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I'm a permanent United States citizen (by birth), but I don't have an SSN. I'm also a foreign citizen. My employer outside of the US wants to send me to work into the US for client on-site by asking for a work US visa that would be put into my foreign passport.

Is it legal to obtain and enter the US as a foreigner with such a visa, being at the same time a US resident? Can I enter the US as an American, but work as a foreigner?

I found this reference:

A foreign national or alien entering the U.S. is generally required to present a passport and valid visa issued by a U.S. Consular Official, unless they are a citizen of a country eligible for the Visa Waiver Program, or are a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. or a citizen of Canada.

Giorgio
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qugu
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    Is your employer aware that you are a US citizen? Do you have a US passport (or anything else proving your US citizenship)? AFAIK you shouldn't even be trying to get a US visa in your foreign passport if you are a US citizen - and you shouldn't need one for any purpose. However you will almost certainly be required to get a SSN before you can start working. – brhans Jul 05 '17 at 15:37
  • It does not much matter whether it is legal for you to enter the US without a US passport. If the US consulate suspects that you are a US citizen, you will be unable to obtain a visa and therefore (assuming, based on your profile location, that you are a Russian citizen) unable to fly directly to the US without a US passport. – phoog Jul 05 '17 at 16:06
  • @brhans I do have a US passport, but the problem drills down to working in the US, not just traveling. Traveling is not an issue without an SSN. – qugu Jul 05 '17 at 16:16
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    @qugu Why is it a problem to work in the US as a US citizen? – Midavalo Jul 05 '17 at 16:28
  • If you'd still be employed and paid by the foreign company in the foreign country, and not required to pay taxes in the USA (check the IRS rules for "resident for tax purposes"), then you shouldn't need a SSN. You'd only need a SSN (or ITIN) if the US client company would be paying you directly in the USA. – brhans Jul 05 '17 at 16:39
  • I suspect the issue is taxes. If the OP works in the US for a few months on a foreign passport, they may get away without paying any US taxes. If they admit to being a US citizen, they definitely have to pay US taxes. In reality of course, the OP is already breaking US law by not filing a tax return. US citizens always have to file US tax returns and pay US taxes. – DJClayworth Jul 05 '17 at 19:30
  • @DJClayworth, I suspect most Americans living overseas won't ever pay any US tax even if they file (as they should). If they live in a tax treaty country they won't, and even if the country has no treaty the $100k exemption for foreign income and the ability to credit foreign tax paid against US tax owing means your income needs to be quite high and home country tax rate quite low for the US tax to end up above zero. The only misery most expat Americans will have when filing is preparing the return; returns with foreign income are more complex and an accountant will charge more for it. – user38879 Jul 05 '17 at 22:08
  • @brhans US citizens are required to report their worldwide income to the IRS. The chance of being able to have income derived from work performedin the US without paying tax on it is pretty low. – phoog Jul 06 '17 at 02:38
  • @Dennis I don't think the foreign earned income exclusion can apply to income derived from work performed in the US. – phoog Jul 06 '17 at 02:40
  • @qugu to do this above board you probably need to catch upwith filing your US income tax returns, which means you'll need to get a social security number. – phoog Jul 06 '17 at 02:43
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    @Dennis (& DJClayworth): concur a US person living and working in another 'normal' country (not a tax haven) and not wealthy usually ends up owing no or little tax but is still required to file a return. What's worse is they are also required to report non-US financial accounts and some other assets (often twice: BSA/FBAR and FATCA/form8938) and the statutory penalties for missing those are harsh even if you owe no tax, although IRS has run several 'voluntary disclosure' programs that reduce this. Some (many?) non-US banks no longer accept accounts for known US persons to avoid FATCA burden. – dave_thompson_085 Jul 06 '17 at 10:32
  • @Dennis is right about the $100K exemption. – qugu Jul 06 '17 at 19:07
  • @brhans Why would I pay American taxes if I work for an overseas legal entity and get my income overseas? I'm not speaking about filing for the IRS - that's 100% true for any US citizen. But the travel is basically a long business trip, can come in as a tourist and work? – qugu Jul 06 '17 at 19:16
  • Well then you'd be breaking an additional 2 laws instead of 1 (on top of the one you're probably already breaking which says that US citizens must file tax returns no matter where in the world they live & work). Tourists may not work, and US citizens must enter on their US passport. – brhans Jul 06 '17 at 19:21

1 Answers1

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US citizens (dual or not) are required to enter and leave the US using their US documents, in general a US passport. So technically it's illegal, although it's not clear what the likelihood of getting caught and the penalty would be.

In general a US consulate or embassy will NOT issue a US Visa to a US citizen, so you'd have to lie on the application to get one. I wouldn't recommend that.

Your best course of action would be to apply for a US passport.

Hilmar
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    "although it's not clear what the likelihood of getting caught and the penalty would be." There is currently no penalty for a US citizen entering or leaving the US without a US passport. – user102008 Jul 05 '17 at 18:45
  • Thanks, Hilmar. Although it may not be true about the issuer of the said passport, I am accepting your answer as the safest course of action to follow. – qugu Jul 06 '17 at 19:29
  • Although there is not penalty they could still send one back if you can't prove you are a US citizen, which would be hard to do without your US passport. – Jesse Reza Khorasanee May 14 '19 at 02:35