Folks,
My green card is expiring soon and I am in a dilemma on whether to renew it or file for citizenship. I have been here for almost two decades and have been working in technology sector, and pretty much settled with family, home, and kids. Parents are back in Nepal and have no intention to migrate to US.

I am interested in knowing any drawbacks or difficulties faced back in Nepal once one converts to a US citizen, for instance, managing ancestral properties, living back home for a long period to take care of aging parents etc. I understand that there is some work done on NRN stuff but I have not seen any laws being formulated yet formally.

The perks of US citizenship are quite evident such as not needing visa to travel to many countries, being eligible for multitude of jobs needing clearance etc. But at the same time, it's a pretty high stake decision given our own emotional attachment to the birth country and nexus to the loved ones back home. I would welcome you sharing your thoughts and experiences on this topic.

with the current situation we've in Nepal, there's no good law regarding NRN and it may change every time the government changes. It may become difficult to acquire ancestral properties. If i were you, i would just renew my Green Card.

Just my 2 cents.

Citizenship liyera Nepal ma expat jasari basda hunchha. Dus barsa ma renew garnu parchha visa NRN card liyesi. Nepal ma property own garna majjale painchha. US tax return ma tyo property declare garnu parchha. Mero afno goal chai US ma $3000 dollar monthly passive income huna thale pachhi Nepal gayera basne ho. Of course, ek-dui barsa ko gap ma US visit ta garinchha nai, just to check up on things.

I did not like the fact that you might lose green card if you stay for extended period outside USA. You might need to prove that you have full intention of staying in america to retain your GC. And also remember cases like trump travel ban where even GC holders were facing issues. I dont think these issues are there with citizenship.

In other words, with green card i dont feel 100% secure.

आज भोलि ग्रीन कार्ड को कुनै बिस्वास छैन | 

If you have decent property back home and intent to maintain it, I would stick with GC for now.

GoodLuck to trump on putting any travel restriction to GC holders it not going to stand in court and he won't do it any more any way. Other disadvantage like visas can be dealt with. One mail flaw is if u have stay in Nepal for long time to take care of parents etc , when having citizenship is better.

On other hand giving up Nepali citizenship and having property is total gray area. Some time people have more property in Nepal then they can save wiring entire life in regular jobs.

If you have a house in ktm that is easily corores . Plus Nepal is fabulous. No kheraya gives you true respect of an American anyway so what's the point.

Permanent Resident Status is as secure as citizenship because it is called permanent. There is no need to be insecure. Those people who are insecure are people with unstable mind who cannot control their own psychological emotions. I do agree that citizenship has more benefits like getting jobs which requires security clearance and voting rights. Also, bringing spouse and other relatives from Nepal, it becomes lot easier if you are a citizen. Again, there are always pros and cons of any subject matter. You need to weigh those pros and cons and do the cost benefit analysis.

Thank you all for your valuable suggestions. These are very insightful.

Meraj: you basically put it very nicely: "One main flaw is if u have stay in Nepal for long time to take care of parents etc , when having citizenship is better. On other hand giving up Nepali citizenship and having property is total gray area. Some time people have more property in Nepal then they can save working entire life in regular jobs."

Giving up properties back in Nepal is not easy. Same is true about maintaining these with US citizenship, not to mention about the gray area of our laws back in Nepal on this. This is even harder if one has plan to move back, let's say, at retirement age or before. Selling these and bringing liquid assets here is not also a good option as 5, 10, or 15 years from now we won't even be able to buy the same properties we had there with all the US asset we have at that time.

Taking care of parents, the very people who not only gave birth to us, raised with the best care they could provide (as we are doing the same to our kids), and helped us become successful on whatever endeavor we pursued is another big item. Things were easy and manageable when we were young and single, or just married, and when the parents are/were on good health. They could visit you or you could visit them as time/work permitted. It never occurred to me about applying for citizenship up until a couple of years ago. But with the passage of time, we gain more responsibilities with kid's life, work, family life and the situation with parents getting older and starting to have health issues. Now the travel back and forth is simply not as easy as before both for ourselves and parents. I am more concerned on how to manage it as they will be needing me to be closer to them in Nepal as days go by. At this moment, I feel more confused than ever on whether to continue with green card which requires me to be in the US for 6 months every year just to maintain it or go for citizenship which give more flexibility on however long I could be elsewhere (as many of my colleagues did without even having a second thought).

It's not 6 months it's one year. It resets your clock to apply for citizenship but it's a year.and you can also apply 2 years re entry permit twice. You can now a days hire a nurse in Nepal too for 24 -7 care.but nothing like moving back. Just giving you some facts so you can make better decisions. But I am in a same boat and wish I had never come here or returned back after my under grad.

Really right now jun situation Nepal ma cha citizenship linu murkhata ho, think about one day if you can become prime minister of Nepal, or ahile desh pragatisheel cha, ra desh ma thuprai opportunity cha, so be smart, and believe in yourself, and remember even if you go to embassy to go interview after 10 years, you will get a visa. be confident ya

sojoketo thought sojoketo is the only one who does care and love parent, truly. raju123, you proved sojoketo wrong. appreciated your concern, love for your parents.
go for US citizenship.. it allows you to stay in NEPAL as well in USA as long as you want, GC doesn't
when you're in NEPA/ in NEPAL, you can do whatever you want from 'table muni'. It's NEPAL..money talks..$ rocks..
BTW, tyo nepal ko NRN status ko kura ani rights pani bujnu if you haven't. It could be helpful too.

Damn , many of us did not think of PM position before applying or taking us citizenship.

I looked at the "Gair Aawasiya Nepali Sambandhi Niyamaawali 2066" (I just googled it by typing NRN 2066). Section 11 sub-section 1 on Page 4 and 5 mentions the areas of land that a NRN can purchase for his residence. This rule seems to be applicable to the time after acquiring foreign citizenship. However, the subsection 2 on page 5 mentions that if a foreign citizen of Nepali origin had acquired fixed assets in the capacity of a Nepali citizen, then sub-section 1 does not apply. I am interpreting this as the following:
1) As a foreign citizen NRN, one can keep the land/fixed assets he/she acquired (purchased or inherited) in Nepal prior to converting to foreign citizenship.
2) The areas of the land acquired (purchased or inherited) prior to converting foreign citizenship can be larger than what is listed in the subsection 1 and this can persist as is, after acquiring the foreign citizenship.

Can somebody clarify this and let me know whether my understanding is correct or not? Also, if you have the first hand experience of managing the inherited properties back in Nepal, can you please share how you have been doing so after converting yourself to a foreign citizen and if you have encountered any complication as such arising from not being a Nepali citizen in managing these? Thanks.

You are trying to use your American mind in Nepali context and it won't work. In Nepal they do the always have laws, even if it's written in law it won't be implemented or you fight court case for ages. You/we want a clear cut law like in usa bit Nepal is Nepal. In Nepal they don't know the difference between a green card and foreign citizenship. They think all gc holders have left Nepal and are foreigners. Even worse than foreigners some think of us as trators and posers. I tried to open a bank acct in Nepal and I am only a gc here but they gave me such hard time. I was asked to show my Nepali pay stub ,voters Id etc etc I when told them I was living in foreign I was asked to produce other documents as if I was a foreigner.