does anyone know if there are any banks in Canada that will let you open an account with them over the phone from here i have an address in Canada i can use but do you have to open one in person thanks guys

I very much doubt that you will be able to do that anywhere nowadays.
They want to see you, in the flesh, and your two pieces of photo ID !
It's all to do with security, preventing fraud and money laundering.

Opening a bank account in person is very easy and takes just a few minutes. You walk out of the bank with your debit card and a fully functioning account.

Opening a bank account from the UK is much harder,and much more drawn out. It is usually not worth the hastle. Even if you do manage to open the account it will not be a fully fuctioning account until they see you face to face and check your original documents.

No bank anywhere will open an account over the phone. You have to go to the branch in person. Royal Bank have a branch in London.
You would have to call a bank and ask if there is another way around it, but I doubt it, especially these days. They need a signature card and photo id, neither of which you can do over the phone.

Thanks for bringing this up arniedog i have just been thinking about the same issue.

Also If i leave funds in my UK account as i leave and set up the new account in Canada within a few days of arriving. Does anyone know how long it would be or how long it would take to transfer the funds form the UK account to a Canadian one please? I know UK to UK account you can do quickly via internet banking but wondered if same for UK to Canada account.

Thanks

Andy

For a standard wire service expect two or three days. A bit longer if you bank with a Credit Union because they have an extra layer of clearing. Give yourself a little leeway and plan on it taking a week.

If this is not an option then look into HSBC. They can set up an account in Canada if you bank with them in the UK. There is a fee unless you have lots of money.

Also, I believe RBC will open an account in advance to allow you to transfer money to Canada. However, the funds remain locked in the account until you turn up at the branch and go through the usual account formalities.

There are many options for bringing money in afterwards.

The option you choose depends on the amounts involved.

You can bring the money in in Cash and just pay it into your new account.

you can get a bankers draft and pay it into your new account.

You can do a wire transfer either directly into your new account or through a company that specialises in international money transfers.

you can even just write yourself a cheque from your british account and pay it in this way (Though they may hold onto your money for up to a month before releasing it).

Erm...

I was able to open a TD Canada Trust account over the phone before I arrived in Calgary. I was able to make deposits to it too. I wasn't allowed to make any form of withdrawal from it until I confirmed my ID, which I did when I came out for a reccie trip and bought a house. The closing of the house purchase occurred the day after we landed as PRs.

It could be done, whether it can now is anyone's guess, but I don't see how the rules that applied in 2007 have changed since then, in relation to opening a bank account, but I could be wrong

Hi
We recently did a "test run" and transferred some funds via UKForex. It took 4 working days from the moment we confirmed we wanted to transfer the money, to when it arrived in our Canadian bank account. I suppose it could take a little longer, but it gives you a rough idea if you happen to use this method.
Mandy

We did something similar, sent the funds via TORFX immediately before we left the UK, opened the TD account the day after we arrived (easy to do if you have a job offer and LMO and ID) and then gave the details to TORFX who transferred the money within a few days (I forget exactly how many but it was definately less than a week). Assuming you are moving with a job offer, you could get a letter of introduction from the company - mine arranged the bank interview to set up the account. Hope that helps