Moving money from US to Canada before landing

[actionjack]

Has anyone opened a bank account in Canada from the US? Has this been addressed somewhere else in the forum?

Thanks

 

[bkbk8]

I am in the same situations and curious to what others have done?

Also, is it safe to keep money over in US bank accounts and only transfer when completely settled down in Canada?

 

[yodheydhara]

Not sure if you can open a Canadian Bank account from the US (or from anywhere for that matter) until you have at least the COPR or PR proof and a local address (unless its something similar to having a US dollars account in a Canadian bank).
Have you already landed in Canada or are you planning to land in Canada?

What is your purpose for opening a Canadian Bank account from US?

I am asking these questions so as to answer with more relevant information.

 

[zhaoyingzhe]

Not sure if you have TD-bank in your area. But TD-bank allows you to open a Canadian bank account using your U.S. address.
They have a free wire transfer service between TD-Canada and TD-US called "Cross boarder banking". Pretty useful. I used it once and there were no fees transferring money between you Canadian and American TD bank accounts. The receiving bank (TD Canada in my case) initially collected some fees but was refunded back to my account.

 

[mike2236]

Only this month I tried to open a TD Canadian account from the US and was told that I have to go into a TD location in Canada to do so and cannot do it online without being a Canadian PR or Canadian citizen. I am a US citizen. If you are a US citizen then it's very simple to open a Canadian bank account from within Canada. All you need is your US passport and also need to provide you SSN and SIN if you have one. So during my trip to Canada a few days later I opened the TD cross border checking in Canada which has a US$4.95 monthly fee. This account hold your funds in USD. However, if you will be transferring funds from CAD to USD as I am then you get preferential exchange rates. Also, as mentioned that there are no fees to transfer from Canadian TD to US TD account. They do charge a fee but refund that fee. I am not sure about the reverse from USA to Canada if there are fees as I have not moved funds in that direction.

 

[katiegud]

RBC told me I can open one from the US. The online account process asks if you live in Canada and you just say 'no' and move on. They are supposedly the most immigrant friendly bank.