What to do before moving to another country breaks down into a handful of tracks that all run at once: travel documents, a visa or residency permit, U.S. and state taxes, banking and mail, health coverage, benefits, property and legal authority at home, shipping, and—if applicable—pets. Start at least six months before your departure date. Passport renewals, background checks, document authentications, visa processing, property sales, and pet health certificates each have built-in timelines you cannot compress, and missing any of them can mean denied entry, frozen accounts, unexpected tax bills, or gaps in medical coverage.
Passports, Background Checks, and Document Authentication
Check your passport’s expiration date first. Dozens of countries enforce a six-month validity rule, meaning your passport must remain valid for at least six months beyond your planned arrival. The list includes China, India, Thailand, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. As of early 2026, routine renewal takes four to six weeks and expedited processing takes two to three weeks, and neither window includes mailing time in either direction.1U.S. Department of State. Processing Times for U.S. Passports
Many destinations require a criminal background check for a visa or residency application. The standard document is the FBI’s Identity History Summary, a fingerprint-based report you submit to the foreign immigration authority.2U.S. Department of State. Criminal Records Checks Processing takes several weeks, so request it as soon as the destination country confirms the requirement.
Foreign governments also want proof that your U.S.-issued birth certificates, marriage licenses, and diplomas are genuine. For Hague Convention countries, that means an Apostille from your state’s Secretary of State, which certifies the signature and seal on the document.3Tennessee Secretary of State. What Is an Apostille or an Authentication For non-Hague countries, you need a full authentication chain through the U.S. Department of State instead. Some states turn Apostilles around in days; others take weeks.
If you plan to drive abroad, get an International Driving Permit (IDP) before you leave. An IDP translates your U.S. license information into multiple languages and is required for driving in many countries. Only two organizations are authorized by the State Department to issue them: AAA and the American Automobile Touring Alliance. The permit is valid for one year and must be carried alongside your valid U.S. driver’s license.4USAGov. International Drivers License for U.S. Citizens
Visa or Residency Permission
The visa you need depends on why you’re going. Work visas typically require a job offer or proof of specialized skills. Retirement visas usually demand evidence of a minimum monthly income or a specified bank balance. Digital nomad visas, now offered by dozens of countries, grant residency to remote workers employed by companies outside the host country. Some categories require sponsorship letters from employers, family members, or host institutions; others require proof of health insurance valid locally.
Contact the nearest consulate or embassy of your destination for the current application forms, supporting documents, and processing times. Requirements change, and the consulate is the only reliable source for the current version.
U.S. Taxes Still Follow You
The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live. Moving abroad does not end your obligation to file a U.S. tax return. It does open up provisions designed to reduce double taxation, but only if you understand them before you go.
Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
The foreign earned income exclusion lets qualifying taxpayers exclude up to $132,900 of foreign earnings from U.S. taxable income for tax year 2026.5Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 To qualify, you must pass either the bona fide residence test (genuine residency in a foreign country for an entire tax year) or the physical presence test (physically present in a foreign country for at least 330 full days during a 12-month period).6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 911 – Citizens or Residents of the United States Living Abroad Neither test is met in the year you move unless you leave early enough in the year to accumulate the required days.
Foreign Tax Credit
If you pay income tax to the country where you live, the foreign tax credit (Form 1116) lets you offset your U.S. tax dollar-for-dollar by the amount of foreign tax paid on the same income. You cannot claim the credit on income you’ve already excluded under the foreign earned income exclusion. You can use both provisions in the same year, but they must apply to different pools of income.7Internal Revenue Service. Foreign Tax Credit
FBAR and FATCA Reporting
Once you open foreign bank or investment accounts, you’ll likely trigger the requirement to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) using FinCEN Form 114. If the combined value of all your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year, you must file. The FBAR is due April 15 following the calendar year, with an automatic extension to October 15.8Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) A non-willful violation carries a civil penalty of up to $16,117 per account per year, and willful violations can bring criminal charges.9Federal Register. Inflation Adjustment of Civil Monetary Penalties The threshold catches many expats off guard.
