Editorial Standards
How Settleguru researches, writes, reviews, and updates content about moving abroad as an American — and how you can hold us accountable when we get something wrong.
1. Authorship
Every article on Settleguru has a named author or, where multiple contributors are involved, a clearly identified editorial team byline. We do not publish anonymous content and we do not use AI-generated content as a substitute for human authorship. AI tooling is used in our editorial process only for drafting, structural editing, and translation between languages — final copy is reviewed and approved by a human author before publishing.
Our authors are practitioners and journalists with first-hand experience of the topics they cover. The founder, Bruno Bianchi, has lived in Spain for over a decade and runs a 150,000-member relocation community. Topic-specific authors are introduced on the article and on our team page when they contribute.
2. Source citation
For tax, legal, and immigration content, we cite primary government sources wherever possible:
- U.S. tax content — Internal Revenue Service publications, Treasury (FinCEN) guidance, U.S. Tax Court rulings, and bilateral tax treaties as published by the Treasury Department.
- Visa and immigration content — Source-country government portals (consulate websites, Immigration & Borders Service equivalents), the Schengen Convention, and bilateral agreements.
- Country-specific tax — National tax authority publications (Agencia Tributaria for Spain, Autoridade Tributária for Portugal, Servicio de Administración Tributaria for Mexico, Canada Revenue Agency, HMRC, etc.).
Where a primary source is paywalled or only available in the local language, we link to the primary source AND to a reputable secondary source (a published academic paper, a major-firm tax practitioner publication, or a recognized journalistic outlet) so readers can verify our reading.
Anecdotal and community-sourced material is clearly marked as such. When a number cited in an article comes from “community reporting” (real reader experiences from our Spainguru / Portugalguru communities), we say so explicitly and we do not present it as a government figure.
3. Professional review
Tax and legal articles are reviewed by appropriately credentialed professionals before publication and at every major update:
- U.S. tax articles — reviewed by a U.S.-licensed CPA or Enrolled Agent specializing in expatriate tax.
- Visa and immigration articles — reviewed by a licensed immigration attorney qualified to practice in the relevant country.
- Country-specific tax articles — reviewed by a credentialed tax professional licensed in that country.
Reviewer credit appears at the top of the article in a “Reviewed by” line, with the reviewer’s full name, professional credentials, license jurisdiction, and (where the reviewer permits) a link to their public profile or firm page. Our reviewer roster is public on our team page.
If an article does not yet have a credentialed reviewer, that fact is disclosed at the top of the article. We never imply professional review has happened when it has not.
4. Update cadence
- Tax content is reviewed at minimum annually, in Q1 of each tax year, to reflect the published IPREM, IRS thresholds, treaty changes, and any guidance updates issued since the last review. Material guidance changes mid-year trigger an immediate update.
- Visa content is reviewed at minimum quarterly. Major regulatory changes (rule replacements, fee changes, processing-time shifts) trigger an immediate update.
- Cost-of-living and lifestyle content is reviewed annually unless reader feedback indicates the figures are stale.
Every article carries a visible “Last reviewed” date. Major changes appear in a “What changed” log at the bottom of the article so readers can see when we revised what.
5. Corrections
When a material factual error is identified — by a reader, a reviewer, an editor, or our own monitoring — we:
- Correct the error in the live article within 48 hours of confirmation.
- Add a Correction note at the top of the article describing what was wrong, what is now correct, and when the correction was made.
- Where the error materially affected reader decisions (e.g., a wrong tax threshold or a wrong consular requirement), we publish a follow-up note in our weekly newsletter so subscribers who acted on the prior version are notified.
We do not silently change content to hide errors. The Correction note stays on the article permanently.
6. Affiliate and commercial disclosure
Settleguru is funded by a combination of newsletter sponsorships, affiliate commissions on partner services, and direct partnerships with vetted vendors (lawyers, tax preparers, insurance brokers, banks, money-transfer providers). Our recommendations are based on editorial judgment and reader feedback, not commission rates. When we recommend a service, we disclose any commercial relationship we have with that service in the article and on our Affiliate Disclosure page.
We do not write paid placements that masquerade as editorial content. Sponsored content (where it appears) is clearly labeled “Sponsored” at the top of the article.
7. Reader contact and accountability
If you find a factual error, a stale figure, a missing citation, or a recommendation that did not match your real-world experience, please write us at editorial@settleguru.com. We respond to every editorial correction request and we credit named readers in our “What changed” logs when their feedback drove an update.
Last reviewed: April 29, 2026 · Editorial Standards v1.0 · Settleguru