- Overall Goals
OAW urges
Congress and the Administration to rethink
certain policies that restrict the effectiveness of the six million overseas Americans as ambassadors for
American interests abroad and creators of domestic jobs.
- Participating
Organizations
Organizations participating in this year's OAW are AARO, ACA and FAWCO
- Residence-Based Taxation
A major
impediment for Americans living
and working around the globe is their present double tax liability under the current citizenship-based taxation (CBT).
We propose the adoption of residence-based taxation (RBT). Full proposal.
- FATCA
FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,
negatively impacts and penalizes American citizens overseas and U.S. economic interests.
- Banking
Americans living and working overseas
should have the right to banking and investment services and should not be
subject to discriminatory policies that restrict or shut down banking relationships.
- Voting Reform
Military and overseas
voters still face obstacles in casting their ballots and having them counted. Despite overall improvement in the ballot
request and return process almost one quarter of potentional overseas voters in the last election could not vote because they received
their ballot too late or not at all.
- Citizenship of Children Born Abroad
All Americans should enjoy an equal right to transmit U.S. citizenship to their children at birth,
including children born to or adopted by a U.S. citizen abroad. Proposed modifications in
Sections 301 and 309.
- Social Security
Since 1983,
the Social Security Administration has been authorized to apply the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) offset to Americans' U.S. old-age
pensions in cases where individuals also have a pension from non-Social Security covered work – including work abroad. Americans who have
worked abroad represent only five percent of those affected by WEP and should be exempted from its application.
- Consular Access
OAW is
seeking the urgent passage of long-delayed legislation that would restore consular protection to Americans who are arrested
abroad and foreigners who are arrested in the U.S.A. To date, Congress has not passed such enabling legislation with respect
to the Vienna Convention. As a result, Americans travelling abroad have been denied the consular protection that citizens
of nearly every country in the world enjoy.
- CEDAW - Convention on the Elimination
of Discrimination Against Women
The U.S. Senate should ratify CEDAW and ratification
should proceed without reservations. The U.S. government should support and implement CEDAW to promote an
international framework for global equality and women’s empowerment.
