Taking the EA exam
from outside the US

The Enrolled Agent (EA) credential is granted by the IRS, and the exam behind it — the Special Enrollment Examination, or SEE — has one feature that surprises most people who look into it from abroad: there is no education requirement and no experience requirement. Anyone who can get a PTIN can sit for it.

What does stand in the way is more practical, and it changed this year.

There is no test center in Korea — and that is now the rule, not a gap

In March 2026 the IRS moved the SEE from Prometric to PSI. For candidates inside the United States the change is mostly administrative. For everyone else it is structural. PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin puts it in one sentence: "There is no in-person international testing." International candidates test by remote proctoring only.

So the question is not "where is the nearest test center". There isn't one, and looking for one is time spent on a road that no longer exists. The question is whether your room and your computer can pass a remote proctoring check.

Status as of August 31, 2026: PSI's bulletin (revised August 20, 2026) says scheduling and testing for international candidates is temporarily delayed, and that scheduling was expected to open on September 1, 2026, with testing from September 2. Check PSI before you plan around a date.

The steps, in order

1. Get a PTIN — a Social Security number is not required

A Preparer Tax Identification Number is the one thing you must have before you can schedule. This is where many people outside the US stop, assuming it needs a Social Security number. It does not. The IRS PTIN system has two doors: sign in with ID.me if you have an SSN, or create an account directly if you do not.

2. Schedule with PSI, and pay per part

The fee is $317 per part, paid when you schedule. Cards only — MasterCard, Visa, or American Express. Fees are generally not refundable and not transferable, so check the exam part, date, and time on your confirmation before you close the window.

3. Know the window — and the two months with no exam

The current testing window runs July 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027. There is no testing in March or April each year while the exam is updated for the new tax law. You may take each part up to four times in a window, and in any order you like.

That last point is worth pausing on. Nothing requires you to start with Part 1. If one part suits your background, take it first and bank the pass.

4. Sit the exam: 100 questions, 3.5 hours

Each part is 100 multiple-choice questions in 3.5 hours, though the appointment is booked for four to allow for the tutorial and the survey. Only 85 of the 100 are scored — the other 15 are unscored items being tried out, and you are never told which. You will need a valid, unexpired, government-issued photo ID. Note one detail for remote testers: a military ID is not accepted.

5. Passing is 500 on a 200–800 scale

Scores are scaled from 200 to 800, and the IRS sets passing at 500. A pass report shows only that you passed, not a number — every score above the line means qualified, not how qualified. A fail shows the scaled score, with diagnostic information telling you where you were weak.

6. Three years to finish, from each pass

A passing part carries over for three years from the date you passed that part — counted separately for each part, not from your first exam. PSI's own example: pass Part 1 on November 15, 2025 and Part 2 on February 15, 2026, and you have until November 15, 2028 to pass the last one or you lose Part 1.

7. After all three: Form 23, within one year

Passing the exam is not the credential. You apply for enrollment on Form 23, filed at Pay.gov within one year of passing your third part. The IRS then runs a suitability check that includes your own tax compliance — filings and outstanding liabilities — and a criminal background check. You do not send in your score reports.

What this adds up to for a candidate in Korea

The barriers people expect — a degree, US work experience, a Social Security number, a flight to a test center — are not the real ones. There is no degree requirement, no experience requirement, and a PTIN path that does not need an SSN. The real constraints are a card that can pay $317 a part, a room and a machine that satisfy remote proctoring, and the three-year clock that starts the day you pass your first part.

The last one is the one people underestimate. Three years sounds generous until you remember that March and April are closed every year, which quietly removes half a year of testing days from that window.