A sailing permit is purely an IRS sign-off that says you have squared away your US tax liability before a long-term or permanent departure. If you are a green card holder, an H-1B worker, or anyone else classified as a US tax resident and you are planning to leave the US for good (or for a long stretch), the law technically requires you to get this clearance before you go.

For serious investors, the difference between US ETFs, Irish ETFs, Gift City is a huge mistake that becomes irreversible. Each holds essentially the same stocks; what differs is the wrapper, and the wrapper drives your tax, cost, convenience and estate planning outcome.

This note covers three such instruments. From safest to riskiest: BOXX, FCNR(B) deposits, and STRC (plus two more low risk dollar options, US Treasuries and municipal bonds).

If you are a Non Resident Indian sitting on US dollars, the last few days have changed the math on where you park them. The Reserve Bank of India opened a special foreign currency swap window for banks, and within 48 hours Indian banks repriced their FCNR deposits sharply higher. USD deposits that paid 3.5% a week ago are now fetching 6% to over 7%, completely free of currency risk and free of tax in India. Here is the full picture and how to act on it. Contents: Latest FCN