His wife died a few years ago. Last winter he fell in love with a US man and has decided to move to San Francisco. The US now allows dual citizenship, and Richard was told he could reinstate his US citizenship simply by applying. He did, and months passed without his citizenship status getting updated. Months.
Last week his partner wrote Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office for help in shaking a response out of the bureaucracy. He got a call from an aide Thursday. By Friday Federal agencies had confirmed that Richard really never stopped being a citizen. Pelosi’s office set up an appointment with the passport office for 10 am Monday so he can apply for and pickup a new US passport.
It shouldn’t be true, but I gotta believe the results would not be so dramatic if his member of Congress was John Boehner. Bureaucrats are [needfully] sensitive to the political winds, and Nancy is in power and I’m guessing that the bureaucrats are expecting her to remain on top and to be joined by a Democratic President.
This is a good thing.
The story also demonstrates another facet of Speaker Pelosi. She is great on constituent issues and hasn’t become imperial and intoxicated with power. A good woman with good San Francisco values.
Taking care of her community is in her character. When our church turned 150 seven years ago, Rep. Pelosi sent a personal letter of congratulations and her office was effusive in their comments about our organization. [State Senator Carol Migden’s office, in contrast, said they couldn’t — and didn’t — send any greetings. They said that their quota of congratulatory stationery for the year had been used up. Really, that’s what they told me.] Rep. Pelosi continues to take care of the district even though she has additional responsibilities and enough power to turn the head of most politicians.
Congratulations, Richard! Thank you, Nancy!
I just hope that he back-files all his taxes ’cause legally you need to file a tax report every year while you’re a citizen. Of course, you get to write off any taxes paid to another country, so he probably won’t owe anything, but they can still be obnoxious about the whole thing.
Yep, valid point. The CPA in our family says that any penalty would be based on the tax owed… which is likely to be $0 for an ex-pat.
I can always send Richard‘s business card. He should probably talk to a tax professional!