Overseas Americans Week

Overseas Americans Week (OAW) brings together FAWCO and its coalition partners each year for a five-day “door-knock” campaign in Washington to bring our issues personally to the attention of lawmakers, agencies and their staffs. Our traditional partners include the Association of Americans Resident Overseas [www.aaro.org].

DC Advocacy

The first “Overseas Americans Week” was in May 2002, although FAWCO and its...

In Memoriam: Lucy Stensland Laederich

Lucy Stensland Laederich, 1944-2019

One of the brightest stars in the FAWCO firmament is no longer with us. Past FAWCO President (1999-2001) and longtime FAWCO US Liaison, Lucy Stensland Laederich, left us peacefully on February 1, at her home in Bordeaux, surrounded by her family. 

Lucy was an institution, an icon, a role model, mentor and inspiration to countless people. She was a...

Contacting the Social Security Administration

Dealing with agencies and administrations is never easy, and trying to do it from overseas only complicates matters!

One example is needing to contact the Social Security Administration for help in obtaining a Social Security number, creating or managing a personal Social Security account, changing your information on file with the SSA, etc.

Two of the most common questions that...

Threat to passports of delinquent taxpayers

Background – Revocation of passports of “delinquent taxpayers"

On December 4, 2015, HR 22, the “Highway Bill”, became Public Law N° 114-94.  Title XXXII, Subtitle A, “Offsets”, contains provisions for the denial of issuance or revocation of the passport of any individual who has a “seriously delinquent” tax debt of over $50,000.
It states that if notified by the Secretary...

Convention on the Rights of the Child: The time has come!

FAWCO has written to those responsible for advancing the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to its ratification by the U.S. Senate, pointing out that since Somalia managed to finalize its ratification process on October 1, the United States is now the only outlier in the world.  FAWCO’s letters to President Obama (who must submit the treaty...