Hi everyone,

I’ve been a green card holder for 19 years and have lived in California the entire time. Now, at 51, I’m moving back to the UK for good and plan to surrender my green card.

I’ve been researching the necessary steps to make this happen and asked ChatGPT to organize my incoherent notes into a coherent ordered checklist.

If you’ve gone through this or spot anything I might be missing or getting wrong, I’d really appreciate your sanity check or advice. This is stressful.

Thanks in advance!

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U.S. Exit Checklist: Green Card, Tax, Financials (with Who/Where/Why)

🔹 BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE U.S.

1. Plan Your Exit Date

• Who: You
  
• Where: Personal records
  
• Why: Sets your final date of U.S. tax residency and California domicile.
  

2. Gather Past 5 Years of U.S. Tax Returns

• Who: You or your CPA
  
• Where: From IRS transcripts (IRS.gov) or your files
  
• Why: Required for Form 8854 to certify tax compliance and avoid exit tax.
  

3. Summarize Your Net Worth

• Who: You or a financial advisor
  
• Where: Spreadsheet or tax prep software
  
• Why: You’ll report this on Form 8854 to determine if you’re a "covered expatriate."
  

4. Decide What to Do With Your 401(k)/IRA

• Who: You and your current 401(k) plan or IRA custodian
  
• Where: Contact via brokerage portal or phone
  
• Why: Roll over to an IRA before leaving if your 401(k) doesn’t support overseas clients — it gives more control and is tax-neutral.
  

5. Open or Move to a Brokerage with Expat Support

• Who: You; firms like Schwab International, Fidelity, or Interactive Brokers
  
• Where: Online or in-person before departure
  
• Why: Many U.S. brokers restrict accounts once your address is overseas.
  

6. Submit IRS Form W-8BEN to Brokers

• Who: You
  
• Where: Directly to each brokerage (not the IRS)
  
• Why: Certifies you're a nonresident and claims tax treaty benefits to reduce U.S. withholding on future withdrawals.
  

7. Update Mailing Address & Notify IRS (Form 8822)

• Who: You
  
• Where: IRS Form 8822 submitted by mail; also update your banks, SSA, and brokers
  
• Why: Ensures future IRS notices, tax refunds, or SSA communications reach you.
  

8. End California Ties

• Who: You
  
• Where: notify FTB (tax.ca.gov)
  
• Why: Demonstrates non-residency and helps avoid state income taxes after departure.
  

9. Set Up Secure Access to U.S. Accounts

• Who: You
  
• Where: Use email or authenticator apps instead of SMS 2FA
  
• Why: Helps prevent account lockouts from overseas logins.
  

10. Close/Cover U.S. Health Insurance

• Who: You
  
• Where: Contact insurer or Covered California
  
• Why: Avoid being charged for coverage you no longer use; may also be needed for CA exit proof.

🔹 AFTER YOU LEAVE THE U.S.

11. Submit Form I-407 to Surrender Green Card

• Who: You
  
• Where: U.S. consulate abroad or USCIS Forms Center by mail
  
• Why: Officially ends lawful permanent residency; triggers exit process legally.
  

12. File Final Federal Tax Return + Form 8854

• Who: You or your CPA
  
• Where: File with IRS (Form 1040 or dual-status + 8854)
  
• Why: Certifies you’re no longer a U.S. tax resident and avoids covered expatriate status if you qualify.
  

13. Use June 15 Filing Deadline (if abroad by April 15)

• Who: You
  
• Where: On your U.S. tax return
  
• Why: As an overseas resident, you automatically get 2 extra months to file — no form needed.
  

14. File California Form 540NR as Final Return

• Who: You or your CPA
  
• Where: California Franchise Tax Board
  
• Why: Declares your part-year residency and cuts off further tax obligations to CA.
  

15. Keep Documentation for 7+ Years

• Who: You
  
• Where: Physical and cloud backup
  
• Why: Proof of green card abandonment, exit taxes paid, and CA departure in case of audit or reentry.

From a tax perspective:
1. Look into filing a sailing permit
2. Determine if you might be a covered expatriate
3. Get rid of any HSAs, LLCs, living trusts & 529 plans
4. Do some FIG tax planning
5. Do some broader pre-immigration planning
6. Look at voluntary NIC
7. Write down your IRS online account and MySSA login details
8. Update LPAs
9. Update Wills

Consider taking a trip to South Dakota to establish residence there to permanently break your link with California's taxing authority, which has a notoriously long memory - even after you leave the US you can find CA coming after you even after the IRS has lost interest in you (you formally give up your GC/ PR status), your income and your assets.

It is easy to register as a resident of SD, there is no minimum residence period, and no permanent address reqd, not even a "temporary permanent address" such as a rental house. This is apparently what long-term/ permanent RV'ers do to sever the link to whichever state they were previously living in.

Thank you for contributing, it helps me.

Would you mind expanding on "California's taxing authority, which has a notoriously long memory".

