American Citizen Newsletters

June 2006

Dear Fellow Americans,

Happy Independence Day a few weeks early! Our topics this month newsletter include some information on a few 4th of July events, how to send and receive absentee voting materials electronically, an update on stolen Veterans Administration data, information on Social Security questionnaires, some erroneous tax filing extension denials by the IRS, a recent article in the Washington Post about Embassy London’s American Citizen Services Section and Embassy closures over the next month. We also note the commemorations of one year’s passing since the July 7 terrorist attack in London.

André Goodfriend
Chief, American Citizen Services
(register with the U.S. Embassy on-line at: https://travelregistration.state.gov)

Independence Day Events in the UK

Several Independence Day events are taking place on and around the 4th of July. Many American and American-themed restaurants throughout the UK will also be serving 4th of July lunches and dinners on that Tuesday.

RAF West Ruislip will hold its “Independence Day Celebration 2006” on Friday, June 30th and Saturday, July 1st. Friday’s celebration will be open to the public from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., and will include fun fair rides, food and fun stalls, and DJ entertainment, though no fireworks. On Saturday starting at 1:00 p.m., the fun will expand to include merchandise booths, salsa bands, an arena stunt show, pipe bands, and other live music, culminating in a fireworks display at 10:30 p.m. Entry to Saturday’s event will cost £2.00 per adult, £1.00 per child, while those under 4 enter free. For more information, contact the RAF West Ruislip marketing office at 01494-795-649 (email: mwrmarketing@cnauk.navy.mil) or the hospitality office at 01895-616-614.

The American Museum in Bath (http://www.americanmuseum.org) is running a public program on Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2 giving a glimpse into the life of the British soldier at the time of the Revolutionary War. The “Crown Forces of 1776” will demonstrate the soldiers’ drill and way of life of infantrymen and artillerymen as they prepared to sail to the rebellious colonies for battle. A reproduction of a soldiers’ campsite will also be on display. The drill demonstrations will take place each day at 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Then on July 4th itself, the museum will host a Family Picnic Night, with music, on the Terrace Lawn starting at 6:00 p.m. Pack a blanket and supper or purchase something from the cafe. The cost is £2.00 per adult, £1 per child (maximum £5 per family), museum members free.

St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square in central London (http://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/) is celebrating American Independence Day with an evening of American Choral Classics. On Tuesday 4 July at 7.30pm Canticum, one of the UK's leading chamber choirs, will celebrate this annual occasion with a journey through American classical, folksong and popular songs from the 17th century to the present day. The program includes works by American composers Barber, Copland, Ives, Albright, Hawley and Stucky and a selection of uplifting spirituals and popular songs by Gershwin, Porter, Kern, Bernstein and Billy Joel. Tickets will be £15.00, £12.00, or £8.00 and can be purchased via the church’s website or via the Box Office at 020 7839 8362.

The North American Connection, based in the Midlands, will host its annual celebration of Canada Day (July 1st) and U.S. Independence Day on Sunday, July 2nd from noon to 5:00 p.m. at Dickens Heath Village Hall, Dickens Heath, Shirley. Entrance is £5.00 for adults, £2.00 for children 4 to 12, and free for kids under 3. For further information, contact Debbie Feiler via email at deb.feiler@btinternet.com .

The American Expats of Northwest England's Stars and Stripes celebration of the 4th of July and Canada Day will take place in Sutton, in Macclesfield, Cheshire, not far from Manchester and Leek. The celebration, which will go on from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 1st, will include a hog roast, salads, vegetarian dishes, desert, root beer floats, draught beer, and a Texas Hold'em poker tournament, a Pimm's roll, American football toss and pick-up baseball, trout fishing, tug of war, sack races and more. Net proceeds will go to benefit the East Cheshire Hospice. If you're interested, please contact the Expats at expats.northwest@gmail.com .

The American Society in London is organizing a fireworks supper at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence, Winfield House, to celebrate Independence Day on July 9th. Dinner will be served at 8:00 p.m., followed by fireworks. Tickets cost £50.00 per person. Ticket numbers are restricted and are being sold on a first come, first served basis. Those interested should apply directly to the American Society by calling 020-7539-3400, or emailing info@americansocietyinlondon.co.uk. The deadline for ticket requests is Monday, June 19.

Events commemorating the first anniversary of the London bombings

Friday, July 7, 2006, will mark the first anniversary of terrorist bombings that claimed the lives of 52 victims on three London Underground trains and one London bus. There will be several commemorative events.

At noon, there will be two minutes of silence.

At St. Paul’s Cathedral, there will be an act of remembrance, which will include a reflection by the Bishop of London at 8:50 a.m. A bell will be tolled for those who lost their lives, during which candles representing Aldgate, Edgeware Road and Russell Square will be lit. At 9:47 a.m., there will be an additional act of remembrance, which will include a reflection by the Dean of the Cathedral, and a bell will be tolled and candles representing Tavistock Square will be lit. Special prayers will be said every hour and a special area will be dedicated for quiet prayer and reflection throughout the day. Evensong at 5:00 p.m. will be dedicated to those killed and injured in the bombings, the bereaved, the emergency services and all who responded.

