The Franco-American Flophouse: US Citizenship Renunciation Fees to be Raised 422%

Victoria Ferauge on the increase in fees for citizenship renunciation (looks like a tax grab to me):

Well, its a complicated labor-intensive procedure:

“The CoSM demonstrated that documenting a U.S. citizen’s renunciation of citizenship is extremely costly, requiring American consular officers overseas to spend substantial amounts of time to accept, process, and adjudicate cases. For example, consular officers must confirm that the potential renunciant fully understands the consequences of renunciation, including losing the right to reside in the United States without documentation as an alien. Other steps include verifying that the renunciant is a U.S. citizen, conducting a minimum of two intensive interviews with the potential renunciant, and reviewing at least three consular systems before administering the oath of renunciation. The final approval of the loss of nationality must be done by law within the Directorate of Overseas Citizens Services in Washington, D.C., after which the case is returned to the consular officer overseas for final delivery of the Certificate of Loss of Nationality to the renunciant.”

And demand for this service is strong yep, they say that.  450 USD, they say, was already below cost and they are just raising the fee in order to not lose more money on the service.

Now I’m just an old lady and I don’t pretend to be the brightest crayon in the box but if the goal here is to “break even” then they are looking at this all wrong.  Read the outline of the procedure again. Does that sound efficient to you?  Just the assumption that any US citizen showing up to renounce his US citizenship doesn’t really understand what he/she is doing and has to have it explained ad nauseum intensive interviews? and then be sent off to a corner like a little kid to reflect on it before being allowed to come back and do the deed, is just ridiculous.  Right there Id say just treating people like adults and assuming that they do know their own mind would save a lot of time, money and hassle all around.

And the narrative that will come out of this fee raise is not likely to focus on “cost recovery” at US consulates around the world but on what is going to be perceived as a punitive act on the part of the US government.  It looks like they are so embarrassed by the renunciation numbers and the lines to renounce at the US consulates that they are looking for ways to reduce or slow down the demand.  Think about that.  Has the state of US citizenship in the world really come to the point where the US government thinks that Americans have to be actively discouraged from renouncing?

The Franco-American Flophouse: US Citizenship Renunciation Fees to be Raised 422%.