Sitting the EA exam from outside the US? Booking opens on 1 September, and the paperwork is what will delay you
The IRS has postponed the 1 September international opening described below. International scheduling and testing are now temporarily delayed, with no new date set, so the "booking opens on 1 September" timeline in this post no longer holds. Everything about getting your PTIN and PSI account ready still stands, and matters more now, because you will want to be ready the moment a new date is announced.
In the words of the IRS, on its Enrolled Agent News page, last updated 14 August 2026: "Scheduling and testing for international candidates is temporarily delayed. Scheduling was expected to begin on Sept. 1, 2026, with testing beginning Sept. 2, 2026. New start dates have not yet been determined. Candidates with exam parts that may expire under the three-year carryover period will receive additional time because of the delay."
If you are sitting the EA exam from outside the United States, the calendar just got specific. After this year's move from Prometric to PSI, international candidates cannot schedule or sit until 1 September. That sounds like breathing room. It is not. The exam is the easy part to organise. The slow part is the paperwork that has to be finished before you are allowed to book a seat, and if you start it on 1 September you have already lost weeks.
Here is what to line up now, so that on the morning the window opens you simply log in and pick a date.
The item that takes longest, so start it today
You cannot register for the exam without a Preparer Tax Identification Number, the PTIN. If you already have a current one, check it has not lapsed and move on. If you do not, and you do not hold a US Social Security number, this is the single thing that decides your whole timeline. You apply with Form W-12 and Form 8946, the supplemental application for foreign persons, and you send two current government issued identity documents, at least one carrying a photograph. The fee is small. The wait is not. The IRS asks you to allow roughly six weeks, because foreign documents take longer to review. Read that against the calendar. Begin today and you are looking at late September at the earliest, so every day you wait pushes your first sitting deeper into the window.
Have your PSI account ready before the doors open
Scheduling runs through PSI at test-takers.psigov.us/irs. Set the account up now, with your details entered exactly as they appear on the ID you will bring, and clear the eligibility step in advance. Seats in a market that has just opened do not appear evenly, and the people who got their preferred date are the ones who were ready to click on the first morning rather than starting to register that morning.
The name on your ID has to match, exactly
This catches more international candidates than anything technical. At check in you show a government issued photo ID, and the name has to match your registration exactly. If your documents carry your names in a different order, or one uses initials where another spells them out, sort the mismatch now while there is time, not at the desk on the day, when it can cost you the sitting.
Decide now: a test centre, or sitting from home
Check which PSI test centres actually operate in your country and how far you would have to travel. If there is nothing near you, the remote online option that arrived this year is the way through, and it carries its own requirements worth checking early: your own computer rather than a work one, a single screen, a quiet private room and a steady connection. Knowing which route you are taking changes what you prepare, so choose before 1 September, not after.
Sort these in the next two weeks
- PTIN: the long pole. No SSN means Form W-12 plus Form 8946 and about six weeks, so apply immediately.
- PSI account: created and eligibility cleared at test-takers.psigov.us/irs, details matching your ID.
- ID name match: fix any difference in name order or initials before exam day.
- Centre or remote: decide your route now and check the requirements for it.
Then pick your part and plan backward
Most people start with Part 1, Individuals, because it is the most natural way into how the exam thinks. Once you can book, choose your date and build the revision plan backward from it, remembering the current window runs through to the end of February 2027, so there is room to sequence all three parts if you plan them rather than leave them to chance.
Why the paperwork is worth the trouble
It helps to keep the reason in view while you fill in forms. The EA is a United States federal credential, and the right to represent taxpayers is not tied to where you live, which is exactly why it travels. It opens remote US tax preparation and representation, cross border and expatriate work, and roles with firms that serve American clients from anywhere. Global Tax Studies follows where these exams lead, the newly qualified roles and where candidates go next, every week, and international tax is one of the few fields where a credential earned at your own desk genuinely moves a career across borders.
MojiTaxWant a structured route through the EA while your PTIN processes?
Global Tax Studies is run by the team at MojiTax, who run a self paced EA course covering the full syllabus, so the weeks your PTIN spends in the post are weeks you can already be learning rather than waiting. It is self paced and you can look inside on a free trial before deciding. We always say when we are pointing at our own course.
See MojiTax EA trainingJoin the discussion
Sorting your PTIN or working out the international timing? Compare notes with other candidates in whichever room you already use: our WhatsApp group, the LinkedIn group, the Facebook group, all linked from the community page.
Sources: IRS enrolled agent and PTIN guidance at irs.gov, and PSI scheduling at test-takers.psigov.us/irs. Confirm the current fees, the exam dates and the 1 September international opening on those official pages before you rely on them.