US citizen with overseas parents

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<p>Doesn’t matter how much you pay there. You are still required to file a U.S. return every year. That is something you will have to do prior to being able to apply through FAFSA for any U.S. financial aid. There are penalties involved for not filing so it’s not something to be ignored. I believe that there is currently an amnesty that has been announced so you should inquire through an accountant in Perth who handles foreign filings. Trust me, the IRS will come after an ex-pat who hasn’t filed in a timely manner so it’s best to get current during an amnesty. You also have to file information re: any time a bank account has a balance of over $10,000. It’s a real PITA.</p>

<p>the 2 certainties in life: death & taxes…</p>

<p>Have they looked at Australian universities that offer a semester or more abroad with the US as an option? I had a friend who was at Sydney who spent a portion of his study at MIT.</p>

<p>It might be a good compromise.</p>

<p>Whoa, perthgirl, you just opened a can of worms regarding US citizens and taxes. You also need to submit a copy of your US tax return to colleges for any kind of financial aid.
Perhaps your daughter can choose to apply as a foreign student ( I assume she is also an Australian citizen) they do get some financial aid also.</p>

<p>If the differences in costs are to the point that Australian Universities cost $30k total, I’d think Jay555’s comment:</p>

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<p>is a good way to go. Plus, Australian degrees are accepted by US universities for grad school so she may want to go to an Australian university for undergrad with some possible study abroad in the US and then pursue a graduate degree in the US. </p>

<p>Assuming the Australian universities are 3-years, $10k/year is a great bargain…especially considering that’s lower than many public universities. If that includes a 4th honors year, even better.</p>

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<p>Here comes a silly question. Are you sure your daughter is a US citizen? I understand that children of US citizens are de facto citizens, but other countries have not always accepted dual nationalities, or dual citizenships. </p>

<p>See [Americans</a> born abroad < Jobs France | Expatica France](<a href=“http://www.expatica.com/fr/employment/employment_information/americans-born-abroad-28430.html]Americans”>http://www.expatica.com/fr/employment/employment_information/americans-born-abroad-28430.html)</p>

<p>While I think she should be, you might want to start the process for your daughter as it might involve registering birth certificates, obtaining a SSN, and perhaps a passport as well. </p>

<p>After all, she might some day run for President, and you know there are birthers watching people born in exotic locales. :)</p>

<p>cbreeze,</p>

<p>If the daughter is a citizen, she doesn’t have the option of applying with a different nationality. And even if she could, there would be no advantages whatsoever in doing so. </p>

<p>xiggi,</p>

<p>If this daughter was registered at the closest US consulate when she was born (and I suspect that she was from the tone of perthgirl’s writing), she should already have her passport and certificate of citizen birth abroad (or whatever the current name for the document is), and may also have her SSN. Happykid’s paperwork was ready the next day (Caracas, 1992) except for the Social Security Card that had to be issued in the US, and could only be mailed to an address in US territory. My mom forwarded that to me later on.</p>

<p>Whether or not a US citizen born abroad can run for president is a whole other discussion. Most people interpret the line in the consititution to indicate that the birth must be on US territory, but others believe that birthright citizenship is enough.</p>

<p>happymom,OP hasn’t lived in the US since she was 13. I doubt very much she has plans to move back to the US. It’s very likely that OP’s daughter has dual nationalities, she could choose to apply as either a US citizen or Australian citizen. Foreign students have diversity advantage, lots of LACs would welcome them and offer scholarships.</p>

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<p>I made that comment in jest. I know it had no relevance to this discussion.</p>

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<p>I do not doubt that this is true, but nationalities and citizenship can be trickier than they appear on the surface, especially when local laws might contradict the positions of the United States, which are often unilateral. People who were born in the United States with foreign parents have gotten in trouble when renewing their passports. Think rich petro-sheiks who thought it was a good idea to have their kids born in Los Angeles!</p>

<p>Without going into unnecessary details, I was born in the United States, but have multiple nationalities/passports in addition to my US citizenship. One of the additional nationalities is permanent; the other had to be renewed every ten years. Over the years, one country or the other has been at odds over issues of dual/double citizenship or nationalities, as they changed laws unilaterally. I know my parents have spent a small fortune in certified translations, apostilles, and other “stuff” our public officials deem important at THAT time. I always found comical that copies of birth certificates “expired” and needed to be reissued. </p>

<p>The bottom line is those issues are not as straightforward as a review of the internet might indicate.</p>

<p>Regardless, my sole recommendation is for the OP to start the process of verifying the current status of her daughter.</p>

<p>cbreeze -</p>

<p>An international student needs a visa in order to study in the US, and the US government will not issue a student visa for someone who it considers to be a citizen. An international applicant is much less likely to receive any aid at all, not to mention that that student is ineligible fir federally determined aid. An international student has strict employment limitations while in college, and almost no chance of finding a permanent job here after graduation. So no, not only would it be basically impossible to apply with the other nationality, it would be a pretty dumb move to give up the citizen’s advantages in the hope of a slight diversity bonus.</p>

<p>Those institutions that care about diversity usually are pretty happy to get dual nationals. They are much cheaper for the financial aid office, require no paperwork from the international student office, but still can be included in the international stats.</p>

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<p>As I’ve said before, a lot of LACs and some universities would offer scholarships, not loans to attract international students. Student visas usually are given freely to citizens of certain countries and the visas usually entitle them to part time employment during college years and one year of internship post grad. I just met one nice young man on the plane two days ago from Turkey who had a free ride to Carleton college and now working at Google. His brother is also attending Carleton, free ride. From my personal experience, there are a lot of similar stories. The OP hasn’t indicated that her D wanted to settle here. Lots of international students are working and living in the US post grad, just look around you.
OP’s daughter probably is not yet 18 and she can choose to be an Australian and the US government will never need to know.</p>

