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  1. The reason this never came up for you before is because when you were an American Citizen you entered the country by right. This means that as an American the government could not legally deny you access to your own country. As such their was no reason for them bring up your past conviction. However, now that you are no longer a US citizen you no longer have an unfettered right to enter the country. You are now subject to the same rules as any foreign national, which means that if you have what the US Government considers a serious criminal conviction on your record you can be refused entry. Unfortunately I think this means that you are going to continue to experience delays when entering the country. What will happen is that when you arrive at Customs the USCIS officer at the primary inspection point will run your passport and see that there is a conviction on your record, you will then be sent to the secondary screening area where another officer will look up exactly what you were convicted of and check their rule book to see if it is considered serious enough to deny you entry. Every foreign national is subject to these rules, so I don’t think it is the fact that you renounced that is causing this issue. It is just that the US is notoriously up tight and picky about admitting people with any kind of criminal history. I live in Canada near the US border and we hear stories all the time of people who have been denied access to the US because of what most would consider a minor bloch on their record.

  2. The reason this never came up for you before is because when you were an American Citizen you entered the country by right. This means that as an American the government could not legally deny you access to your own country. As such their was no reason for them bring up your past conviction. However, now that you are no longer a US citizen you no longer have an unfettered right to enter the country. You are now subject to the same rules as any foreign national, which means that if you have what the US Government considers a serious criminal conviction on your record you can be refused entry. Unfortunately I think this means that you are going to continue to experience delays when entering the country. What will happen is that when you arrive at Customs the USCIS officer at the primary inspection point will run your passport and see that there is a conviction on your record, you will then be sent to the secondary screening area where another officer will look up exactly what you were convicted of and check their rule book to see if it is considered serious enough to deny you entry. Every foreign national is subject to these rules, so I don’t think it is the fact that you renounced that is causing this issue. It is just that the US is notoriously up tight and picky about admitting people with any kind of criminal history. I live in Canada near the US border and we hear stories all the time of people who have been denied access to the US because of what most would consider a minor bloch on their record.

  3. One thing I’ve learned is that alcohol-related convictions like DUI are permanent. That is apparently so that the “3 strikes you’re out” law can apply. So if you were arrested in 1975 for DUI and again in 2015, it’s two strikes, and the next time you go to jail. This is what I’ve heard, anyway, and I suppose it is the same for foreigners as for Americans.

    I am still wondering why they took an hour to check me as a foreigner but apparently never bothered when I was a US citizen. The answer that “We don’t mess with Americans” may simply mean that a 39-year-old DUI conviction could be grounds (but isn’t) to deny entry to a foreigner but not to an American. So maybe I was “flagged” before, as an American, but the full check was not done, but this time, the same flag triggered a “full check” procedure. So what if a native-born German had had the same conviction? Would he have been “fully checked” also upon every attempt re-entry? In other words, I am still wondering if the combination of US birthplace and foreign passport is the cause of trouble, rather than the actual 39-year-old arrest record.

  4. One thing I’ve learned is that alcohol-related convictions like DUI are permanent. That is apparently so that the “3 strikes you’re out” law can apply. So if you were arrested in 1975 for DUI and again in 2015, it’s two strikes, and the next time you go to jail. This is what I’ve heard, anyway, and I suppose it is the same for foreigners as for Americans.

    I am still wondering why they took an hour to check me as a foreigner but apparently never bothered when I was a US citizen. The answer that “We don’t mess with Americans” may simply mean that a 39-year-old DUI conviction could be grounds (but isn’t) to deny entry to a foreigner but not to an American. So maybe I was “flagged” before, as an American, but the full check was not done, but this time, the same flag triggered a “full check” procedure. So what if a native-born German had had the same conviction? Would he have been “fully checked” also upon every attempt re-entry? In other words, I am still wondering if the combination of US birthplace and foreign passport is the cause of trouble, rather than the actual 39-year-old arrest record.

