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ghost · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 1693 Location: Saudi Arabia

Folks:

Canadians who also hold another passport (duel citizens) look like they will have to make a choice with regard to citizenship in the future, if the plans of Steven Harper and the Conservative Canadian Government go into effect in the future.

This whole issue came about after over 80 million dollars were spent in bringing home to Canada approximately 15.000 Lebanese Canadians this past summer. Many of those so called Canadians had obtained their Canadian Citizenship years ago, and then immediately went back to where they had come from (Lebanon). In essence they obtained Canadian Citizenship as a kind of 'insurance' (health care) and for the future pension benefits. Also the Lebanese Canadians who were brought back to Canada, at great expense, paid not a cent for their return home. Canada was the only country which did not charge the returnees.

Things came to a head last week when reports revealed that approximately 7,000 of those people in Lebanon who had been repatriated to Canada, have now gone back to Lebanon! Naturally, Harper and his supporters are furious at this turn of events, and they want to review the whole issue of who really is Canadian, and who the others are....essentially fraudsters who just want a passport of convenience. It is anticipated that the flow back to Lebanon will reach about 12.000 to 13.000 by Christmas 2006, and in effect this means that those 80 million dollars spent, were effectively wasted on people (Lebanese Canadians) who abused the system.

Even people like Ghost, who holds Citizenship from three countries, will have to make a choice in the future, if the Harper plans get the go ahead and are rubber stamped for approval and law.

Many Canadian teachers in Turkey, also hold British Citizenship, and they, too, will have to make a choice of either renouncing their British Citizenship, or choosing to effectively be Canadian, with a majority of time resident in Canada.

People like Yaramaz, and others, who have basically severed their links with Canada, would face a major dilemma and headache.

Ghost, McGill University, East Asian Languages.

thrifty · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1665 Location: chip van

Poor Yaramaz.

Golightly · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject:

do deceased persons of an ectoplasmic kind still need to have citizenship?

yaramaz · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:36 pm Post subject:

I dont have dual citizenship. If they kick me out I will be passport siz. How interesting. Limbo sounds fun.

yaramaz · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:36 pm Post subject:

And I havent severed ties to Canada- I still have bank accounts, a drivers license, investments, family, friends, etc there.

Ghost, dear fellow, stop using me as an example in so many of your arguments when half the time you are wrong about my situation. Clarify, dear man, clarify!

thrifty · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1665 Location: chip van

Have you transferred the funds from your pound account to a Canadian dollar account then?

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Where is the ectoplasmic EFLer ?

ghost · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 1693 Location: Saudi Arabia

yaramaz · Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:17 pm Post subject:

Am non resident for tax purposes. Rev Canada knows and they don't care about my money here.

ghost · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 1693 Location: Saudi Arabia

yaramaz · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:09 pm Post subject:

Last year my accountant went to ask the tax folk what kinds of Turkish forms I needed to hand in for my tax return and they told him none because I have been away so long they just declared me a non resident (without letting me know-- I had been wondering how to file when its almost impossible to get any real income statements in Turkey).