Getting Started with Visas and Immigration

Need to know for Exit Out of Country

As you are reading through the other pages about possible destinations, there are some common To Knows about leaving the United States either to stay in another country for a limited time or to immigrate. Terms you will be familiar with after reading this are:

• Difference between “Expat” and “Immigrant”
• Enhanced Drivers License (EDL)
• REAL ID
• Passport
• Apostille
• Specific documents and certificates
  • Birth certificates
  • Marriage certificates
  • Divorce certificates / certificates of dissolution
  • Court order of name change
  • FBI Background Check
  • If you have changed your gender marker, or need to
• Various forms of visas and visitor permits
  • Work visa
  • Partner visa
  • Student visa

This document also covers some of the generic information relevant to:

• First cell phone
• First bank account
• First address

This page does not get into the nuance for the specifics of these, as they will vary from country to country. Please check your country pages for what is needed for an individual country.

Because this deadline is coming up in less than 6 months:

⚠️ IMPORTANT: the deadline for having a compliant REAL ID is May 7, 2025. If you do not have compliant ID by this time you may not be able to fly or enter certain federal facilities, even if your pre-existing ID is not expired.

Please refer to the #REAL ID section for more information.

Are you an immigrant or an expat?

There is some nuance in the usage of the terms "immigrant" and "expat". By definition:

• An expat is someone who lives out of the country (or countries) they are citizens of for an extended period, aiming for a temporary stay.
• An immigrant is someone who aims for a permanent stay in a different country, which may result in citizenship of that country.
  • Immigrants may also have citizenship in more than one country.

Specific examples:

• If you plan to live in Canada for 2 years and return to the United States, you are an expat.
• If you plan to start the DAFT process as a pathway to citizenship in the Netherlands, you are an immigrant.

That said, the way the words are used in practice may differ significantly, and in some communities with racist overtones. It is very common, for example, for some groups of white immigrants to refer to themselves as "expats" rather than immigrants, because immigrants are viewed as non-white.

When you are reading for more information that pertains to your specific situation you can still find very valuable information regarding exit strategies in a variety of online forums dedicated to leaving the United States in particular. It is recommended to look at forums using both terms, even if you self-identify only with one, as they are often used loosely or subjective and there can be plenty of good advice and real stories that you can learn from as you fine tune your own exit strategy/strategies.

Minimal documentation to keep with you at all times

Whether you intend to be an expat or an immigrant, you should have a couple pieces of documentation on you at all times. Those documents are:

• Your passport
• Your drivers license or state ID

Many countries allow you to enter the country with a passport as a visitor, though some require visas and visitor permits. For specifics, please read the documentation for the country you intend to go to. If your intended country does require additional paperwork for entry, it is prudent to make a backup plan to be able to travel from the United States to a country that only requires your passport so you can leave at any time and make additional plans from there.

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Additional documentation you should have with you at all times

If you either intend to immigrate, or want the option to immigrate as a backup plan, you will need to have additional documents with you at all times once you have copies of them. We recommend having the copies in multiple, so that if you lose one you haven't lost the only copy that you have. These documents include:

• Your birth certificate
• If you have legally changed your name, the court order indicating your legal name change
• Any marriage or divorce certificates (as applies)

It is important to have certified copies and as many as possible apostilled (more on this in a moment).

Occasionally when you present your documents the receiving agency only needs a copy that they then make, returning the original to you. Sometimes they need to retain the original. As part of whatever application process they should tell you which is the case, and if not then ask. Between this, and having some documents with apostilled and non-apostilled copies, it is good to have 3-5 copies in total. An example pattern would be to have 5 birth certificates, 2 apostilled and 3 not. Once you get down to one document in any category (e.g. only one non-apositlled birth certificate), you should plan to request more.

What is an apostille?

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An apostille can be thought of as similar to a notarized document, and is different from a certified copy. An apostille is specifically used for countries in the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty. (Full list is linked on page, but most if not all countries on our list apply here.) The purpose of the apostille is to give the document the ability to be used in a country other than the originating country. (For more information about this, please read the Wikipedia page.)

We are receiving reports that some countries require the apostilled documents be less than 6 months old at time of arrival. We will continue to investigate if this is the case and update here.

There are also a handful of countries that do not accept apostilles and use alternative authentication mechanisms, a list of those is available at the link below.

https://www.usnotarycenter.com/post/post372

How do I request copies and apostilles?

