US outland applicants' thread :)

[lunas]

Hello
I was wondering if someone could help me clear this. I need to start packing and organizing things I will take once I get my copr. Since I will need to quit my job I'm planning to cash some investments like a few stocks and probably my 401k. Do I need to include the amount of money in my b4 forms? I don't really know how much money I will be able to cash yet so I'm even unsure how I will transfer all my money to my Canadian bank. Ideas please? Thank you

I'm sorry I don't want to double post or be a pest. Don't forget about me ???

 

[amikety]

I'm sorry I don't want to double post or be a pest. Don't forget about me ???

I transferred my money with Paypal - I already had a Canadian bank account though.

If you cash your 401(k), it will count as income for 2013 tax year.

You can also gather up all your funds and purchase a money order payable to yourself. The risk, of course, is if you lose it... ek!

 

[lunas]

I transferred my money with Paypal - I already had a Canadian bank account though.

If you cash your 401(k), it will count as income for 2013 tax year.

You can also gather up all your funds and purchase a money order payable to yourself. The risk, of course, is if you lose it... ek!

Hahn thank you. I didn't think of PayPal. No need to include all that mess in my b4 then?

 

[amikety]

Hahn thank you. I didn't think of PayPal. No need to include all that mess in my b4 then?

I'm not sure, since I haven't landed and won't be filling out a B4 when I cheated and mailed my stuff to my husband when I moved.

So I guess he technically owns all my stuffed animals and socks now.

 

[crna80]

Hahn thank you. I didn't think of PayPal. No need to include all that mess in my b4 then?

I did not include any financial information on the b4. The agents ask the usual question about having $10000 with you. I have used PayPal, thing is they always put holds on your money when it gets here to Canada. I have heard not to close your US acct as it might be hard to reopen as a non resident. You can access your US money with an ATM card up to the limit. You could bring some cash what ever you feel comfortable carrying as long as it's not over $10,000. And you can open an account here with a US check with the understanding it will have a hold on it for about 15 days. RBC has an account you can hold in US dollars and then change it to Canadian when the exchange is favorable. TD has a north American account, I've been meaning to look into. We have been seasonal in Canada for almost 11 years. Still not a real efficient way to transfer cash without a hold on it. you maybe able to wire money, which has a cost to it. You could check into that. But you have to have a destination. check with your bank before you leave. If they will do that.

 

[lunas]

Thank you!

 

[parker24]

Hahn thank you. I didn't think of PayPal. No need to include all that mess in my b4 then?

Finances aren't really on there. They just ask if you have over 10K on hand usually. Otherwise you should be groovy 8)

 

[crna80]

Just went to the TD website and they have cross border banking. I had gone into a US TD branch and asked and they said no they didn't do that, but that was a year or two ago. It looks like now there is something. Might be something to look into, if you are near a US TD branch. I know there are some in Florida and the East Coast. Not sure about the west.

 

[tinytortoise]

Just wanted to thank everyone who posted on the last 2.5 pages, this information is very good and timely! Thanks all!!

 

[Shylox]

Just went to the TD website and they have cross border banking. I had gone into a US TD branch and asked and they said no they didn't do that, but that was a year or two ago. It looks like now there is something. Might be something to look into, if you are near a US TD branch. I know there are some in Florida and the East Coast. Not sure about the west.

Really? I've been trying to talk my wife into switching from the crappy credit union we use to TD, I had no idea they did cross border stuff so that's another bonus. I tried searching on their site and couldn't find anything, but I'm assuming this would allow me to use my debit card in both countries with out the extra fees, am I right?

Right now I still have my US bank account with the minimum amount that I can have without getting charged and I just use that when I visit the US but it would be lots easier if I could close it and only have one account in Canada that I can use in both countries without getting too many fees.

 

[parker24]

Really? I've been trying to talk my wife into switching from the crappy credit union we use to TD, I had no idea they did cross border stuff so that's another bonus. I tried searching on their site and couldn't find anything, but I'm assuming this would allow me to use my debit card in both countries with out the extra fees, am I right?

Right now I still have my US bank account with the minimum amount that I can have without getting charged and I just use that when I visit the US but it would be lots easier if I could close it and only have one account in Canada that I can use in both countries without getting too many fees.

Scotiabank allows you to use your debit in the USA as well for a small fee

 

[crna80]

Really? I've been trying to talk my wife into switching from the crappy credit union we use to TD, I had no idea they did cross border stuff so that's another bonus. I tried searching on their site and couldn't find anything, but I'm assuming this would allow me to use my debit card in both countries with out the extra fees, am I right?

Right now I still have my US bank account with the minimum amount that I can have without getting charged and I just use that when I visit the US but it would be lots easier if I could close it and only have one account in Canada that I can use in both countries without getting too many fees.

On the TD website it mentions US bill pay, and transferring up to $25000 without fees. Not sure about ATM fees. Try TD Canada
Trust. The TD thing has you open a TD USA acct and a Canadian Acct. So you will still have two accts, but I'm thinking the money is transferable without charge between the two. Some of the best info on dealing between the two countries comes from Snowbird websites. I'll be checking TD tomorrow about this as it seems things have changed since I checked before.

 

[Shylox]

Scotiabank allows you to use your debit in the USA as well for a small fee

Yea Scotiabank is great for lots of things if you like "small fees"

Maybe I'm just bitter because of how they've treated us for the short time we've had a credit card with them LOL

 

[Shylox]

On the TD website it mentions US bill pay, and transferring up to $25000 without fees. Not sure about ATM fees. Try TD Canada
Trust. The TD thing has you open a TD USA acct and a Canadian Acct. So you will still have two accts, but I'm thinking the money is transferable without charge between the two. Some of the best info on dealing between the two countries comes from Snowbird websites. I'll be checking TD tomorrow about this as it seems things have changed since I checked before.

Ahh I see it now! Sorry I guess I was blind the first time around haha I will look into it further and we'll see what they say.

 

[cempjwi]

I'm sorry I don't want to double post or be a pest. Don't forget about me ???

Not sure where in the US you are but since we are in Florida we opened an account with TD Bank (US) which has ties to TD Canada Trust. Later, the sponsor opened an account with TD Canada Trust in a recent visit to Toronto and now we are able to transfer funds between accounts in the US and Canada. Technically you have to open a US dollar account and a Canadian dollar account in Canada in order to transfer funds, but that is not a big deal. You can transfer a very large amount of money per day per account holder (I think they said 25K - but not like we have that kind of money!).