Advantage/Disadvantage of U.S. Citizenship

[CdnInOhio]

I've been thru all the visas and forms mentioned on this site.
(TN, L1B, H1B, Work Auth, Advance Parole, Green cards and others)
We are all Canadian citizens. We have been living in the U.S. as permanent residents for almost 5 years. My next (and last) descision is to obtain U.S. citizenship (dual with Canadian).

This is a big descision and I can only find advantages to obtaining dual citizenship. My question is : Are there any disadvantages, particularily back in Canada by us getting American citizenship ???
I worked in Canada for 20 years before moving and I think I should be able to claim retirement social security from Canada. I realize that I will still be a full fledged Canadian citizen, but can obtaining American citizenship cause me any disadvantages that anyone can think of.

Note to everyone who posts here :
Very few people talk about how expensive it is to process all the forms that are being referenced. Our family of four has spent well over $10,000 on forms and fees to become premanent residents in the U.S. So beware, and check out all the fees multiplied by each family member.

[Reba]

The main disadvantage that I can think of is that once you are a US citizen, you have to file taxes with the IRS until you die. Regardless of where you're living. So you could move back to Canada permanently, or to Europe or China, and the IRS still wants to know how much money you're making. Your children may resent that in later life, if they are not allowed to choose for themselves. There have been more than one family here lately whose children have resented their US citizenship later in life, but to renounce it later is near impossible.

Plus, the oath itself can be irksome to some people.

The oath of allegiance is:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

I won't say it. Not even with my fingers crossed.

Plus, you'd be put on the rosters for jury duty. To some that is a con, to others a pro. I guess it depends on what you think of the justice system.

[Steven]

My question is : Are there any disadvantages, particularily back in Canada by us getting American citizenship ???

There are only two significant ones, the rest of it is obvious such as jury duty and so on.

The two you may not be aware of are: (a) selective service registration, which basically means that males in your family aged 18-24 have to register for the draft - however even with the current two wars they didn't call a draft so personally I think being opposed to being in that system is more paranoia than anything else, all countries have a method of drafting people, it's just the US system is more overt than others.

And (b) if you are a US citizen, you must file a 1040 every year for the rest of your life. Doesn't matter where you live. As long as your income is under the foreign exclusion limit ($87,600) plus various deductions (which brings it up to around $100,000) there is no US tax to pay if your tax moves outside the US however it's worth bearing in mind.

You have to be earning a pretty hefty amount to be stuck with any US tax to pay (the idea was to stop rich US citizens moving off-shore to avoid US taxes) but there is a possibility of a problem there.

If you've been an LPR for more than eight years you have to file a 1040 and an 8854 for ten years after giving up LPR status if you leave anyway, so once again I think it's something people get a bit paranoid about but it can be a genuine problem in certain situations. I don't think people realize they've really crossed the bridge on this one though when they become an LPR.

[Reba]

The two you may not be aware of are: (a) selective service registration, which basically means that males in your family aged 18-24 have to register for the draft -

[/quote]

Male applicants for permanent residency have to register as well, it's part of the I-485 application form. So he's already registered. IF he has any male children however, they will have to register at age 18. And it is a felony offence to not register. Even illlegals are supposed to register at age 18!

[Steven]

They keep talking about scrapping it because it's so utterly pointless (you have to have an SSN after all so they can call you up by that), I suspect in a few years it probably will have been scrapped.

[CdnInOhio]

Thanks for all the good information.

As for the oath, I have seen it before and I was figuring that I would have my fingers crossed when I say it. That might help a bit.

As for the draft registration, I was told that my son would need to register even if he is an LPR. So there is no difference between LPR and citizenship with respect to that.

The point about us having to fill out U.S. taxes for the rest of our lives may be a factor. There is an outside chance that my wife and myself could end up living in Canada at some point. If for no other reason we may do it as a stop gap measure for health care purposes between retirement and medicare. I'm figuring that dual citizenship would allow us to move to Canada between 55 and 65 and then retire in the U.S. after 65. Any thoughts on this option ???

Jury duty is expected. I've been told that we will be called for it within the first year of citizenship. It will be a nuisance, but it may also be interesting. I'm not counting this as a negative.

My children were both young when we moved and really do not know anything other than there lives in the U.S. I expect that they will plan to live out there lives in the U.S. (but with dual citizenship who really knows, I never expected to move here). I look at the dual citizenship as an advantage for the kids to be able to apply for jobs in both countries. Without the U.S. citizenship they would not be able to take a government job in the U.S.

Again thanks for all your input. So far, no negatives big enough to stop us from making the plunge.

[Steven]

The point about us having to fill out U.S. taxes for the rest of our lives may be a factor. There is an outside chance that my wife and myself could end up living in Canada at some point. If for no other reason we may do it as a stop gap measure for health care purposes between retirement and medicare. I'm figuring that dual citizenship would allow us to move to Canada between 55 and 65 and then retire in the U.S. after 65. Any thoughts on this option ???

If you plan on leaving and coming back, citizenship is really the only practical way if you're already an LPR.

Doing a 1040 and a 2555-EZ every year is really quite simple, you just take the amount from your T1, convert into USD, put it down on the 2555-EZ, claim that as a deduction on the 1040 and you owe zero. It only becomes hard if you earn a fair bit over the foreign exclusion limit while living in Canada, i.e. in excess of $87,600 plus various other deductions which gets you up to around $100,000 roughly.

[CdnInOhio]

Thanks again for all the info.

The applications were mailed the other day .... ironically they were mailed on Canada Day.