As someone who indefinitely left the United States more than two years ago in order to live a better lifestyle abroad as an early retiree expat, I don’t have any intentions on moving back to the USA.
My life overseas is just too good to give up.
There’s the lower cost of living. The convenience. Amazing culture. A wonderful partner.
It sometimes feels like I’m on a 24/7 vacation, even though I remain productive with many of the same things that I was doing when I still lived in the States.
It’s crazy what a change in location can do, though. Especially when that change involves entire countries.
Moving back to the US doesn’t appeal to me. It’s simply not enticing at the current moment.
Now, I’m not saying it’ll never happen. Never say never. There are actually some big reasons why I’d consider moving back.
Well, I think there’s another big reason for an expat to consider moving back to the USA.
That reason is to bring a foreign spouse back to the United States.
Sounds crazy?
Maybe. After all, if you’ve got it good in another country, don’t fix what’s not broken.
Speaking from an American man’s perspective, if you go on to marry a woman in a foreign country, while you’re living there, the common intention is to permanently live in her country.
However, I think there are two major benefits to bringing a foreign wife back to the USA.
I’m not saying these two benefits on their own are enough to convince anyone to go back. But they’re very much worth at least keeping in mind.
I’m not personally a big fan of marriage. And if I were to get married as an expat, I’d probably remain abroad. But these two benefits are compelling enough to at least keep in the back of my mind, should I get married in the future.
If you are married (or even engaged) to a woman in a foreign country, and if you’ve totally dismissed the idea of moving back to the States with your wife, I think you might want to read along.
These benefits are fairly significant. And they’re typically inaccessible for as long as you remain abroad with your wife. They can usually only be accessed if you move her to the United States.
Social Security Retirement Benefits
This is huge.
If you move your wife back to the States, you put her on a path to permanent residency and citizenship.
This means she’s also on a path to collecting Social Security payments at the appropriate age.
There are two ways this can happen.
She could collect spousal SS retirement benefits (typically capped at a maximum of 50% of the primary benefit, although it could be less).
Or she could collect primary SS retirement benefits of her own, but she’d have to acquire the necessary 40 credits before that could be triggered.
Your wife could wind up securing a new source of passive retirement income for the household. That’s once SS retirement benefits are being paid out.
If we calculate the spousal benefit off of the average SS retirement benefit of $1,461/month for 2019, that could be $730.50/month in extra household income. Now, that’s in today’s dollars, but COLA roughly matches up with inflation.
Conversely, she could start working, build up the credits, and even end up collecting the average – or higher – primary SS retirement benefit of her own. The benefit amount would depend on how old she is, when she starts working, her income, etc.
This could be hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars per month that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. That’s because your spouse has to either acquire credits in the US (for the primary SS retirement benefit) or meet the five-year residency requirement (for the spousal SS retirement benefit). There are exceptions to this, such as citizen spouses of treaty countries, but most situations will involve the credits and/or residency requirement.
This extra income might not be enough to offset the jump in cost of living that one would experience after moving back to the United States. It depends totally on one’s situation (which foreign country they live in, how long they will live, etc.).
I know my cost of living here in Chiang Mai, Thailand is about 1/3 of what I’d be looking at in any desirable US city – if we’re comparing things on an apples-to-apples lifestyle basis. So even an extra ~$700/month in household income down the line isn’t much.
But if you already have even a modicum of yearning to move back to the States, this potential monthly windfall might be enough to sway you.
A US Passport
While it’s not necessarily a benefit that can be condensed into dollars and cents, giving your wife access to a US passport is really quite invaluable.
This is coming from a guy who’s dating a Thai citizen and plans to travel with her.
Guess what?
It’s very difficult to do so.
The Thai passport is not exactly a golden ticket to global exploration. It ranks pretty low on the HPI.
Thai passport holders get visa-free or visa on arrival access to 74 countries and territories. That compares to 183 countries and territories for the US passport.
Getting a Thai woman a visa to, say, any country in the Schengen Area is kind of a nightmare. The likelihood of getting a visa at all is low. And a denial would come after spending time and money on the process of trying to pass. Even getting Oh to the States as a tourist is tough. We’re mostly limited to ASEAN and South American countries.
A US passport for your foreign spouse could be a major upgrade in terms of your ability to travel together. But this depends on the citizenship of your spouse. I see this idea as most advantageous if your spouse is from a developing country.
I’m hunkering down right now with content production. Current endeavors relate more to personal and professional growth. However, the next phase of my life involves extended international travel, possibly to the point of living in 2-3 different countries all year.
It’s easy for me to do something like this. I can readily live in SE Asia for 6-9 months per year, then just hop over to Europe for summers.
But it’s not easy at all for Oh to follow along. The more we research this, the more difficult it appears to be.