Separately, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires certain taxpayers to report foreign financial assets on Form 8938, filed with your annual tax return. A single filer living overseas must report if foreign assets exceed $200,000 on the last day of the tax year or $300,000 at any point during the year. For married couples filing jointly while living abroad, the thresholds are $400,000 and $600,000.10Internal Revenue Service. Summary of FATCA Reporting for U.S. Taxpayers Failing to file Form 8938 triggers an initial $10,000 penalty, which can grow to $50,000 if you ignore IRS notices.11Internal Revenue Service. FATCA Information for Individuals
Exit Tax—Only If You’re Expatriating
Ordinary relocation abroad does not trigger the exit tax. The rule applies only if you give up U.S. citizenship or long-term permanent residency (holding a green card for 8 of the past 15 years). Under Section 877A, the IRS then treats all your worldwide assets as sold at fair market value the day before your expatriation date, and any gain above the exclusion amount—$890,000 for 2025—is taxed.12Internal Revenue Service. Expatriation Tax You’re a “covered expatriate” if your average annual net income tax over the prior five years exceeds an inflation-adjusted threshold (based on a $124,000 statutory amount), your net worth is $2 million or more, or you cannot certify tax compliance for the preceding five years.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877 – Expatriation to Avoid Tax Covered expatriates file Form 8854 with the return for the year of expatriation.14Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 8854 Long-term green card holders ending their residency can trigger these rules without realizing it.
Ending State Tax Residency
Federal taxes follow you no matter where you live, but state taxes depend on residency, and moving abroad does not automatically end it. Many states continue to consider you a resident if you keep a home, driver’s license, voter registration, vehicle registration, or bank accounts in the state. Some presume continued residency unless you prove otherwise.
Before you leave, take concrete steps to sever those ties. Surrender or let your state driver’s license expire. Update your voter registration. Close state-specific bank accounts you no longer need. Cancel vehicle registrations. If you own property in the state, understand that keeping it may give the state grounds to keep taxing you. Rules vary by state, and the stakes justify a consultation with a tax professional familiar with your state’s approach.
Banking, Mail, and a U.S. Address
Notify every bank and financial institution about your change of address and country of residence before you leave. Otherwise, transactions from foreign IP addresses or ATMs can trigger fraud freezes at the worst possible moment. Some U.S. banks close accounts held by customers with foreign addresses, so ask your bank about its policy early. A bank that handles international clients or offers multi-currency accounts simplifies the transition and eliminates conversion fees on every transaction. Having a working local account before you arrive helps with rent deposits and utility setup.
Set up a way to handle IRS mail while abroad. A virtual mailbox service gives you a U.S. street address where mail is received, scanned, and forwarded digitally. Activating one requires a notarized USPS Form 1583. Once the mailbox is active, file IRS Form 8822 to update your address so future tax correspondence reaches you.
Social Security, Medicare, and Retirement Accounts
U.S. citizens can generally continue to receive Social Security payments while living in most foreign countries. The SSA cannot send payments to residents of Cuba or North Korea, and payments to residents of several other countries face restrictions. If you’re not a U.S. citizen, payments stop after six full calendar months outside the country unless you meet specific exceptions based on nationality or work history.15Social Security Administration. Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States The SSA also mails questionnaires every one to two years to verify eligibility; failing to return them stops your payments.
Withholding changes too. The SSA withholds a flat 30 percent tax on 85 percent of benefits paid to nonresident aliens, an effective rate of 25.5 percent. Tax treaties between the U.S. and certain countries can reduce or eliminate that withholding.16Social Security Administration. Nonresident Alien Tax Withholding Report your new foreign address to your local SSA field office before departure.
Medicare is the harder problem. It generally does not pay for care received outside the United States. Coverage abroad is limited to three narrow situations: a medical emergency while in the U.S. where a foreign hospital is closer; traveling through Canada between Alaska and another state when an emergency occurs; or living near the border where the nearest hospital that can treat you is in a foreign country. Otherwise you pay in full. Medicare Part D does not cover prescriptions purchased abroad.17Medicare.gov. Medicare Coverage Outside the United States If you might return to the U.S. one day, dropping Part B creates a gap that triggers late enrollment penalties when you re-enroll. If you’re certain you won’t return, the premiums may not be worth it.
Traditional IRA and 401(k) distribution rules apply the same way whether you live in the U.S. or abroad. Withdrawals before age 59½ still incur the 10 percent early distribution penalty, and required minimum distributions still begin at the age set by current law. Roth IRA contributions can be withdrawn at any time without tax or penalty regardless of where you live. Rolling a U.S. retirement account into a foreign pension plan is technically possible but has complex tax consequences.
