More American taxpayers are planning to relocate to the UK

Robert Salter, Director , said:

Our firm is getting more and more inquiries from US taxpayers looking to relocate to the UK. With US some taxpayers likely relocating for personal reasons such as the uncertainty arising from US President, Donald Trump’s policies.

It has previously been estimated that over 300,000 US Citizens have been residing in the UK at any one time. In addition, there are an unknown number of US green card holders who are also living in the UK on a long-term basis. The popularity of the UK, in particular London, as a base for US Citizens and green card holders is because of a number of factors including the common language, the traditional openness of the UK economy and the fact that many US businesses have traditionally had significant operations in the UK.

The closure of the UK’s Non-Domiciled Tax Regime from April 2025, which allowed many Americans to potentially avoid a UK tax liability on their non-UK investment income and capital gains was seen as a factor which would reduce the attractiveness of the UK for US Citizens, but initial feedback suggests the UK has become better at attracting US taxpayers.

The UK’s new Foreign Income & Gains Regime (FIG) allows all long-term non-UK tax residents, whether they are American born-and-bred or UK Nationals with a green card who happen to have simply lived in America for more than 10 years (and there are a lot of UK Nationals in this situation) to benefit from no UK taxes on their non-UK investment income and capital gains for their first 4 years.

Robert added:

Overall the fact that US taxpayers are relocating to the UK in significant numbers, whether driven by personal reasons, work-based reasons or the attractiveness of the FIG regime, provides the UK with a significant opportunity for UK Plc, and may help ensure that the UK remains a key hub for international business and the economy remains genuinely ‘open for business’, which is one of the stated ambitions of Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Would you like to know more?

If you would like to discuss any of the above, please speak to your usual Blick Rothenberg contact or Robert Salter using the form below.