Overview of Positions on Key Issues Facing Americans Abroad

Published: May 2026

U.S. legislation and discriminatory practices make it increasingly difficult for Americans to live and work overseas and burden their visits and eventual return to the U.S. We urge Congress and the Administration to pass new tax legislation, simplify financial reporting requirements, protect voting rights, and improve access to Social Security and Medicare benefits. Citizens abroad must be given timely notifications, consistent with due process, of measures affecting their rights. These measures will help overseas Americans in their role as ambassadors abroad while improving American competitiveness and the creation of jobs.

TAXATION: American citizens abroad are unfairly burdened by a complex citizen-based system with high tax preparation costs, the risk of double taxation, employment discrimination and competitive business disadvantage while receiving little of the benefits provided to citizens residing in the homeland. Americans abroad should be offered the choice of being taxed on a residence basis (“residence-based taxation” or “RBT”) as envisaged in a bill introduced in the 118th Congress by Representative Darin LaHood (R. IL). We are in favor of this bill.

U.S. citizens abroad should be exempted from the “GILTI” tax and its reporting requirements which imposes significant and unnecessary burdens on small businesses located overseas.

FATCA: The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) understandably targets those who evade paying taxes by hiding assets in undisclosed foreign bank accounts but, as an unintended consequence, penalizes law-abiding American citizens overseas and U.S. economic interests. We urge FATCA reform through the adoption of actions, notably the consolidation of the FATCA form with the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”) and the synchronization of the thresholds for their filing, which would eliminate overlapping reporting requirements. In this manner, unnecessary and onerous burdens on U.S. persons abroad would be lifted. This would enhance compliance efforts as underlined by the GAO in its April 2019 report and the recommendations of TAS in their 2024 “Purple Book.” We support the TAS recommendations partially adopted in the bipartisan Taxpayer Assistance and Service (TAS) Act (S. 3931), introduced in the Senate in 2026 by Senators Ron Wyden (D. OR) and Mike Crapo (R. ID).

BANKING: Overseas Americans are denied financial services worldwide by both U.S. and foreign banks. We call for legislation to require U.S. banks to provide services to U.S. citizens with a foreign address while satisfying their “Know Your Customer” requirements. Reporting burdens on foreign financial institutions should be eased, thereby facilitating access by Americans abroad to bank accounts where they reside. We call for legislation to ensure access to low-cost savings and retirement products worldwide, A “home country” exemption to FBAR/FATCA should be enacted, as envisaged by a bill introduced in the 118th Congress by Representative Dina Titus.

VOTING: Legislation is needed to clarify certain provisions of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act. American citizens who do not meet state residency requirements (i.e., children born abroad) should have the right to vote in federal elections in all states and the District of Columbia at the legal voting residence of their U.S. citizen parent(s) or guardian(s). Neither the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act), the SAVE America Voter Eligibility Act, (SAVE America Act), the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act, nor the Proving Residency for Overseas Voter Eligibility Act (“PROVE Act”), each introduced in the 119th Congress, should be adopted due to its effective disenfranchisement of U.S. citizen voters residing abroad. Efforts to disenfranchise overseas voters through lawsuits and Executive action should be stopped.

SOCIAL SECURITY: Delay or non-receipt of correspondence and notifications to and from Social Security are a problem and could result in loss of benefits. Improved telephone service or other adequate means of easy communication and timely responses from local FBU are needed.

MEDICARE: Overseas Americans who move back to America and sign up for Medicare should not be financially penalized for the quarters after retirement age that they lived abroad (where they were covered by other state systems), but should be allowed to enter the U.S. Medicare system without penalty. American civilians eligible for Medicare who live abroad must return to America to receive Medicare benefits, where medical costs are much higher. A program for civilians abroad similar to Tricare for Life for military veterans retired abroad could ultimately save money for Medicare.

CITIZENSHIP: Children born abroad should be recognized as U.S. citizens at birth if either the U.S. parent or a U.S. grandparent, living or deceased, has satisfied the five-year presence requirement.

VAWA: Funding must be assured for programs protecting American women subject to domestic abuse abroad, including grants under the Violence Against Women Act.

AMERICANS ABROAD COMMISSION: To facilitate the implementation of these measures, anticipate the need for others and efficiently review their impact, the Commission on Americans Living Abroad Act of 2026, as envisaged by a bill introduced in the 119th Congress by Representative Dina Titus (D. NV), should be re-introduced and enacted.

AMERICANS ABROAD CAUCUS: Our organizations value our ongoing collaboration with the American Abroad Caucus and are desirous of expanding it.

Our Organizations

AARO: Association of Americans Resident Overseas, founded in 1973, headquartered in Paris with members in over 45 countries, is a global, non-partisan, not-for-profit, volunteer association representing an estimated 5.5 million United States citizens living abroad. AARO’s mission is to build awareness in the U.S. of the issues affecting Americans overseas and the inequities regarding their rights; seek fair treatment by the U.S. government for Americans abroad; and to inform its members of the issues affecting them and of their rights and responsibilities as American citizens. aaro.org

FAWCO: Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas, a non-partisan not-for-profit network founded in 1931, currently comprises 57 independent volunteer American and international organizations in 31 countries worldwide with a membership of around 8,000. The oldest and largest organization representing private-sector Americans abroad, it is a 501(c)(3) corporation established in the State of New York, and an approved Non-Governmental Organization with special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It has been particularly active in the fields of citizenship rights and voting from overseas. fawco.org