The Association of Accidental Americans (AAA) and nine individuals have submitted a complaint against the US Department of State.
The lawsuit alleges that the US violated its own constitution when its suspended voluntary expatriation services in American embassies and consulates around the world during the pandemic.
The move follows a fundraising request the association sent to its supporters in September 2021 to collect $25,000 (£18,5000, €21,600) to fund legal costs.
The plaintiffs, all US citizens residing in Europe and Asia, wish to renounce their American citizenship due to “the US government’s discriminatory treatment of its citizens residing abroad”, the AAA said.
Americans overseas and their foreign financial institutions are subject to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), which requires them to share their financial and personal information with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for tax purposes.
This is because the US has a citizenship-based taxation system.
Fifth Amendment breach?
The association and the nine individuals claim that “the right to renounce US nationality is a fundamental, natural and inherent right protected by the US constitution”.
“The State Department’s suspension of renunciation-related services is forcing plaintiffs to remain US citizens against their will.”
The complaint states that covid “cannot justify a blanket suspension” of these types of services, especially since many US missions have re-started providing non-immigrant visa services for foreign nationals.
As a result, they argue that, in not resuming citizenship renunciation services, the US government is discriminating against its own citizens in favour of non-residents.
They added that, in the “rare cases” where embassies and/or consulates have not halted such processes, applicants “are still forced to wait months just to schedule an appointment to take the renunciation oath”.
The AAA and the nine individuals believe this to be a violation of their ‘Fifth Amendment Due Process’ rights.
Fabien Lehagre, president of the AAA, said: “Fatca and other related laws targeting and placing heavy burdens on US citizens abroad have left accidental Americans with little choice but to renounce US citizenship.
“The government has already illegally burdened exercise of the right to renounce by imposing a record-high $2,350 fee as a precondition to exercise this right.
“My organisation is currently challenging this fee in federal court. Now, the US government is placing additional restrictions on renunciation by indefinitely suspending the services required to effect renunciation.”
