2lz2p wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 5:53 pm
This is due to US money laundering laws
I get more than just a little annoyed at being punished for somebody else's crimes. I don't money launder. I don't have enough money to launder even if I wanted to and I believe the great majority, perhaps all, expats living in whatever countries also have nothing to do with money laundering.
Instead of making life miserable for us, how about better detective work to stop money laundering? And if the USA is requiring the IAT format for international bank direct deposits, how about a law requiring
all banks and
all sources of direct deposits to use the IAT format instead of this nonsense about "Sorry, we don't use the IAT format."? What is so difficult about these sources using the IAT format? What's the hard part?
To me, it's right up there with the embassies refusing to issue income affidavits because despite whatever evidence we provide, it's too difficult for them to verify.
BULLSHIT! Tell us what documentation you need, let us obtain it, and start issuing the income affidavits again. Hey embassies, considering how much we were always exorbitantly charged for those affidavits, wouldn't it be worth it?
When politicians talk about helping people who have been left behind, how about helping us expats for a change too? If anyone ends up being left behind, that certainly includes us. The last time I checked, whether we are living on USA soil or not, we're still citizens and still pay taxes just like everybody else (well,
almost everybody else. A few choice people and businesses manage to get away with paying little or no taxes at all). While we're at it, let us use the Medicaid we paid into all our lives whether we're on USA soil or not. Just because we're not living on American soil doesn't mean any of us appreciate the idea that what we paid into for our entire careers gets to be used by everybody except us. For some strange reason, that doesn't seem fair to me . . .
Politicians, do you want my vote? Fine. Start giving me something to show for it.