Moving To Asia In A Few Months, Business And Personal Reasons

[TallTravel]

I have plans to spend the next 5-10 years in Asia, including setting up a business, personal travel, mountain climbing, spiritual retreats, etc, etc.

I am more tired of the US politics, and the world of trouble my home country has caused, and want to distance myself in many ways from the USA. I don't want to rely on US Based financial institutions while in Asia, and would like to transfer some money into an Asian bank/financial institution for a long term relationship if at all possible.

I have a strong preference for doing this before leaving the USA in the fall of this year.

Suggestions? Threads which may deal with this? Keywords I can use to search for specific answers to this question?

Thanks

[jdinasia]

Personally .... you should actually COME to Thailand and see if you can deal with it for a long term thing rather than cutting your ties first!

[Thaiquila]

Well, if you are talking about setting up a business in Thailand, then you would likely be getting a business visa. There would be no problem setting up a bank account and transferring your funds into these accounts. Getting money out, well thats another story!

[TallTravel]

Personally .... you should actually COME to Thailand and see if you can deal with it for a long term thing rather than cutting your ties first!

Please note I said Asia, not Thailand. I might end up in Thailand, but I WILL end up in Asia. So I am not too concerned about liking Thailand, as I will be settling in Asia. I have a US Passport, good for another 10 years, so I am not at all concerned about " cutting my ties " to the USA. Should I decide for whatever reason to return to the USA I can simply return, no issues.

I am looking for specifics about how to safely and comfortably set up an account while here in the states. Suggestions?

[Thaiquila]

Well, I don't see your rush to transfer your funds. Why? You think the dollar is going to fall alot lower soon?

Anyway, one thing you should do is set up a wire transfer agreement with at least one of your current US banks and make sure there are online links to all your US money.

Then when you are settled somewhere in Asia, assuming you are able to open a bank account in Asia, you can then easily transfer the money by SWIFT wire without flying back to the US.

Be sure to file the IRS form annually stating you have a non US bank account over 10K or you can be subject to massive fines. This is different than filing US tax returns, which you still need to do. Aren't us Americans lucky? Info about this here:

http://www.retireaway.com/forum/t155.htm

No problem with your passport even after 10 years. Can renew at any US embassy.

It sounds like you haven't decided on a country base and have no idea what kind of visa you might qualify for in your country base. So you might want to start at the beginning ...

Edited August 29, 2006 by Thaiquila

[TallTravel]

Well, I don't see your rush to transfer your funds. Why? You think the dollar is falling?

Anyway, one thing you should do is set up a wire transfer agreement with at least one of your current US banks and make sure there are online links to all your US money.

Then when you are settled somewhere in Asia, assuming you are able to open a bank account in Asia, you can then easily transfer the money by SWIFT wire without flying back to the US. Be sure to file the IRS form annually stating you have a non US bank account over 10K or you can be subject to massive fines.

No problem with your passport even after 10 years. Can renew at any US embassy.

It sounds like you haven't decided on a country base and have no idea what kind of visa you might qualify for in your country base. So you might want to start at the beginning ...

Don't really have an urge to do the transfer of funds in a rush fashion, it simply makes no sense to have to return to the US to move money when I can do it now.

[jdinasia]

Personally .... you should actually COME to Thailand and see if you can deal with it for a long term thing rather than cutting your ties first!

Please note I said Asia, not Thailand. I might end up in Thailand, but I WILL end up in Asia. So I am not too concerned about liking Thailand, as I will be settling in Asia. I have a US Passport, good for another 10 years, so I am not at all concerned about " cutting my ties " to the USA. Should I decide for whatever reason to return to the USA I can simply return, no issues.

I am looking for specifics about how to safely and comfortably set up an account while here in the states. Suggestions?

OK ... change that to actually COME TO ASIA .... <but as this is a Thailand forum ....>

Probably you should justget your money offshore first. The carib. is often used ...

[Vespa]

I have plans to spend the next 5-10 years in Asia, including setting up a business, personal travel, mountain climbing, spiritual retreats, etc, etc.

I am more tired of the US politics, and the world of trouble my home country has caused, and want to distance myself in many ways from the USA. I don't want to rely on US Based financial institutions while in Asia, and would like to transfer some money into an Asian bank/financial institution for a long term relationship if at all possible.

I have a strong preference for doing this before leaving the USA in the fall of this year.

Suggestions? Threads which may deal with this? Keywords I can use to search for specific answers to this question?

Thanks

You do not want any real money in a Thai bank . Singapore would work best in that regard.

[Thaiquila]

'TallTravel'

Don't really have an urge to do the transfer of funds in a rush fashion, it simply makes no sense to have to return to the US to move money when I can do it now.

Thats cool.

Do some searches on SWIFT transfers and check your bank's policies on wiring money while not in the US. Some US banks are very expat difficult, for example Washington Mutual wins the expat Hall of Shame.

Get at least one wire agreement setup and make sure all of your money can be transferred online to the bank account(s) you will use for the SWIFT transfers.

You will likely need a faux US address for these US banks. A trusted friend or relative? You can also try to use a mail forwarding service as your US address (make sure there is no PO box in the address). This might be an issue with some financial firms if they recognize it as a mail forwarding service and not an actual residence.

So do the best you can to set things up so that when you are settled in Asia with a bank account and visa, you can get the funds in. Of course, depending on what currency you will hold your money in, you are in the financial currencies markets whether you want to be or not. Singapore is of course a world financial center. Might want to search on Singapore here for info about banking there. Also check for Singapore forums.

Edited August 29, 2006 by Thaiquila

[samran]

Do what you want to do withyour money, but a bit of advice: Whatever you do, never close your US bank accounts. Keep them active, credit cards and all.

