Rach_25

We will be applying for CR-1 Visa (I am a US Citizen and my husband to be is a UK Citizen). We have a couple of questions:

1) Could anyone advise on how we would move our savings of £10,000 from UK to USA without having to physically carry it with us on our way into US?

2) What are the requirements for obtaining a rental property? We both intend to work as soon as possible upon arrival but aren't sure if we would be able to rent straight away without proof of employment.

3) What paperwork would we need to supply the landlord with?

Thank you

Pulaski

1 transfer it to your US bank account using a remitter such as xe, xoom, World First, weetc. You will need to set up an account with the remitter ahead of time, but after that you can effect a transfer from anywhere that there is an internet connection. The old school way would be to purchase a USD draft payable to yourself from your bank in the UK and bring it with you. If you carry more than $10,000 with you into the US, whether in cash or as a check/ draft, you must declare it to US customs.

2. Be prepared to pay an additional deposit. Not having a job should not be an absolute bar to renting. Personally I would recommend finding a private rental where you can actually speak to the owner and explain your situation, others have had success with the larger corporatio-managed appartment complexes, but you might not fit into their "rules".

3. ID (passport/dl), SSN, evidence of your recent addresses (previous addresses rented/owned/ lived in), evidence of credit worthiness (credit report, bank a/c, credit card). As you will be a new immigrant much of this information is pointless, but you should still be prepared to supply it.

dj6372

I'm with the Halifax Bank, I set up an international transfer to my US Bank account, it cost 9.50 and was in my account 2 days later

petitefrancaise

Did you check out your exchange rate? Was it comparable to the FX companies. Most of us find that this is where you lose out money and also that your US account can charge you a fee as well, which you can avoid with the FX companies too.

I had conversation with my Wells Fargo manager a couple of weeks ago about the problems he has with new immigrants and he said the biggest issue for him is that when customers transfer money to wells fargo and it's not in US$ then they get stuck with whatever exchange rate Wells Fargo gives them and that is usually well below market rate. He tries to tell people this but they don't take it in until after the event and they can be $$$$ of dollars out of pocket.

So, one thing for the OP to make sure is that the exchange rate you get is market rate and you can check out your rate from your UK bank, your US bank and the FX companies already mentioned.

Pulaski

This.

Depending on the size of the transfer you could have lost anything from 2%-5% by accepting the bank's rate. ...... Which means $2,000-$5,000 for every £65,000.

petitefrancaise

absolutely, the example he gave to me was 4% lower than market rate on over $100k.