Second Passports
Since moving to Uruguay I’ve been at times consumed with the idea of becoming a permanent non resident of the United States, or expatriating, for good.
The word ‘expat‘ carries with it the implied ‘idea’ that at some point you will ‘repatriate’ and return to your home country or you country of birth.
While getting off the tourist visa rolls and onto a residency program in the country you’ve moved to is one step in the (sometimes) long process, most of the people here who I speak with that have become residents have their eyes set on trying to become nationals and get their Uruguayan passport.
Not too surprisingly, most of this interest comes from those who are holding US passports, as the disadvantages of holding a US passport as an expat are becoming increasingly hard to ignore for those not in possession of second passports.
While there is a tax break for those that are working offshore or overseas or internationally, perversely, there is no break for those that are retired and trying to earn a ‘living’ from investment or trading income. Basically, whether or not you step foot in the US ever again you owe Uncle Sam from dollar one of your capital gains and income earnings — or so I’ve been told.
While you can renounce your citizenship, it is a process that necessitates you having another passport — since you cannot have a period of ’statelessness’ or ‘personal sovereignty’ that means that for some period until you renounce you will need to pursue and obtain a second passport
Second Passports
While second passports are not impossible to obtain in many jurisdictions, some of the cleaner or better second passports or travel documents can be difficult to secure without a lot of time or a lot of energy or a lot of money being spent.
Often second passport programs involve an ‘investment’ in the country you are contemplating relocating to. At times these will in reality be ‘non-refundable’ deposits or simple some cash to help grease the wheels. In some cases you may be fortunate in that the deposit can be in the form of a real estate investment that could conceivably hold some of its value over and above the thinly veiled bribe that other countries ask for in order to obtain legal residence or citizenship and passport or other appropriate travel documents.
In the country I am residing in, it is very easy to stay as a visitor with a Visitor visa and only check in with the government offices of immigration every 3 months, and take a day trip for border crossing to Buenos Aires Argentina. This may appeal to the PT or permanent traveler as he or she gets to maintain a very low profile with the immigration and naturalization authorities and the government in general.
It is also very easy to obtain residency if one doesn’t mind dealing with some thick red tape. While the bureaucracy is very heavy the costs are very low. It is just a matter of legalizing a birth certificate, proving a nominal income of something like 500 usd per month per emigre and showing up with a clean police record after an Interpol search.
Second passports can be given to those that have met the residency requirements and been legal residents for at least 3 years after an application process is completed.