<p>Like Xiggi, I have dual nationalities and carry two passports.</p>

<p>Merit aid information - check out these tables (universities and LACs are separate tables selectable on the left), you can sort by columns such as % of students receiving merit aid or average amount of merit aid. Then you have to figure based on her stats whether she is in the running for merit aid at each school of interest.
[Best</a> Values in Private Colleges, 2011-12](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/privatecolleges/]Best”>Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts)</p>

<p>Just a guess, but I’d think some LAC would love to have overseas educated kids to provide diversity, without the hassle of visas. </p>

<p>A kid I know, American diplomatic family, got very preferential treatment at a few LAC due to his international upbringing and particular skill set, despite less than great grades. If your D is willing to try other places besides UCLA, she might be surprised. </p>

<p>My niece is, or was in the same situation, US citizen, born abroad, but always traveled on her US passport. For uni, she got her Australian citizenship, and is happily, and cheaply attending, while living at home, which seems to be the culture there. </p>

<p>I also have two nationalities, though need to get my other passport and citizenship up to date.</p>

<p>so many questions and so much advice. to clear things up a little, i was born in the US but moved to Aust when I was 13. I have dual citizenship. My D was born in Aus but got US citizenship a few years ago through my father. She has never lived in the US, just holidays. I was born in NYC. We enter the US on our US passports and Aus on our Aus passports.</p>

<p>The more I look into it the less it makes sense to go to the US for UG. It is really expensive and I am not convinced the education is much better. Yes in Aus most kids live at home when in Uni so it will cost a fraction of the US. We definitely will look into an Aus uni with a study abroad option.</p>

<p>Will have to look into filing taxes but to be honest I am nervous as I really can’t afford to pay twice, or even pay for an accountant to help me out. In Aust a high percentage of parents send their kids to private school and public universities. We are one of those and have been paying $20k per annum for elementary and high school (actually a bit less for elementary school but you get the idea). That plus crazy housing prices (average price in perth is around $500k and finding anything near that in a good neighbourhood is impossible) means while income is high savings are low with most people onynreally starting to save once university is over.</p>

<p>So thanks for all ypur advice but I think I might have to crush her dreams (or divert them to grad school at least!)</p>

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<p>You likely won’t have to pay twice but you still should rectify the situation. If you want to continue to be able to visit the U.S., especially on a U.S. passport, you will need to get yourself caught up with the filings. The IRS has been more than vigilant regarding this issue recently and they are incredibly resourceful about finding those who have not done so. If you google IRS tax amnesty, you can find an abundance of information available. The same issue will be relevant to your daughter, if not now as a student, in the future when she enters the workforce. As a U.S. citizen, she will be faced with the same requirements. If she does plan on attending a U.S. college at some point, even if it’s not until grad school, the issue for both of you will still be there.</p>

<p>Perthgirl,</p>

<p>It really isn’t all that hard to file the US tax forms for citizens living abroad. I used to do it every year. If you get stuck on something, the IRS is quick about responding to an email. Your closest US Consulate may also have a list of local volunteer tax advisors. Some of the diplomatic missions used to have IRS officers as part of the staff, but I don’t know if that is true any more.</p>

<p>cbreeze,</p>

<p>You are correct that there can be significant financial aid (even true free-rides that include books and transportation expenses) for the right international student. However, there are many, many more such scholarships available to US students.</p>

<p>Give it a try. Make sure your DD fills out and goes through what she needs at home but definitely check out some US schools too. Stetson, Eckert and Rollins in Florida where you have family have some good merit packages, and Catholic schools all over tend to give scholarships. UCLA would be a tough one to get any kind of money, but Loyola Marymount…well, there may be possibilities. NYU is pricey and without top stats, not going to ante up, but Fordham or Manhatta College are whole other stories.</p>

<p>@perthgirl As with some of the others here, my family also has multiple citizenships. In the end, the main question is whether your daughter is really fixed on UCLA or on school in the US. If the dream is UCLA, then all the suggestions here don’t really make a difference. If it is school in the US, there are indeed many schools who will be very interested in expanding their diversity by accepting your daughter. </p>

<p>Regarding the citizenship issue. As you say, you enter the US with your US passport, which is required by law. This means if your daughter goes to school in the US, she goes as an American, so the idea of not mentioning she is American, gets a bit sticky because the school will then be responsible for getting her a visa. They will then find she is American.</p>

<p>As said above, if you want aid, even Merit Aid, you will be required to provide your most recent tax forms. The tax issue is a sticky one. Clearly if your husband is not a US citizen you will file separately, thus at least his income isn’t taxed. But, the joy of being a US citizen is that you are required to pay taxes (your children as well if they have a job). This means that you have years back tax forms to file. Just Google IRS for the forms and isntruction. As far as the impact on you, it will all depend on your income and how the joint property is handled. With the exchange rate and weakness of the dollar, this past year was especially difficult to people around here (Switzerland) when they filed their US taxes. We also have an extraordinarily high-cost of living, but it certainly isn’t understood completely by the US schools. Good luck.</p>

<p>@perthgirl,
Before u completely abandon the dream, assess the tax situation. Perhaps you can get an initial idea using some inexpensive software, before you approach a tax professional. Here is one popular software option:
[TurboTax®</a> Tax Preparation Software, FREE Tax Filing, Efile Taxes, Income Tax Returns](<a href=“http://turbotax.intuit.com/]TurboTax®”>http://turbotax.intuit.com/)</p>