Originally Posted by petitefrancaise

Where I live, lease approvals take at least 48 hours to come through - longer when there is no credit history/score/background to check since that usually has to be written off by a manager. ....

Originally Posted by Pulaski

Ah, of course, you're assuming that nobody ever gets a lease with a private landlord.

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise

I work with private landlords all the time
The way things work here is that the tenant doesn't pay the fees and the landlord gets charged 1 month's rent by a realtor for finding and screening a new tenant. In my experience ( 4 years +) a landlord that doesn't even want to pay to get decent tenants in also doesn't want to be bothered by maintenance.... I've learned to avoid this type of landlord. Also, most of the people I work with have reasonable budgets and want nice houses and they almost always go through the realtor network.

Originally Posted by Pulaski

Why do you always want to extrapolate your personal experience of the re-lo/ upper end of the rental business in a "tech-hub" city to every corner of the US?

It is clear from reading many BE posts over the years, that rentals work differently in California from the east coast, and NYC seems to be different from everywhere. Then aside from geographic differences there are "market segment" differences, so those on a relo package will end up with a very different experience from someone paying their own way in the mid-market or lower rental sector. Round here (rural NC) there are very few agents who even touch rentals - there just isn't enough money in it, but then given the internet revolution, I am not sure why a landlord would want to cough up a month's rent anyway, at least not outside NYC.

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise

ssn or no - ssn. You will get the W8 until you become tax resident in the USA if you have an account that pays even the teensiest bit of interest. And they will send you one every single time you make any tiny change to the account details.
An ssn is not a federal requirement to open an account but identity checks are. This is where the banks all have different policies. I mostly can't open Chase accounts for my new clients because they don't the documents to satisfy Chase's policy and the ssn is not an issue there anyway.
As to "proof" that it is your address - well again that differs from bank to bank. Wells Fargo and BofA don't care which address you use so long as it is a real address and not a PO Box ( they check).
For Bof A and WF all you need to open an account
passport with visa
home country driver's license
home country bank debit or credit card with your name on it
$100 cash
c'est tout folks

Originally Posted by LouisB

i didn’t do a W-8, never heard of it. Assuming you are returning as a tax resident, in the end you’ll be tax resident from the first date of entry in that year, i.e. prior to opening the account, the first day of entry into the USA necessary to do so in the first place.

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise

who is "returning" ? I believe the thread is about someone starting out.
The W8 allows the bank to pay all of any interest earned on a current account until the person meets tax residency requirements. I know that I had about a million of them sent in the mail when we first arrived. My clients also fill out the first ones at the banks.