Do you have 330 days abroad?

1What is the physical presence test?

It's one of two ways to qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion, up to $132,900 of foreign wages or self-employment income for 2026, and for the foreign housing exclusion. You meet it if you're physically in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during any 12 months in a row.

• The days don't have to be in a row. You can come and go, as long as 330 full days in the 12 months are spent in foreign countries.
• The reason doesn't matter. Days away count against you even if illness or a family emergency kept you away. The one exception is a waiver for people forced out of a country by war or civil unrest.
• It's open to citizens and green card holders alike, unlike the bona fide residence test.
• Your tax home has to be abroad too: your main place of work is in a foreign country, and your home base isn't in the U.S.

That leaves about 35 other days in any 12 months for visits to the U.S. and travel.

2How do travel days count?

A full day runs from midnight to midnight, and all of it has to be spent in foreign countries. Days in the U.S. don't count, even partly, and neither do days in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico or Guam, which aren't foreign countries for this test.

• Flights to and from the U.S. Time over international waters doesn't count. Leave the U.S. on June 10 and land in France at 9 a.m. on June 11, and your first full day is June 12.
• Trips between foreign countries. You lose no days if the part of the trip outside any foreign country takes less than 24 hours. A night flight from London to Stockholm costs you nothing.
• Long sea crossings and cruises. If the time outside any foreign country runs to 24 hours or more, every day it touches is lost.
• Connections through the U.S. A layover of less than 24 hours between two foreign countries isn't treated as time in the U.S. It counts like time over international waters.

The counter takes the cautious route: it treats the day you leave and the day you get back as days not abroad.

3How do you pick the best 12 months?

The 12 months can start on any day, before the tax year or during it, and each year can use a different 12 months. You pick the ones that give you the largest exclusion.

That matters most in the year you move abroad or back. The exclusion limit is cut to the share of the tax year your 12 months cover, so you want 12 months that hold 330 full days abroad and as much of the year as possible. They don't have to start the day you arrive.

The counter tries every start date and keeps the 12 months that cover the most of your year.

4What about the bona fide residence test?

It's the other way to qualify, and it doesn't count days. You're a bona fide resident if you've genuinely made your home in a foreign country for an uninterrupted period that includes a full calendar year. The IRS looks at your ties there: your home, work, visa, family and taxes, and how long you plan to stay.

• Visits to the U.S. don't break it, as long as you clearly intend to go back.
• It's for U.S. citizens, and for green card holders who are citizens of a country with a U.S. tax treaty.
• It doesn't work if you told the foreign country you aren't a resident and it doesn't tax you as one.
• Once you meet it, the part years count too, from the day your residence began, like the year you arrived.

If you live in one country but visit the U.S. often, it's usually the easier fit. You can use whichever test you meet.

5Is this the Streamlined 330-day test?

No. The Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures have their own non-residency test: 330 full days outside the U.S. in a calendar year, not any 12 months, and no U.S. home base that year. You need it in at least one of the last three years. This counter checks the exclusion's test; the eligibility check covers the Streamlined one.

Common questions

Keep reading