Health Records, Prescriptions, and International Insurance
Request complete medical records from every provider—primary care, specialists, surgeons, dentists—in both physical and digital form. Include diagnostic imaging, lab results, surgical reports, and a full immunization history. Many countries require proof of specific vaccinations before granting entry or residency; yellow fever certification is the most common, governed by International Health Regulations adopted by the World Health Organization.18U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Foreign Countries Immunization Requirements
If you take prescription medications, arrange a supply to cover at least 90 days. Carry a letter from your prescribing physician with the generic name of the drug, the dosage, and the medical reason it’s necessary. This documentation helps customs officials verify the substances are legitimate.19U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Personal Importation Some common U.S. prescriptions are controlled or unavailable elsewhere, so check availability and legality in the destination country.
International health insurance bridges the gap between when your domestic coverage ends and when local coverage begins. Given Medicare’s near-total lack of coverage abroad, this is especially important for anyone 65 or older. Compare premiums, deductibles, coverage limits, and whether the plan covers medical evacuation back to the U.S.
Property, Leases, and Power of Attorney
If you rent, check your lease for the required notice period, usually 30 to 60 days, and give written termination notice well within that window. If you own your home and plan to sell, list several months before departure. Real estate transactions take time, and closing a sale remotely from a different time zone adds complications.
Execute a power of attorney before you leave. It lets a trusted person sign closing documents, handle unexpected repairs, deal with banks and government agencies, and resolve legal issues that surface after you’ve gone. A general power of attorney remains valid if you move to a new state or country, though updating it periodically is good practice. Getting it executed and notarized from overseas is far more difficult and expensive than doing it before you go.
Cancel or transfer utilities, subscriptions, and recurring services to line up with your departure date. Settle final bills so nothing lingers on your credit report. Ongoing obligations you can’t fully close out—a pending insurance claim, a small business, a rental property—can be handled through the power of attorney.
Shipping and Customs
Create a detailed inventory of every item you’re shipping internationally, with estimated values and condition. It’s required for customs declarations and necessary for any shipping insurance claim. Research the destination country’s import restrictions before packing. Many countries prohibit or heavily tax electronics, certain foods, alcohol above set quantities, and other items that seem innocuous. Failing to declare items at customs can result in confiscation and fines. Vehicles, firearms, and large amounts of cash each have their own declaration requirements that need to be researched country by country.
Pets
Moving a pet internationally is one of the more time-consuming parts of the process. Most countries require an ISO-compliant microchip that foreign scanners can read on a standardized frequency. If your pet already has a non-ISO chip, some countries will accept it if you bring a compatible scanner, but many won’t.
Your pet will need an international health certificate issued by a USDA-accredited veterinarian and endorsed by APHIS (the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service). The veterinarian performs a physical exam and verifies that all vaccinations, treatments, and lab tests required by the importing country are current. APHIS then reviews and endorses the certificate.20Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Issuing International Health Certificates for Live Animal Movement Some countries require rabies titer tests that must be performed months in advance, so check requirements as early as possible.
Voting From Abroad
U.S. citizens living overseas keep the right to vote in federal elections under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). Submit a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), which simultaneously registers you to vote and requests an absentee ballot. The FPCA covers all federal elections in that calendar year. Submit a new one each January and whenever you move.21Federal Voting Assistance Program. Overseas Citizen Voters Send the FPCA at least 90 days before any election you want to vote in. State election offices must send absentee ballots at least 45 days before a federal election. If your ballot doesn’t arrive in time, the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) works as an emergency backup. Submission methods are set at the state level, so check what your state accepts.
Register With the Nearest Embassy
Once you know where you’ll be living, enroll in the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). It’s free and takes a few minutes online. STEP sends security alerts, health warnings, and travel advisory updates, and it lets the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate reach you or your emergency contact during a crisis.22U.S. Department of State. STEP – Smart Traveler Enrollment Program
If you plan to have children while abroad, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) documents a child’s U.S. citizenship at birth when at least one parent is a U.S. citizen. You apply through the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate, and the child must be under 18 at the time of application. A CRBA establishes citizenship, not parentage or custody, and is the foundational document your child will need for a U.S. passport.23U.S. Department of State. Birth of U.S. Citizens and Non-Citizen Nationals Abroad