Support American Citizens Abroad

There is no easier way to make sure that the voice of Americans abroad is heard in Washington than to support American Citizens Abroad (ACA).

ACA is a membership organization representing Americans abroad and lobbying on our behalf. In fact this week, ACA members are participating in Overseas Americans Week in Washington, DC and lobbying members of Congress and the Administration on issues such as taxes and banking.

Join ACA or make a donation today!

Overseas Americans Week

Overseas Americans Week (OAW) starts today!

Delegates from three major advocacy organizations for Americans abroad: American Citizens Abroad (ACA), the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), and the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO) will be meeting with members of Congress, Congressional staffers, and key government agencies and departments throughout the week.

The purpose of OAW is to lobby our Federal representatives on issues impacting Americans abroad. These issues include, Medicare, Social Security, citizenship, taxation and access to banking services (both US and foreign). And, naturally, OAW delegates will be particularly focused on policy-makers that deal with tax and banking issues. What is more, delegates will be pushing for residence-based taxation.

Check out the OAW website to read the position papers on the issues impacting Americans overseas. And please support these organizations however you can.

Overseas Americans Week

Overseas Americans Week (“OAW”) kicks off today. OAW is an annual program now in its eighth year that embodies the commitment of overseas Americans organizations to maintaining an ongoing dialogue with Congress and agencies on policy issues that directly affect the lives of US citizens abroad. There is a lot on the agenda, so please contact your members of Congress and ask them to engage.

The participating organizations:

AARO: Association of Americans Resident Overseas, founded 1973, based in Paris
ACA: American Citizens Abroad, founded 1978, based in Geneva
FAWCO: Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas Inc., founded 1931, worldwide network

For more information on Overseas Americans Week 2009, contact:

AARO: contact@aaro.org
ACA: info.aca@gmail.com
FAWCO: USLiaison@fawco.org

Overseas Americans Week

Watching the latest round of presidential preference primaries has provide further illustration of the need for the estimated 4-10 million Americans abroad to register to vote and to actually vote in federal election primaries. If you haven’t register to vote in the 2008 presidential election yet, you can do so via the easy-to-use, elegant and secure Overseas Vote Foundation voter registration wizard.

Still, voting is just one of many issues before Congress that impacts the daily lives of Americans abroad. If you’d like to get involved in shaping the policies that shape our lives abroad, then support Overseas Americans Week (“OAW”).

OAW is an annual program run by an alliance of non-partisan American overseas organizations, including:

• AARO: Association of Americans Resident Overseas
• ACA: American Citizens Abroad
• FAWCO: Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas

The goal of OAW is to maintain an ongoing dialog with Congress and the Executive branch and its principal activity is an annual “door-knocking” campaign in Washington, DC.

In 2007, OAW focused on the following issues:

• Citizenship: Americans should enjoy the same right to transmit U.S. citizenship to children at birth.
• Medicare: Americans eligible for Medicare benefits in the U.S. should be able to receive these or equivalent benefits while abroad.
• Social Security: American who contribute to U.S. Social Security and receive Social Security pension abroad, should not be penalized under “windfall elimination provision” rules because they also receive a foreign pension. Americans overseas should be allowed to contribute to U.S. Social Security as do self-employed persons.
• Taxation: U.S. citizens working overseas are subject to a tax liability in their country of residence and in the U.S., putting American business and citizens overseas at a competitive disadvantage. Congress should eliminate the cap on the foreign-earned income exclusion.
• Voting Procedures: Procedures should be simplified for absentee registration and voting for Americans abroad. Timely ballot delivery and transparent vote counting procedures should be given priority.
• Voting Rights: Sixteen states explicitly allow Americans reared abroad to exercise their constitutional right to vote in federal elections by registering to vote using the legal voting residence of their U.S. citizen parent(s). This right should be granted by all states.
• Americans Abroad Caucus – Created on February 22, 2007 by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) as a bi-partisan forum for discussion of issues affecting overseas Americans.

This year, OAW is the week of April 14, 2008.