Recently moved permanently from US to Europe. How do I let the authorities know to not put me on jury duty?
Posted by Ok_Cress_56@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 11 comments
I no longer have a valid address in the US, so would the bounced mail already be enough to let them know, or is there a state-side process to let them know preemptively? Last thing I would want to find out next time I visit the US is that I failed to show up in court for jury duty.
ArmadilloDays@reddit
You’ll be fine.
Before you can get into trouble for missing jury duty, they have to prove you received notice.
Mabbernathy@reddit
How would they prove that? If the summons is misdelivered to the wrong address and not returned, how does a person prove they didn't receive it. Seems like Schrodinger's summons.
Ok_Cress_56@reddit (OP)
Thanks, that's good to know. And yes, that will be hard to prove, as I no longer have any valid address to send anything to. If USPS does their job right, any mail sent to former addresses of mine should come back.
elevenblade@reddit
We maintain a physical address in California. When I get jury notifications I just send them back with a note that we are living in the EU. It hasn’t stopped them from coming but otherwise there’s been no problem.
gadgetvirtuoso@reddit
You can’t usually remove yourself from eligibility for jury duty and still remain a registered voter. When you get a notice just let them know you don’t live there anymore and they’ll dismiss you. Even if you don’t do this, people are rarely charged for failing to appear for jury duty. Obviously better if you just give them a call or whatever your country allows you to do.
traumalt@reddit
There isn’t a process realistically though, you will always be considered a “resident” at the last place inside the US you have lived, heck I’ve stayed in US on a F1 visa and I still get bothered by US processes every once in a while.
The only way you don’t get attachment to US is if you were born abroad to US parents and have never lived there pretty much.
In practice once you get a jury duty mail, just reply to them stating you live abroad.
Ok_Cress_56@reddit (OP)
How do you get bothered by them? Do you still have a valid mailing address in the US? I have closed everything down, anything they might try to send will bounce.
traumalt@reddit
I stayed at a distant relatives place, so I still get random mail addressed to me in there even though my drivers licence is long expired and I never registered to vote for obvious reasons.
LegendOfAbi@reddit
I'm from the US and living in the Netherlands and received a jury duty summons a couple months ago: all I had to do was go to the website for the country to fill out their dismissal request and send them an email with a copy of my residence permit.
I don't know of a way you can remove yourself from eligibility, but it was straightforward to request dismissal and only took a few minutes.
i-love-freesias@reddit
You should keep a US address for SSA.
You can just say you are currently abroad to get out of jury duty.
NumerousRelease9887@reddit
I have a Traveling Mailbox set up in North Carolina. I still maintain a California apartment, but all my mail is forwarded to the Traveling Mailbox. I'm not sure if a jury duty notice would be forwarded or simply returned as undeliverable (might say "do not forward" on jury duty notice). If it's returned, they can't hold me liable for jury duty as I didn't get notification. If I get a California jury duty notice sent to my NC Traveling Mailbox address, I'll contact them and say I'm living outside of the country indefinitely.