addressed a similar situation.


Did I say it would require "much effort"? All I said was that it needs to be done. USC's are liable to file US tax returns wherever they live in the world.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

MarylandNed said:


> Penalties for Failure to Register for the Draft


I'm sure the original poster -- he's now in his late 30s and has lived his entire life in Canada -- is _terrified_ of possibly not being able to get a small U.S. federal government scholarship to train as an auto mechanic in the United States. 

...Look, that's what we call a nonmaterial piece of information given the circumstances of the individual in question. Thanks for sharing, but odds are extremely high the original poster simply doesn't care. Moreover, there's absolutely nothing he can do about it since he doesn't own a time machine and cannot teleport to the point in time when he was half his present age. So why on earth are we discussing Selective Service registration?

And, finally, I'm not even sure the original poster has yet clearly indicated that he is male. She may be female.


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

BBCWatcher said:


> I'm sure the original poster -- he's now in his late 30s and has lived his entire life in Canada -- is _terrified_ of possibly not being able to get a small U.S. federal government scholarship to train as an auto mechanic in the United States.
> 
> ...Look, that's what we call a nonmaterial piece of information given the circumstances of the individual in question. Thanks for sharing, but odds are extremely high the original poster simply doesn't care. Moreover, there's absolutely nothing he can do about it since he doesn't own a time machine and cannot teleport to the point in time when he was half his present age. So why on earth are we discussing Selective Service registration?
> 
> And, finally, I'm not even sure the original poster has yet clearly indicated that he is male. She may be female.


Well done on picking out one restriction. However, restrictions on getting a job with the federal government and knowing that individual states have added their own restrictions are facts that might be worth knowing. Even if the chances are that the selective service issue will not be an issue for the OP, it's good to know and also people in the same situation read these posts. Knowing about selective service requirements and penalties might be useful for a wider audience might it not?


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Yes, and that's why if you were helpful you would have posted, "Male U.S. citizens regardless of place of residence, and all U.S. residents regardless of legal status, are required to register with U.S. Selective Service at age 18. Since you're age 36 that's a moot point, and there's nothing you can do to go back in time, but for others it may be useful."

There was absolutely no point in trying to scare our original poster, in particular because the consequences to him (her?) are not at all scary in the circumstances.

No, you didn't have to yell "Fire!" so to speak. That wasn't right.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

One way or another, the OP hasn't turned up here since a few hours after making his or her original post...
Cheers,
Bev


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