EUnomad

Please explain what you mean by "far from". I've only ever heard of Canada, Australia, and the US making laws outside their territory.

jbcarioca

It is interesting that often the US and North Korea are said to be the only two countries who tax citizens independent of residence, thus a US citizen is liable for US taxation wherever they may reside in the world. The US also habitually establishes export restrictions on products that use US technology even when said products are not produced in the US. Banks that deal in US$ are subject to US rules even when they have never done business in the US or with Americans. Extraterritorial rules are bad news for civil society IMHO. the US cannot be a good global citizen and still do that. Canada, Australia or anybody else should not do so either IMHO.

Christopher

That is as maybe, but I'm not sure why carrying a substance on a vessel is akin to smoking a substance while in Amsterdam (or anywhere else). Most people who smoke marijuana in Amsterdam, I imagine, procure it there.

(And of course I didn't suggest that any relevant US law specifically excludes Amsterdam.)

GUWonder

That would be a misunderstanding of the situation. US citizens are not prohibited from travel to Cuba without US government permission. What US citizens remain unable to do without permission is to spend money under some circumstances, such as on travel to/from/within Cuba. The relevant permission required for those circumstances that require it involve dealing with a part of the US Treasury Department.

In other words, the individual US citizen with a valid passport for travel to Canada, Cuba and elsewhere whose entire trip and stay is paid for by non-US relatives needs no permission from the US government to go to Cuba.

GUWonder

If you already have a valid US passport that you have used and your non-US person parents pay for your trip to/from Cuba and for your stay there and they pay for all the goods/services in Cuba, you need no permission from the US government to go to/from Cuba and you will be fine as you will not have violated any US laws by way of merely going to/from Cuba on a vacation paid for by others.

If you spend any of your own money on part of or on the entire trip or try to structure a transaction that essentially is the same as doing so, then that is usually considered a violation of US law unless falling into certain select categories and/or having received US Department of Treasury approval prior to expending any money on such a trip. For those who do violate the US law in this regard as relates to Cuba, enforcement is not routine but is possible. If you are a guest of your parents for the entirety of the trip, enjoy your time with no worries about the "travel ban" to Cuba since you will have been fully compliant with US law in this regard.

GUWonder

While the US Treasury may use a US citizen's travel to Cuba to look into whether or not there is a violation of US law as relates to expenditures of a US person, the travel by itself is neither necessarily indicative of a violation of US law nor relied upon as an indication of a violation of US law absent further details about the travel being gathered and examined.

The "need" for permission is not necessarily there in order to avoid running afoul of US law; in other words, not everyone must seek permission from the Treasury Department's OFAC in order to avoid the risk of getting in trouble with US law enforcement since there is no blanket assumption that all such travel is a violation of US law.

jbcarioca

GUWonder is not only a Posting Legend, but has a habit of making clear and unambiguous explanations of arcane subjects. Thanks for fixing our numerous errors in this thread.