Most of us carry the important details of our lives around in our heads. That works fine until the day someone else needs them, and for an American living abroad, the someone else is often a long way away, in a different time zone, possibly unable to read the language on the hospital forms. A little information written down in advance makes a disproportionate difference in that situation.

This guide goes through what’s worth recording, roughly in the order a family member or friend would need it in a real emergency, whether that’s a serious accident, a sudden illness or something worse. It’s general information, not a template you have to follow to the letter. Leave out what doesn’t apply to you.

Why it’s harder when you live abroad

At home, a spouse or parent can usually work things out. They know the family doctor, they’ve heard of the bank, they can drive over and find the folder in the desk. Abroad, that safety net is thinner. Your parents in Ohio may not know the name of your health insurer in Germany. Your partner may not know which US bank holds your old 401(k). A neighbor who could let someone into your apartment may not have anyone’s number to call.

Privacy rules add another layer. Hospitals in many countries will say very little to a relative over the phone. The US embassy can try to locate an American who isn’t responding, check whether they’ve been hospitalized or arrested, and pass on messages, but the State Department explains on its missing U.S. citizens page that even when it reaches someone, it may not be able to share information without that person’s written consent. Knowing this in advance is a good reason to make sure the right people already have the right information.

The basics about you

Start with the facts any official or hospital will ask for. Your full legal name exactly as it appears on your passport, any other names you’ve used, your date and place of birth, and every citizenship you hold. Add your address abroad, any address you still use in the US, and your residence status where you live: the type of visa or permit, or whether you’re a permanent resident or citizen there.

Note where your passport and residence permit are kept, not the numbers themselves. If something happens while you’re away from home, someone may need to find the originals quickly.

The people to call, with country codes

Write down a short list of people who should be told first: your spouse or partner, an emergency contact, your executor if you have one, and your lawyer. Include the full international number for each, with the country code, and an email address. It sounds obvious, but a phone number saved as “Mom” in your contacts doesn’t help anyone who isn’t holding your unlocked phone.

Add at least one person who lives near you and has a key, or could get one. In an emergency, the most urgent jobs are often local ones: collecting children from school, feeding a dog, locking up. If time differences matter, say so, so that your brother in California knows to try your friend in Lisbon first when it’s the middle of the night where he is.

Medical information

If you couldn’t speak for yourself, what would a doctor need to know? Allergies, current medications and doses, ongoing conditions, and your blood type if you know it. Note your regular doctor and any specialists, with phone numbers, and the hospital you’d prefer if there’s a choice.

Then the part families often struggle with most: how your care gets paid for. Record your health cover where you live, whether that’s registration with the public health system or a private or international insurer, and your insurer’s 24-hour emergency number. The State Department notes that the US government does not pay medical bills abroad, that many hospitals ask for payment or a deposit before treatment, and that Medicare does not cover medical costs outside the United States. It also says that medical evacuation by air ambulance back to the US can cost from $20,000 to $200,000. Its health abroad page covers this in more detail. So it’s worth checking, and writing down, whether any policy you hold covers evacuation or repatriation.

If you’ve signed a healthcare power of attorney or an advance directive, note where it is and who you’ve named. Most smartphones also let you add emergency contacts and medical details that can be seen from the lock screen, which can help first responders.

Your embassy, and STEP

Look up the US embassy or consulate that serves your area at usembassy.gov and write down its address, phone number, after-hours emergency number and American Citizen Services contact. Families back home rarely know which consulate covers which region.

It’s also worth enrolling in the State Department’s free Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), which sends alerts from the embassy and helps the embassy contact you, or the emergency contact you list, in an emergency. Plenty of long-term residents enrolled once years ago and haven’t looked at it since, so check that the emergency contact is still right.

Write the State Department’s emergency numbers down too, for anyone who can’t reach the embassy: 888-407-4747 from the US and Canada, and +1 202-501-4444 from everywhere else. They’re on the Help Abroad page.

Children and pets

If you have children, think about the first 24 hours. Who is allowed to collect them from school or daycare, and is that person on the school’s list? What are their routines, allergies and medications, and where are their passports? If your children were born abroad, note where their Consular Reports of Birth Abroad are kept; the State Department explains what a CRBA is and why it matters.

Write down your wishes about who should look after them longer term, but be aware that writing it down doesn’t appoint anyone. Guardianship normally needs a will or another formal document under the law of the country where the children live, so that is a conversation for a local lawyer.

For pets, the vet’s number, food and medication, microchip or pet passport details, and who should care for them is usually enough.

Where your important papers are

This doesn’t need to be a full inventory, just enough for someone to find what matters. Where are your wills (and if you have one in each country, where is each one)? Your powers of attorney? Life insurance policies? Birth and marriage certificates? If you have a safe or a safe-deposit box, who knows how to open it?

We’ve written separately about making sure your family can reach your accounts, which goes into money and digital access in more depth.

Phones and security codes

One detail catches many families out. Banks and other services send security codes by text, often to a US number you keep for exactly that reason. If something happens and that phone is locked or the number lapses, getting into accounts becomes much harder. Note which numbers you use for security codes, where the phones are, and where unlock information is kept, and ask your family to keep those numbers active for a while if the worst happens.

Never write passwords or PINs in an emergency document. Write where they can be found instead, such as the name of your password manager and where its emergency access instructions are kept.

Keeping it somewhere useful

Information that nobody can find isn’t much help. Keep the document somewhere secure, such as an encrypted folder or your password manager, perhaps with a printed copy alongside your important papers, and make sure at least one person, ideally someone back in the US, knows it exists and how to reach it. Review it once a year, or whenever something big changes.

If you’d rather not start from a blank page, Just in Case, Abroad: US Edition is a fillable binder that walks through all of this, with space for contacts in both countries, medical details, your embassy and STEP enrollment, children and pets, and a one-page checklist your family can keep.

The binder is a fillable PDF you complete offline on your own device. Nothing is uploaded, and it never asks for passwords. Read more about it.

Official sources