American FAWCO members are used to largely sitting out the last month before Election Day in the USA. We register as early as possible in the relevant year and vote and return our ballots as soon as they arrive, starting in late September. Some of us have to find and return a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) if our proper...

• voting from overseas
• US Voting

30/10/24 update: Wonderful news: a judge has dismissed a suit brought by 6  Pennsylvania congressmen to suppress the votes of their own overseas constituents. Thanks go to everybody who fought this lawsuit, including the Brennan Center, who drafted an amicus brief on the case signed by multiple expat organizations, including FAWCO, and multiple overseas Pennsylvania voters, including a FAWCO member. Now all...

States started sending ballots to overseas voters on September 21. The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) advised us to return our completed ballots by September 28. If you did so, great! If you have not voted – or even registered – it’s not too late if you take action now.

The survival of US democracy is at stake in 2024.

• voting from overseas
• US Voting

While the 2024 US election remains the most important of our lives, overseas voters may face additional barriers to casting their ballots this year. Consider whether any of the problems below may affect you and take action now. Protect your right to vote today!

1. Check your registration status through Can I Vote.
2. Be sure that your signature on your ballot envelope...

• US Issues
• US social security

by Alisa Cook-Roehs, AIWC Düsseldorf

Although Social Security doesn’t fall directly under Tax and Banking, as part of the US Issues Team, we do collect articles of interest and pass them on to the FAWCO membership. The following are two such synopses written by members relaying their experiences in filing for individual social security benefits and benefits for a non-US citizen spouse.

• voting from overseas
• US Issues

On July 28, many politicians and pundits trumpeted that the US 2024 election “is just 100 days away!”  And that was true for domestic voters. For those of us who live overseas, however, Election Week starts on September 21, when the states begin sending out ballots, and “ends” on September 28, by which time FAWCO’s partner the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) recommends that...