Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

I'm a UK citizen and a US one too, My wife is US, we got married in the UK in 1970. I think we want to move back and I'm not sure what the first steps should be. We are both retired, in our 70s with decent investment income from US properties. We own and live on a couple of acres in Washington State, with goats and chickens. They would love to come too but getting the goats in a pick up is hard enough-- getting them on a plane would be real fun!! So a few starter questions. Bank accounts? I noticed in the forum somebody mentioned opening a HSBC account and just moving money over by Wise. Can it be that easy? When I'm in England if I pop into a bank and ask I get some amazing looks. Renting or buying property, when I've looked at that it seems like everyone wants a twelve month lease. Ok thats a beginning, any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Peter

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Wife is US citizen only...? Then first things first would be to get her a spouse visa for her to live in the UK (YOU would be sponsor).
Read the following carefully to see how you qualify under the financial requirements:

https://assets.publishing.service.go...equirement.pdf

Below is the website for applying for the visa:
https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa

Come back with your questions.....

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Yes, get visas sorted first, the rest is relatively straightforward when you know how to go about it. We have been through the process ourselves and later helped each of our adult children move over from the USA after 30 years. (35 years in the case of our daughter)

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

I believe that under the new renters rights act (from May 2026), tenancies will change to rolling rather than fixed term, so that at any point you can give 2 months notice to end the contract. My understanding is that any contract signed before then will convert on the 1st May.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

We moved to the UK two years ago and yes, opening bank accounts can be daunting. Most list their requirements online but require several forms of ID and proof of address. We opened a Monzo (an online bank) first as their ID requirements were very, very minimal and used Wise to transfer money easily into it. I think Revolut is similar to Monzo. Funnily enough, the High street bank we opened accounts with later (Metrobank) accepted the Monzo Bank statement as proof of address. We also registered on the electoral roll which gave us another proof of address and also adds to your credit rating which the banks will check.
We made appointments at several banks to discuss account openings and their requirements. Most were welcoming and we ended up opening with the one we were most comfortable with.
Wise makes it so easy to transfer money and the money is usually in my UK account within hours.
Good luck with your move

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

When my daughter moved back in 2022 she opened an online UK bank account with Chase.co.uk. (She had already opened a Wise account and had a Wise GBP debit card before she arrived from the USA). She sat on the sofa in our house one evening and opened the account online, no in person visit needed and no proof of residency like a utility bill in her name. It took less than 30 minutes to make the application and 30 minutes later she received approval and her new sort code and account number. I immediately sent her £5 from my UK bank account which arrived in seconds. She then then moved money into her new account using Wise, applied for a credit card etc.
https://www.chase.co.uk/

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

yes..it was the same for me when I opened my Monzo account and I believe Revolut is the same. Pretty certain that (at least with Monzo) you have to be actually in the UK to open the account though. You can't open it before you arrive.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Absolutely, you have to be resident in the UK which is why it is useful to have a Wise GBP account ahead of the move. My daughter was well into the house buying process before she had moved back and had paid initial UK lawyer fees using her Wise account well before she actually arrived here.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Yes, not being able to prove permanent residence could be a problem.
"

• "have settled in the UK - for example, they have indefinite leave to remain, settled status or proof of permanent residence"

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

We'll be doing the same in moving to Isle of Man (from US) later this year or next. Also in our 70's and retired. Spouse and I are both UK/US citizens.

What also concerns me is how to buy a residence without a UK or IOM bank account. Rather than Wise, I've been using OFX for many years to transfer funds from US to relatives in Poland. I wonder if OFX can be used as a source of funds for home purchase in the same manner as Wise. I understand Wise offers bank accounts that can function as a local bank (if I'm not mistaken).

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Does your wife have any recent British, Irish or Commonwealth ancestry, e.g. Canadian?