And a big impediment is her Thai passport.
If you have a foreign spouse, upgrading her with a US passport might be like getting her a golden ticket to the world. It opens up a lot of doors.
Not all passports are ranked as low as the Thai passport. Some are ranked higher. Some are lower.
So the value of a US passport will vary depending on circumstances, including how much you plan to travel. But it could be a tremendous benefit that is highly worthy of consideration.
Conclusion
These two benefits are, in my opinion, significant enough to at least consider bringing back a foreign spouse to live in the States. Of course, it depends on the citizenship of your foreign spouse and the overall situation. For instance, being married to a Canadian is a lot different than being married to a Filipina.
However, moving back and setting yourself up with a powerful passport and a significant sum of extra monthly household income in one’s later years is nothing to sneeze at.
Keep in mind, it’s not like you’d have to move back to the US and live there forever.
If you can move back and stay just long enough for her to acquire the necessary residency and citizenship benefits (they can be had as quickly as five years), you could then both disembark once more – except you now have these two benefits you didn’t have before.
Just like it’s possible to take advantage of temporary geographic arbitrage, it’s possible to temporarily move back to the States for some big perks. No change needs to last forever. In fact, no change will. That’s the very nature of change.
With all of this said, I don’t think it’s worth moving back to the USA solely for these two benefits. Giving up that sweet, sweet, FEIE is a tough ask. Moreover, the I-864 Affidavit of Support might turn anyone off to the idea of ever coming back with a foreign spouse. And I’d strongly recommend following three important steps before you ever get married – regardless of where you get married.
But if one is married abroad and already has thoughts about going back to the States, these benefits are lucrative enough to insert into an existing cost-benefit analysis to see where things shake out.
What do you think? Ever consider bringing a foreign spouse back to the United States? Do these two benefits strike you as worthy of consideration? Why or why not?
Thanks for reading.
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I brought a foreign fiancée back to the US after living with her in Chile. The process took over two years. Her adjustment to life in the US was brutal due to my work schedule, lack of public transport and her lack of English. She went back to her home country after a month and we separated. Life in the US was such a departure from her prior life that it was never going to work looking back at in hindsight. Every situation is different. It certainly can work and being an LPR and then a US citizen definitely has its benefits. Living in the US also has its costs, monetarily and emotionally.
I wish you luck if you decide to come back to the US, even if it is temporary.
Andy,
Thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear about the troubles you had.
Totally agree with you on the difficulty of adapting to a different culture. I’ve said this many times before, but I don’t think living abroad is something that’s a good idea for most. It’s a lifestyle and change that’s going to work out really well for a tiny percentage of people. That goes for Americans leaving America, and it goes for someone else leaving their home country for America (or anywhere else).
That said, if an American with a foreign spouse wants to move back to the States (for whatever reasons), and if their spouse is generally excited about the idea, these two benefits are compelling enough to add into a cost-benefit analysis and see where things shake out. As I noted, I don’t think these benefits are worth moving back for in isolation, and I’m not personally interested in going back, but this was worthy of publishing as a discussion.
Best regards.
You are so right about the US passport being a golden ticket. My wife is from the Philippines which means she had a very limited list of countries she could go to. She came over 9 years ago on a K-1 visa. Even after she had her green card we had to get special permission to go almost anywhere. Traveling to Europe meant going to Atlanta first and applying for a VISA before our trip. Once she received her passport it was so awesome to pretty much go anywhere we want to go now and not have to deal with the extra hassle. Great article.
bmiles,
That’s awesome. Sounds like it worked out great for you guys! 🙂
Yeah, the US passport isn’t something that you can really value in terms of dollars and cents. But it really is invaluable. 2020 is a travel year for me, partially due to the visa changes here in Thailand. Oh’s coming along, but she is definitely limited by her Thai passport. Kind of a bummer, but we’re working around that to the best of our ability. If I were to one day change my mind on living in the US, I’d very much consider the US passport for her as a big bonus for us as a team.
Cheers!
I’m glad you wrote this article! My wife is from Colombia and we are both working here in the US now. I thought she’d have to earn her own SS but am thrilled to learn that she qualifies for spousal benefits after just five years! It’s already been a year so we’re on our way to adding yet another future income stream. My wife ended up getting an excellent government job with 403b and a 457 so she’s saving most of it tax deferred. So it’s possible for a foreign spouse with a foreign degree to get a good job here.
If you end up getting married to Oh I hope you consider this option. Five years will fly by and geographic arbitrage works here in the US as well. We recently did a cross country road trip and fell in love with LCOL areas in Montana and Idaho.