  5. @Phil,

    Is a previous DUI conviction enough for the US border agents to deem someone inadmissible? As I recall, the so-called “Bit Coin Jesus” was refused admission to the US after renouncing due to a previous criminal conviction.

    It is truly concerning that so many of us are literally being forced into giving up our “right of return” (a human right as delineated in the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights”– of which the US is a signatory).

    Thank you for the very helpful column.

    BC Doc

  6. @Phil,

    Is a previous DUI conviction enough for the US border agents to deem someone inadmissible? As I recall, the so-called “Bit Coin Jesus” was refused admission to the US after renouncing due to a previous criminal conviction.

    It is truly concerning that so many of us are literally being forced into giving up our “right of return” (a human right as delineated in the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights”– of which the US is a signatory).

    Thank you for the very helpful column.

    BC Doc

  7. Thanks for the helpful comments. I do not plan to go the legal route because of the expense, time, energy, and humiliation involved. I am hoping, however, that now that my heretofore pristine German passport has been stamped for U.S. entry, subsequent entries will be less strenuous. I mean, at least the agents will see in the future that I have been checked out once already, so maybe it won’t be necessary to do all that “research” every time. I’m also wondering if such relatively trivial legal “records” in one state are accessible in all states. My German wife was even more astounded than I was, since she says that in Germany such things are automatically expunged from a person’s “criminal record” after a certain number of years.

    Trying to see this objectively, it seems to me highly problematic to subject an expatriate to such scrutiny when Americans are not, and non-Americans are not, either, generally. I was singled out, apparently, solely on the basis of having a U.S. birthplace on a German passport. That seems to me fundamentally foul.

    I would be happy to hear from anybody else on this subject. I doubt that I am the first expat to re-enter the U.S. on a foreign passport.

  8. Thanks for the helpful comments. I do not plan to go the legal route because of the expense, time, energy, and humiliation involved. I am hoping, however, that now that my heretofore pristine German passport has been stamped for U.S. entry, subsequent entries will be less strenuous. I mean, at least the agents will see in the future that I have been checked out once already, so maybe it won’t be necessary to do all that “research” every time. I’m also wondering if such relatively trivial legal “records” in one state are accessible in all states. My German wife was even more astounded than I was, since she says that in Germany such things are automatically expunged from a person’s “criminal record” after a certain number of years.

    Trying to see this objectively, it seems to me highly problematic to subject an expatriate to such scrutiny when Americans are not, and non-Americans are not, either, generally. I was singled out, apparently, solely on the basis of having a U.S. birthplace on a German passport. That seems to me fundamentally foul.

    I would be happy to hear from anybody else on this subject. I doubt that I am the first expat to re-enter the U.S. on a foreign passport.

  9. Do you prefer a great lock on your entry doors or a lock that looks like a lock and doesn’t do the job? Just a thought.

  10. Do you prefer a great lock on your entry doors or a lock that looks like a lock and doesn’t do the job? Just a thought.

  11. It’s sounds like a case of sour grapes to me.

    US immigration can refuse entry if you’re an ‘immoral’ person. In other words, they have a wide scope to refuse entry to an ‘alien.’

    It’s likely the US Government is in one of the 5 stages of Loss – Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

    The US Government has denied renunciations for years so it must be in Anger at present. I don’t know what form Bargaining would come in, or if the US Government can even be depressed, but someday Acceptance will come when the US Government realises throwing it’s teddy out of the pram doesn’t work.

  12. It’s sounds like a case of sour grapes to me.

    US immigration can refuse entry if you’re an ‘immoral’ person. In other words, they have a wide scope to refuse entry to an ‘alien.’

    It’s likely the US Government is in one of the 5 stages of Loss – Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

    The US Government has denied renunciations for years so it must be in Anger at present. I don’t know what form Bargaining would come in, or if the US Government can even be depressed, but someday Acceptance will come when the US Government realises throwing it’s teddy out of the pram doesn’t work.

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