When You Become a Resident
Your residency date isn't always your arrival date. Sometimes it can be chosen — and choosing well is the biggest single lever.
What This Is
You become a U.S. tax resident either when you receive a green card, or when you've spent enough days in the U.S. — counted with a formula that also looks back at the two previous years. Which one applies to you, and exactly when, is the date everything else is measured against.
Many people are surprised to learn they became residents earlier than they thought, because of visits before the “real” move. Others learn they had more room than they assumed.
Why the Date Matters
Almost every planning option on this site only works before your residency date. Knowing that date precisely — and, where the rules allow, choosing it — is the biggest single lever in the whole move. A few weeks either way can be the difference between having options and not.
What a Paid Assessment Does
A licensed accountant works out your residency date from your travel and immigration facts, identifies any choices you still have about it, and sets the timeline the rest of your planning follows.
See Whether This Applies to You
The free assessment checks this and five other areas against your residency date.