citizenship tax and student loans

September 25, 2014 3:17 AM

I'm a US citizen with indefinite leave to remain in the UK. I want to apply for UK citizenship. I have defaulted student loans in the US and haven't filed my taxes in the US for ten years while I've lived here in the UK. Am I going to need to get straight with the US before I can naturalise as a UK citizen? I intend to pay / file what needs paid and filed but what order should I do it in?
posted by Mistress to Law & Government (5 answers total)

Have you looked at form AN?

You won't be disqualified because of a bad credit rating or because you are behind in your taxes.
You may be disqualified if you have criminal convictions or civil judgements against you.

In terms of what order - do it all at the same time. Although it sounds like it might give you greater peace of mind to settle your US obligations first I don't see a place on form AN where it is relevant.

Regarding your taxes. Anecdotally, over 50% of the expats I know are behind in their US taxes. I just finished filing 4 years of them a few months ago. Just file them. The US and UK have a tax treaty so it is extremely unlikely you will owe anything.
posted by vacapinta at 4:44 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: So if I defaulted on US student loans years ago would there be a US judgment against me? I certainly got no notification of anything like that.
posted by Mistress at 4:58 AM on September 25, 2014

Your US credit report should show judgments against you.
posted by dcjd at 5:53 AM on September 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

FYI, https://www.annualcreditreport.com is the Federal Government's site that allows you to pull your credit reports for free each year.
posted by The Michael The at 6:29 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Looks like the annual credit report isn't accessible to me without a US current address? I may be misunderstanding.
posted by Mistress at 8:05 AM on September 28, 2014