Any of you here can easily qualify for residency in Mexico (or other countries) and still reside in the U.S. The process takes about two months after they approve your application in the U.S. (You apply near your hometown but complete the process in Mexico.)
When you receive your residency card, (similar to a green card in the US) more, but not all brokers will accept you. I’ve added two new brokers because I am a Mexican resident. One of them has moved into the top equity position on my system because of phenomenal spreads and execution. I routinely trade majors at 0-1 pip, XAU between 10 and 13 ticks and US30 under 1 point. Other symbols are comparable or better than the brokers all of us know here. Guys- the scalping with this broker would bring tears to your eyes. It has been well worth the time and effort to qualify to trade with these conditions.
Still, brokers remain that restrict US citizens ‘for tax purposes’ which means “We don’t want to do the paperwork to have American citizen clients.” Residency status doesn’t matter. The keys here are citizenship and residency.
The next level up, is to hold residency long enough to qualify for citizenship and a second passport. In my case, that’s five years. I have three more to go and will likely apply for citizenship. A few more brokers will allow me to trade with a non-US passport at this level but others will see my country of birth, and I am once again, kryptonite.
The third level would be to ultimately renounce U.S. citizenship. That is the only path I’m aware of to remove all of the taint. The Treasury Dept. can make life very difficult for brokers and their banks if they choose to do so. I’ve spoken with brokers that could technically accept me based on residency status but decide to limit any U.S. citizen clients as ‘potential future risk’.
I have accomplished my near term goal of having more broker options. I don’t think it will ever be necessary to renounce my citizenship (I don’t want to) but if things go off the rails in the future, I will have that option.
In the meantime, I’m always looking for new brokers with better conditions that will accept me as a U.S. citizen regardless of residency. I posted a link to Solid ECN recently but have not traded with them. Anyone here give them a look or trade with them yet?