Matt,
Hey, I’m glad I could provide some value. That made my day. 🙂
The spousal SS is fantastic. But it sounds like your wife might be looking at a significant SS benefit all on her own anyway, which is even better.
Moving back to the US isn’t on my radar at this time, but you never know. I like to have a wide range of options in front of me at any given time. When thinking about moving back to the States as one of those options, these two benefits occurred to me and I figured it’d be worthwhile to share them with everyone.
Best wishes.
Those are 2 great reasons to live in the US for a while. I think a Thai passport isn’t too bad if you’re rich. First world countries won’t give you much trouble with a visa if you’re established in Thailand and don’t have a reason to become an illegal immigrant. For regular Thai people, it’s tough to get a tourist visa anywhere.
Another good reason is to give your children more opportunities. The US has a lot of problems, but we have a lot more opportunities than many other countries. That’s my main reason for living in the US. You don’t have to deal with that because you’re not going to have any kids. 🙂
Joe,
Yeah, the Thai passport is tough. The Schengen is basically a nightmare. Even getting to the US is very difficult. Oh’s best friend had to apply three times before she got approved for a US tourist visa (her husband is American). Each application required a lot of time and money before being denied. And her friend does very, very well here. Has a house, makes a lot of money, etc. The US passport is a golden ticket to the world. It’s truly priceless, if you have any desire at all to even just intermittently travel.
I think having kids does change the equation. The private schools here are supposedly excellent, but they can be very pricey. I’m not sure I would have moved away if I had kids. While I’m interested in living abroad, I wouldn’t have wanted to necessarily force that kind of lifestyle upon my children. Definitely an individual call on something like that.
Thanks for dropping by!
Best regards.
Hi Jason,
for travelling you can see, what a privilege you have with the right passport. Yes, the Schengen area is very strict. The main reason are the many immigrants who want to enter Europe with any means. There are a lot of people who even want to see way stricter laws including several countries like Poland, Slowakia etc. On the other hand, if you are European or US-American or Canadian, you can enter every of these countries for a limited time without any visa. If a German has for example an US girlfriend, you also run into many troubles on the long run. If you get not active that one of the two will be a citizen of the other country you will see yourself after a time seperated – same procedure. This means, that we have a lot of work to get more free in the future. But the development is going in the other direction – it is getting stricter and stricter.
Of course, if Oh get an US citizen, she has a lot more possibilities as a member of a very wealth country. But if you want to do it, I assume you run in a lot of administration issues, Oh has to live a longer time in USA and has to adapt to the local livestyle and it shouldn´t happen anything negative. With your current government you have the situation, that they don´t want to have immigrants – so this can be frustrating as well if America is going stricter. At the moment I can´t predict how Europe will develop, same problems.
It´s not easy for you two and may be it is the best strategy if Oh want to follow you to choose countries where she also has no bigger trouble to travel. This is a kind of limitation, but you can not change it on the short run. And it could also be, that Oh don´t like to live for longer times in foreign countries missing her family/friends.
Regarding the benefits: Yes, it´s obvious that you have as a member of a wealthy country special benefits. The world is far away from fair. I assume you didn´t talk about all major benefits which are fairy tales for citizen of countries which are less wealthy. That´s why there are so many immigrants. To be honest: If I were born in Gambia or Sudan, I also would try to get in a wealthy country. And Thailand is not one of the mentioned countries, it´s a second world country. But even a second world country has severe disadvantages to first world countries. That´s reality and there is no idea, how we can solve this.
Best regards
Oliver
Oliver,
Yeah, there are benefits and drawbacks to everything in life. As I noted a few times in the article, I don’t think moving back to the US would be worth these two benefits alone. Rather, for someone who’s already interested in going back (for whatever personal reason(s)), these two benefits are highly worthy of consideration. They’re enough to tilt the scales, if one is wavering. I’m not personally interested in moving back to the States. At least, not at this time. I’m not even a big fan of marriage. And not all of the content I write reflects something I’m personally going to do.
Traveling abroad is quite a different thing from moving abroad. Oh has expressed a great deal of interest in seeing different places. But I’ve asked her before what she thinks about living in the US (if only to gauge her response to get an idea about our breadth of future options), and she’s not keen.
A lot of people in Western countries are under this impression that citizens of other, less developed countries are just dying to get in. That’s not necessarily the case at all. Oh prefers to live in Thailand. And Oh’s best friend, after finally getting a US tourist visa and visiting, couldn’t figure out what the fuss was all about. She didn’t like it at all. Then you have me. I have significantly more resources than the vast majority of Americans. Yet I voluntarily moved to Thailand. So it really is a thing where richer or more developed doesn’t necessarily mean happier or higher quality of life. I’ve touched on that numerous times in the past. Thais strike me as generally much happier than Americans, on average.
Cheers!