Tax strategy- Another consideration in the world of immigration! In my case, there is no tax treaty with wife's home country....no foreign income exclusion. Filing jointly would have resulted in reporting wife's full year income for US taxes. Of course, we now file jointly and we report all of wife's income. I agree that consultation with a tax pro is a good idea due to all the variables associated with foreign income.. Besides, the FBAR, itself, is reason enough in my book. Thankfully, my tax accountant is well-versed in all that stuff. She files our taxes and FBAR(to the Treasury Department) every year.