My assumption was that at the end of the tax year, I file, and we would part ways.

Thank You.

Ah.. thank you.. I need to figure out the NIC part. I am however totally confused by the UK and US treaty on SS, and taxation should I get both NIC and SS. I don't suppose you can shed some light on that?

There are some things that _some_ states, including California, come after you _years_ after you left the US. I can't recall what the problem is, but (if it exists) it only affects people leaving the US, as if you leave and move to another state, your residency transfers there, but if you leave the US you can end up with a state's claws still stuck in you.

Maybe there isn't an issue with CA, but I genuinely thought there was. It has never affected me personally, as I haven't left the US, but I just know that, bizarrely, some states have a longer reach than the IRS.

You are probably just fine if you are moving permanently to the UK. But here is a link that explains the issue in detail.https://blog.savvynomad.io/california-residency-laws/

You should do what you can to get Social Security as well as the UK state pension (via NI contributions). When you become a UK resident the UK will tax both (the US won’t tax your social security when a UK resident but the UK will). WEP was eliminated earlier this year so you don’t need to be concerned about that and can collect the full amount you are entitled to in both systems (and pay tax to the UK). Your social security is what it is, no way to change that without working more years in the US system. The UK pension is based upon years of NI contributions, which are payable via UK earnings but it is also possible to make voluntary contributions when living overseas, or when a UK resident and not working. You can therefore increase your UK state pension by making these voluntary contributions. You will pay Class 2 or Class 3 rates depending upon where you are resident and whether or not you are working, details here https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-nationa...-contributions. It is usually an excellent investment at Class 2 rates, and still a very good investment at Class 3 rates. You can backfill the prior 6 years and all future years until you reach state pension age. Any NI contributions paid prior to leaving the UK will count towards your UK pension, and you may well have credits applied to your account for a variety of reasons. At least 10 years are required for a partial pension. Lots of details here. Class 2 NI. What about us poor expats paying voluntary contributions?. Well worth your time skimming your way through this thread, starting from the most recent and working backwards. It is quite easy to get an online estimate of your state pension and how many years you need to contribute to increase it. The process is quite easy to navigate.

California tax authority came after myself and my son in 2018 even though we had NEVER lived there. In January 2017 my wife and I moved to England followed by our son in September. When he quit his job he left his sister’s address in California with his employer to send his W-2 tax document. I also changed our Vanguard details with our Street address in England and put our correspondence address as our daughter since they also were obliged to send a paper tax statement in January of each year (a 1099). Unfortunately our son’s company and also Vanguard sent a copy of the tax documents to the California taxing authority. As a result we each received letters demanding that we file a tax return with California because it looked like we had either been resident in California or were receiving income from a California company. We each had to complete forms and provide proof that we had not been a resident in California at any time in 2017 and that the companies we received income from were not headquartered in California.

I receive some of my retirement income from my ex-employer in Louisiana, reported on a W-2 each year, and I have to pay Louisiana State income tax every year on that income. Very annoying and I tried to get out from it one year but after a series of threatening letters gave up because they have the power to extract their taxes direct from my Louisiana income, plus penalties. It is not a lot of money so I just file and file each year.

Thank You. I looked into it. I will backfill to 6 years. I did not know WEP had been eliminated, that is fantastic news.

That sounds painful.

I currently have a 401k, but my provider doesn’t support foreign addresses, so I’m planning to move the account to Vanguard. Given the current market volatility, I’ve started gradually rebalancing my portfolio - shifting out of mutual funds and into a money market fund. I did a test trade to see how long transactions take to execute once I hit Sell because my goal is to minimize exposure to market swings ahead of my relocation. Timing is crucial, and I’m being cautious to avoid making moves on a day when markets react to bad news.

Once the rebalancing is complete, I’ll transfer the account to Vanguard and update my mailing address to reflect my upcoming move to England.

Hopefully, that will satisfy California’s requirements.

Thank you. This link is incredbily handy.

You mentioned rolling over your 401k into an IRA, not clear if it's a Roth or Traditional. If you have the financial flexibility to weather the 5 year holding rule, consider getting at least some of the 401k into a Roth for future tax-free distributions. Also be aware that HMRC rules areound FIG changed in April 2025 so you might want to investigate what that (could) mean for you before you make any major financial shifts.

I don't know that it will impact you, but what you described here is the problem I was alluding to previously. If you move within the US, California recognizes that you have left California and moved to another state, but if you leave the US entirely, straight from California, you not only may have a few loose ends with the IRS, you also leave some un-severed links to California. There are, I think, another couple of states that have this peculiar "reluctance to let go".

Rolling a 401k to a Traditional IRA is a non-taxable event and if you convert some of it to a Roth before leaving the USA then they will be no HMRC tax impact, just IRS taxes. Once UK resident I believe the pension wrapper of an IRA means that dividends and gains within the IRA will not attract any tax even under the new HMRC FIG rules. Taxes won’t be due on an IRA until distributions are made and the all distributions are treated as regular income.