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All documents, their certified copies, and apostilles are issued by their state of origin. So if, for example, you were born in Hoboken, NJ but married in Albany, NY, then your birth certificate would be issued by the New Jersey Department of Health, its apostille would be issued by the New Jersey Department of Revenue , your marriage certificate would be issued by the New York State Department of Health, and its apostille would be issued by the York Department of State.

When you request your records always request certified copies. The biggest expense tends to be requesting the first copy, the subsequent copies (on the same request) are significantly cheaper. As indicated, it is wise to have multiple copies so that you can 1 ) have multiple copies that are both apostilled and non-apostilled for same document, 2 ) so you have more copies available in case one needs to be submitted as part of an application process and 3 ) so that there is a copy with you at all times and the ability to store others separately as needed.

When you request a copy of your records you cannot always request them apostilled. Some states will forward documents for apostille to the appropriate office as one transaction, or as two separate transactions (e.g. including two money orders for two government offices and filling out two government forms). Some states permit VitalChek, the most common private vendor for expedited vital records requests, to perform this forwarding. Some state permit neither.

Some jurisdictions will offer walk in service for apostilles. This may be a good option if you live near the capital or a major city in the state that issued the original document, but not all states will allow this.

It is important to request these documents as soon as possible. Many states have multi-month waiting periods to get copies as they are inundated with requests, and since the apostille request is a second request, that only compounds the timeline until you have all of your documents.

Note also there are many private services that will offer to expedite processing of apostilles for a fee, generally in states that also offer walk-in services. If time is of the essence, such services may be useful.

Additionally, some jurisdictions will have additional requirements. New York City, for example, requires a Letter of Exemplification and an authentication from the New York County (Manhattan) Clerk's office prior to submission for apostille. Please review each jurisdiction's requirements.

What if I'm already out of the country?

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If you are already out of the country by the time you need to request these documents, or there is a possibility that you might be by the time they arrive, you should have the documents either mailed to a secure mailing address or a trusted person. For a trusted person, make sure they are someone that you trust without question, you're giving them access to your legal documents.

For secure mailing addresses, you can look into services that will send documents to your new address overseas or set up something like a PO Box that a trusted person can check for you. If you're using a service, call the service to verify that they can forward that type of mail. Many types of legal documents cannot be forwarded. This also means if you register an address change to forward your mail, like you would with a normal move, the regular postal service will not forward these documents (nor your tax documents, as an aside).

Different forms of identification

There are different forms of identification that you will need not only to exit the United States, but to potentially re-enter that if that situation arises for any reason.

Enhanced Drivers Licenses, Drivers Licenses, and REAL ID

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Enhanced Drivers Licenses

Enhanced Drivers Licenses can be used for some border crossings by land and sea. Specifically from the Department of Homeland Security:

Enhanced Drivers Licenses (EDLs) are state-issued enhanced drivers licenses that provide proof of identity and U.S. citizenship when crossing the U.S. border in a vehicle.

This means that there are some circumstances when crossing a land (or sea) border you can use an Enhanced Drivers License in lieu of a passport. That said, unless you cross the border regularly (e.g. If you live near Canada or Mexico), it is in your best interest to have your passport ready at all times so the nuance of this doesn’t negatively impact you.

Although Enhanced Drivers Licenses frequently are referred to as a REAL ID, as they are a type of REAL ID, not all REAL IDs are Enhanced Drivers Licenses. Notably, a California REAL ID is not an Enhanced Drivers License. (More on REAL IDs later.) The only states with Enhanced Drivers Licenses are at the time of this writing are:

• Michigan
• Minnesota
• New York
• Vermont
• Washington

Please check the Department of Homeland Security Enhanced Drivers License web page for the most updated list.

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Drivers Licenses and State IDs

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Drivers licenses and State IDs are issued through your state of residence. You can usually acquire these by appointment at your local DMV office.

REAL ID

⚠️ IMPORTANT: the deadline for having a compliant REAL ID is May 7, 2025. If you do not have compliant ID by this time you may not be able to fly domestically or enter certain federal facilities, even if your pre-existing ID is not expired.

REAL IDs are not a physical form of ID, although as mentioned above some forms of ID are directly referred to as “REAL ID”. REAL ID is any form of identification that is compliant with the REAL ID Act from 2005. A REAL ID complaint document proves legal presence in the country and issuance of REAL ID involves data sharing and standardization requirements in accordance with federal law.

REAL IDs are limited to drivers licenses or state IDs. This means you only need to worry about updating your drivers license or state ID as part of this Act, not the other forms of ID mentioned on this page.

