> > Case in point: me. I have yet to decide if I want to apply for citizenship when I'm allowed to (in about 2 more years). I certainly have no desire to give up my British citizenship, and as America has an odd attitude to dual nationality, I may well remain an LPR permanantly. Should I be villified for wanting to live in America, work here and pay taxes here but not vote?
>
> Wow, is voting the only difference between being a citizen and a legal permanent resident? If so, why would you ever become a citizen? Voting is arguably a waste of time anyway, so I can't fathom why you'd want to give up something as valuable as a British citizenship in exchange for the ability to participate in an activity that is a net loss to you.

No, voting isn't the only difference. It's just the first one that came immediately to mind. A non-citizen can't join the armed forces (and, by extension, can't be drafted), can't serve on a jury, and can be easily deported after being arrested for pretty much any crime. But other than that, most rights and responsibilities are pretty much similar. Of course, if you want to work in a sector that has high official security requirements (NASA, CIA, nuclear power station, etc) being a citizen is a huge help, though almost never a formal requirement.

One big advantage of remaining a British Citizen is that I can continue to pay National Insurance credits (at a very low rate as I have no British income for it to be based off) to contribute towards a pension. The way Social Security seems to be going over here, I think that an additional saftey net can only be a good thing.

> If the only thing I lost was the right to vote, I would trade my American citizenship for British citizenship in a heartbeat -- the ability to live and work anywhere throughout the EU and the US is pretty slick.

Of course, you could get that by keeping American citizenship and getting an EU work visa. But the main thing you give up isn't so much rights as society - you find yourself living in an alien country, surrounded by people who speak a different language (or speak the same one wrongly), subject to different laws and customs, which may be excessively restrictive in some areas, or excessively lenient in others.

Moving to a different country, especially on a permanent or semi-permanent basis is not something to be undertaken lightly.

> If you leave the United States for an extended period of time, do you lose LPR status?

That sounds like something I ought to know, doesn't it? So far as I'm aware, I wouldn't lose LPR status, no. But I need to renew it every 10 years (in theory - first I need to prove I'm still married after 2 years), so I imagine that if I was out of the country for longer than that, it would lapse.

> Ste "Not exactly a nationalist" phen

winter"Until I saw this, I wasn't sure your post wan't steeped in sarcasm..."mute