In the early evening there will be an open air commemorative event at Queen Mary’s Gardens in Regent’s Park.  It will bring together the bereaved families, many of those who were injured and Londoners in remembrance.  The centerpiece of the event will be a reading aloud of the names of the 52 victims of the atrocity.  This will be framed by music, readings, and songs performed by the London Community Gospel Choir.  During the course of the day, members of the public will be invited to place individual flowers to help create a giant ‘flower mosaic’.  Families and survivors will complete the mosaic at the end of the service, as a symbol of remembrance and renewal.

A permanent memorial in Tavistock Square will be created in a specially designed garden on the side of the square closest to the scene of the attack on the bus.

Transmitting voting materials electronically and via U.S. postage paid envelopes

Did you know that many U.S. states allow the transmission of election materials electronically either by fax or email? Depending on your state of residence, you may be able to: send your Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) for registration and/or absentee ballot request by fax or email; receive a blank absentee ballot by fax or email; return the voted absentee ballot by fax or email; do some combination of these.

To check on your state, see the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) website at http://www.fvap.gov under Miscellaneous Information (on the left), Voting Assistance Tools, Chart of State and Territory Policies Concerning Electronic Transmission of Election Materials.   Then refer to the Voting Assistance Guide (VAG), Chapter 3, Sections II. or III. E. for more specific information on your state’s electronic transmission of official election materials before faxing or emailing. One important thing to remember when faxing or emailing a voted absentee ballot: in doing so, the voter is waiving the right to the secrecy of the ballot, and must sign and transmit a statement to that effect.

States that allow emailing of ballots, as of this date:

North Dakota (also accepts voted ballot via email)
South Carolina (also accepts voted ballot via email)
Montana (some counties accept voted ballots via email)
Mississippi (sends and receives for active duty overseas only)
Florida
Virginia
Wisconsin
Washington (some counties allow blank ballot delivery by e-mail)
Illinois (Chicago/Cook County only allows blank ballot delivery by e-mail)
Missouri allowed emailing out of ballots for the 2004 general election.

For U.S. military or diplomatic personnel overseas, with access to APO/FPO/DPO services, you can now download a U.S. postage-paid return envelope template from the FVAP website at http://fvap.gov/pubs/returnenvelope.pdf (PDF). Information and instructions are located at http://fvap.gov/pubs/returnenvelope.html. The template can be printed directly onto an envelope, or onto a piece of paper that can then be taped to an envelope. Voters who send their FPCAs or ballots via the UK mail system still need to affix Royal Mail postage stamps.

Stolen VA information update

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has recently learned that information for up to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses, as well as personal information on as many as 1.1 million military members on active duty, 430,000 members of the National Guard, and 645,000 members of the Reserves, was stolen. The VA is working with members of Congress, the news media and veteran service organizations to ensure that veterans and their families are aware of the situation and know the steps to take to protect themselves from misuse of their personal information. Veterans can go to http://www.firstgov.gov to get more information on this matter. They can also visit http://www.va.gov to search for more information on the theft of this data.

SSA Foreign Enforcement Questionnaires

On June 8th, the Social Security Administration sent out more than a quarter of a million Foreign Enforcement Questionnaires to beneficiaries living overseas. Beneficiaries are mailed these questionnaires every two years.
It is extremely important that the questionnaires be completed and mailed back to Social Security. The purpose of the questionnaire is to detect unreported changes that may affect one's ongoing eligibility to benefits (e.g., marriage, divorce, death, etc). Failure to mail back the form will result in suspension of benefits.
Quite often, those with direct deposit fail to report changes of addresses to Social Security. Their questionnaires are then mailed to the wrong address and eventually benefits are suspended. Therefore, it is important that beneficiaries with direct deposit keep Social Security informed of their new address when they move. The reports should be mailed to the Federal Benefits Unit in the Embassy.

Erroneous IRS denials of filing extension requests

The London IRS office was recently informed that the Austin Processing Center erroneously rejected a large number of Forms 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. The Form 4868 provides an automatic six-month extension to file until October 16. The form must be filed by overseas taxpayers by June 15. Most of the erroneous rejections occurred in April. The Austin Processing Center has identified the errors and is in the process of making corrections. A corrected letter will be sent to each taxpayer who received an erroneous denial letter.

The Washington Post visits Embassy London

For those wondering how we in the consular section look to an outsider, in April this year, a Washington Post reporter spent a day in our section observing and speaking with staff and visitors. The resulting article was published in the Sunday, June 4 Washington Post, and provides a behind the scenes view of London's American Citizen Services section. The article is available online.

The regular news update (weekly, rather than daily -- as indicated in the article) can be subscribed to at:

   http://london.usembassy.gov/ukweekly.html

A couple of other minor corrections --

While about 1,000 people a day visit the consular section, only about 250 of those are Americans, the remainder are citizens of other countries applying for visas. Rather than registering the births of 6,000 infants last year, we registered about 3,500 .

Embassy Holiday closure

The Embassy will be closed to the public on Tuesday, July 4 in honor of U.S. Independence Day.

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