It’s worth noting that Washington State is also peculiar in that it is the only state/jurisdiction in the United States where it is impossible to get a REAL ID compliant driver’s license without it simultaneously being an Enhanced ID. This may make it difficult for a non-citizen resident of Washington State to obtain REAL ID compliant documentation from Washington State.

Passports

Passports are the form of identification that shows you are a United States citizen and will show your:

• Legal name
• Citizenship
• Place of birth
• Date of birth

If you already have a passport and have travelled out of the country, there will be stamps in your passport to reflect this travel.

Every person in your family that plans to leave the United States will need a passport. This not only means a spouse or blood relatives that might travel with you, but also if you are a parent or guardian and your children will be traveling with you, they should all have passports regardless of their age. (To be explicit: yes, even infants.)

You obtain a passport by submitting an application. As of the time of this writing, the application consists of:

• Your current legal name
• Your prior legal name(s)
  • This means not only legal name changes by court order but also by marriage or divorce
• Your current physical address
• Your social security number
• Your email address
• Your primary phone number (this can be a cell number)
• A passport photo
  • These have specific requirements for face in frame and background. You can have a passport photo taken at a variety of locations, including some pharmacy / convenience stores and USPS.

Passport applications can be submitted online or by mail.

Other forms of documentation

The majority of the documents in this section are all considered Vital Records and are issued through each state's Department of Health. Each state has different queue lengths for the various types of requests, so it is important to see what the current wait time is for new requests for any records you need.

You should have apostilled and non-apostilled copies of all forms of documentation that apply to you.

As mentioned in the above section, we're seeing reports that some places are requiring that apostilles are less than 6 months old. We're also vaguely seeing reports that certified copies of birth certificates and other forms of documentation should be "recent" with a vague cutoff of a few years. The implication here is that you may need newer documents, even if you already have these and they do not expire (unlike drivers licenses and passports). We will continue to research and update here as we learn more.

Birth certificate

The most universal form of identification that everyone should have is their birth certificate. Birth certificates are requested through the Department of Health in your state of birth. When you are requesting your birth certificate, you need to have a copy of a valid form of photographic identification, most commonly your driver's license or state ID. In addition, you also frequently need to know your full place of birth: city, county, and state and your birth date.

You will need your birth certificate as part of many application processes both to work and live in other countries.

Important Note: If you are the parent or guardian of children and they will be with you, you should have copies of their birth certificates as well. Same as all of your own documentation, you will need multiple copies and need both apostilled and non-apostilled copies.

Marriage and divorce certificates

Marriage and divorce certificates are issued through the Department of Health for the state that you were married and/or divorced in. If you have been married and/or divorced, you will need these records primarily to do either or both of the following:

• If you are currently married, have your spouse with you on a partner visa so you aren't separated during an immigration process (where one is successful and the other is not)
• If you are divorced, to show that a prior marriage is no longer valid

If you have been married and/or divorced multiple times, you will need to have multiple copies of each and, yes, apostilled and non-apostilled copies of each. If the marriages or divorces happened in different states, you will need to contact the

Court order of name change

If you have had your name legally changed, you will need to have a copy of the court order for your legal name change. Legal records of name changes are court orders, which is different from the other forms of documentation in this section. Most commonly, you will need to request the court order from the County Court of the county in the state where you legally changed your name.

You should have apostilled and non-apostilled copies of the court order to change your name.

Background Check

Some places will require an FBI background check, as well as background checks for any countries you’ve lived in (typically going back the last 7-10 years). You can order an FBI background check from the DOJ, get fingerprints done at a post office (no REAL ID required as of February 2025) and then get the background check apostilled in person or by mail at the state department in Washington, DC. If you cannot get to Washington, DC, use of a channeler service is recommended to expedite the process with the state department.

Asking for your social security number on the background check is recommended, and will only display the last 4 of your social. In addition, your gender marker is not displayed on the background check, and it is unlikely that requesting apostille from the state department will affect your current passport.

If you have changed your gender marker, or need to

Unlike name changes, in the United States there is not a general "court order of gender change" or equivalent. While some states do have judicial gender change orders, typically as part of a name change order, many do not. Depending on what document, and what state the issuing body is in, there will be different requirements for what you need to change your gender marker on each piece of documentation.

If you have all of your documentation in sync, you do not need to do anything extra here. There is no secondary documentation you need.

We are currently researching guidance for what happens for those that are, or were, in the process of updating their gender markers prior to leaving the United States and will post guidance as we have it.