@Steve *********

I was wrong but still - if you’re high net worth / salary it is expense. All assets are marked to market and deemed sold. You’ll then pay capital gains on all that.

So if you’re retired and not high worth the 120k exclusion is more than enough to warrant not bothering with changing citizenship. Not too mention the cost of obtaining another one. And getting Thai citizenship? Highly unlikely. Purchase an island citizenship? If they aren’t on Thailand’s list allowing visas that would be a spectacular self own.

It’s expensive and only makes sense if

A. Your insanely wealthy (e.g. the fb billionaire who’s taken Singapore citizenship)

B. You have enough lawyers and offshore shell corporations to hide a lot of your assets

C. You have enough accountants to handle all that

Not worth it

@Marty ********

yes. They adjust the exclusion each year. About the only passport you can get without a lot of expense is an Irish passport based on parent/grandparent Irish connections (unless they’ve tightened it). So at 120k, it’s not to bad as a retiree. And the FATCA thing is a minor nuisance. I basically cut and paste it each year.

@Marty ********

that could be wrong but either way - it’s not cheap and you’ll need citizenship elsewhere. With the 90k exclusion in place most retired expats don’t have to pay any tax as long as they don’t exceed the exclusion. After that it starts at top rate (thanks Bush)

@Marty ********

it’s expensive.

There is a tax paid on all your assets.

@Shane ****

doesn’t matter. It’s expensive.

@Marty ********

nope. They calculate what you would have paid over your life. It’s extremely expensive

@Albert ******

not true. You’ve always had to report all income to the IRS. FATCA is online and takes about 5 minutes. The intent is to catch big fish. For the rest of us it’s not a big deal.

Renouncing US citizenship triggers a payment of roughly what the US thinks you will owe in taxes for the rest of your life. Ouch.

@Jim *******

that’s what I figured. I’d have to top up the bank account and jump thru a few more hoops. I didn’t use an agent for my O non immigrant. I probably will for this. I saw someone recommend thaivisa but over on Reddit there’s some pretty strong statements about the owner being a salubrious and the visas being somewhat dodgy.