Why? Because when you are a non-resident and not working in that country, it can be mighty hard to open a bank account, get a credit card etc. etc. So keep them all open, just in case you need to use them or want to return home at some future date.

You'll struggle to get anything more than a simple savings account here in Thailand, without a work permit, thats for sure.

[Thaiquila]

Do what you want to do withyour money, but a bit of advice: Whatever you do, never close your US bank accounts. Keep them active, credit cards and all.

Why? Because when you are a non-resident and not working in that country, it can be mighty hard to open a bank account, get a credit card etc. etc. So keep them all open, just in case you need to use them or want to return home at some future date.

You'll struggle to get anything more than a simple savings account here in Thailand, without a work permit, thats for sure.

Yes indeed. Agreed.

[Loom]

Don't know if you can set up an online account from the US.

For Asia, HSBC in Hong Kong might be worth looking into. This bank has branches in the New York area. If you're in any country where they have a bank (almost everywhere in Asia) funds can be transferred easily from one account to another in a different country using their internet banking service.

I don't believe residency is a pre-requisite for opening a bank account in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Due to the Patriot Act, it's a lot more difficult dealing with US financial institutions from overseas due to stricter "know your customer" requirements. I would therefore plan to do as few US/Asia transfers as possible.

[OldAsiaHand]

Don't know if you can set up an online account from the US.

For Asia, HSBC in Hong Kong might be worth looking into. This bank has branches in the New York area. If you're in any country where they have a bank (almost everywhere in Asia) funds can be transferred easily from one account to another in a different country using their internet banking service.

I don't believe residency is a pre-requisite for opening a bank account in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Due to the Patriot Act, it's a lot more difficult dealing with US financial institutions from overseas due to stricter "know your customer" requirements. I would therefore plan to do as few US/Asia transfers as possible.

Good advice here.

HSBC would definitely be the best and most flexible call for general Asian-based operations, and residency is indeed not needed to open all the bank accounts you would like in either Hong Kong or Singapore (although Hong Kong might be the better choice for you since out-bound wires are relatively expensive in Singapore).

[think_too_mut]

I have plans to spend the next 5-10 years in Asia, including setting up a business, personal travel, mountain climbing, spiritual retreats, etc, etc.

I am more tired of the US politics, and the world of trouble my home country has caused, and want to distance myself in many ways from the USA. I don't want to rely on US Based financial institutions while in Asia, and would like to transfer some money into an Asian bank/financial institution for a long term relationship if at all possible.

I have a strong preference for doing this before leaving the USA in the fall of this year.

Suggestions? Threads which may deal with this? Keywords I can use to search for specific answers to this question?

Thanks

The reasons above are good enough to prevent you from opening any kind of account with any bank within Japan, including Citibank.

So, if "somewhere in Asia" was including Japan too, cross it out.

[naka]

Strange you want to transfer money to 'Asia' but you

still have not decided where !

Putting the cart before the horse !

If you decide on Thailand then you can open a US dollar term deposit

1m 3m 6m 12m etc at any of the big Thai banks.

Naka.

[Loom]

TallTravel,

As far as distancing yourself from the US u might want to think twice about trying to do that in Asia. For the reasons you're expressing frustration, anti-American sentiment has increased significantly in Asia in recent years on top of the xenophobic attitudes that already prevailed in many Asian countries, unless you're a free spending tourist or a large source of FDI.

Therefore your sense of frustration may only increase since the negative posture many Asians now have toward the US will be more in your face as an American abroad unless you crawl into a hole (which is something you can do without moving to Asia).

Additionally, you'll probably find that as much as you might want to run away from your heritage -- being born and raised in the US --- you'll still find significantly better sense of cultural/social "belonging" when you're in the US or with other Americans even if u spend a long time overseas. This is also true for US-born and raised individuals of Asian descent.

[thohts]

Strange you want to transfer money to 'Asia' but you

still have not decided where !

Putting the cart before the horse !

If you decide on Thailand then you can open a US dollar term deposit

1m 3m 6m 12m etc at any of the big Thai banks.

Naka.

Wire it to the Bank of Asia, of course!

[fxm88]

Another decent site about expatiating yourself is here, although some of the material is a little dated.

You may want to keep some US bank account open e.g. to pay your US taxes (unless you're renouncing your US citizenship but even then you may still be liable for US taxes) or open a Paypal account.

Investment options in many foreign countries (including Thailand) can be severely limited so you may also want to keep an investment account open in the States. If you've lost confidence in the US economy you can still use it to invest internationally (through ADRs or mutual funds) or in inflation-indexed government bonds.

[Thaiquila]

TallTravel,

As far as distancing yourself from the US u might want to think twice about trying to do that in Asia. For the reasons you're expressing frustration, anti-American sentiment has increased significantly in Asia in recent years on top of the xenophobic attitudes that already prevailed in many Asian countries, unless you're a free spending tourist or a large source of FDI.

Therefore your sense of frustration may only increase since the negative posture many Asians now have toward the US will be more in your face as an American abroad unless you crawl into a hole (which is something you can do without moving to Asia).

Additionally, you'll probably find that as much as you might want to run away from your heritage -- being born and raised in the US --- you'll still find significantly better sense of cultural/social "belonging" when you're in the US or with other Americans even if u spend a long time overseas. This is also true for US-born and raised individuals of Asian descent.

I tend to subscribe to the cliche that it is much better to expatriate for POSITIVE reasons than for NEGATIVE ones.

I can name a bunch of things in America that suck (I won't bore you) but also lots of things that suck in Thailand, and pretty much every other country I have visited. Leaving the US, you do get the benefit of leaving behind some things that suck, but you also leave some good things, and that is no doubt a fringe benefit, but the negative realities of your new country will hit you sooner or later, so best to have really good reasons to want to move there.