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Our daughter bought her house in England in 2023 entirely using Wise to send money to the lawyers from her US bank. It also had the advantage of her never exceeding the FATCA bank threshold when filing her US taxes the following year. Like ourselves, and our son a year after us, the lawyers accept US bank statements as proof of funds when buying a house with no mortgage. Our daughter bought a large house, in excess of £300k. (She was moving from LA where she sold her house first)

I’m sure you could do the same, and when payments are due then pay the lawyers directly using OFX.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Sounds like your daughter's purchase went smoothly and well with Wise. With OFX, a destination bank with SWIFT code and account number needs to be set up before transferring funds. It that how it worked for the Wise transfer to the lawyer's bank account? Also good to hear a bank statement is sufficient as proof of funds when buying by cash.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Wise only needs the sort code and account number of the destination UK account, no SWIFT or IBAN needed. Once you make a transfer then you can save the details and give the destination account your own nickname so you don’t have to enter account numbers for future transfers to the same account.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Yes, similar in OFX in that once a destination bank and account is set up, no need to provide those details for future transfers. But I'm not clear if in your daughter's purchase, Wise transferred funds directly to the lawyer's bank account? Or to which account? Here, you just show up at closing with your lawyer and a certified check in hand.

In my reading, Sort bank codes are used for domestic transfers in the UK only and are not for international transfers. So I think Wise probably has a domestic bank version of itself in the UK where international funds are received, and Wise then uses Sort to internally make the transfer to the destination UK bank.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Wise did transfer the monies for our daughter’s house purchase directly to the lawyer’s bank account. I am familiar with how a house sale and purchase is done in the USA, having been through the process myself. In England it is done quite differently and the funds are transferred to the lawyer’s account about 7 days before the closing date and then, after verbal approval over the phone, the lawyer transfers the funds to the seller’s bank account. We went through this process ourselves in January 2017 while in Texas. We had rented a house in England the previous year and bought a house before traveling back to Texas to sell up and close out our rented apartment​​​​​, having already sold our house sometime earlier. From Texas we transferred the money to our lawyer’s and a week later, from the railway station in Manchester Airport received the call for us to transfer the funds to the seller. We then got on the train home and picked up the keys to the house that afternoon.

Wise does not do an international wire transfer directly to the bank you want to send money to. They maintain their own bank accounts in lots of different countries and the transfer of money goes from their UK bank to the UK bank you are sending money which is why only a sort code and account number is needed. Any international wire transfers occur in the background between Wise banks, invisible to oneself. If on a given day people in the UK want to send money to the USA totaling $500k and people in the USA want to send money to the UK totaling $450k then because Wise has banks in both countries they only need to international transfer the balance of $50k between their own banks.

These days I have a Wise “bank” account in USD with US routing number and my own account number and it behaves just like a regular bank account. I have that account linked to my Vanguard account so when I take distributions from my IRA it goes into my Wise account and I then use my Wise app to transfer that money to my UK HSBC checking account, and that process takes seconds to arrive in my UK account.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

Thanks for the detailed background and information. Yes, this is exactly how I thought it works. I just need to contact OFX and see if they also maintain domestic banks for this purpose. I'm leaning probably not as they specialize in international transfers only, but I'll give them a call. The only concern I have in transferring directly to a lawyer's account is that the lawyer is on the up and up. A mistaken mistransfer or a dishonest lawyer seems a big risk unless there are safeguards there I'm not familiar with.

I had a Wise account years ago, but had to give them up and go to OFX instead. The issue was they would not transfer funds to a bank in Poland to a relative's account there. No reason given. With OFX no problem at all.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

When using a lawyer in England you first need to check they are registered with the Law Society. All registered lawyers are required to have insured defined bank accounts, separate from their own business account where they hold client’s money destined for house purchases. Before making the big transfer you would first transfer a small sum to validate the account details so no chance of making a mistake when you transfer the big sum.

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

One more question if I could. Outside of the house purchase process, can you continue to use Wise as your local bank for GBP transactions for local needs as if your local bank? Or is it still necessary to get an account with a brick and mortar bank there (which seems fairly difficult for new arrivals).

Also, as FYI for others as interested, OFX only offers local bank services for businesses, not for personal accounts (which Wise does). But I did log into my previous Wise account and it seems to be working correctly. So that's the way to go (per your valuable additional information).

Re: Moving back or trying after 50 years
 

You can continue to use your Wise GBP in the UK while you look for other banks. Our daughter got herself a Wise debit card before arriving here and used it at ATMs to get cash and also to buy stuff with her debit card until she got a credit card. With your GBP Wise account you can also pay merchants and other folks using direct bank to bank payment which is extremely common here these days.