US outland applicants' thread :)

[CDNPR2014]

That's crazy! I live just a few blocks from a branch so it's easy to swing by for me.
Good luck! Now that I'm a PR and got rid of my US healthcare I no longer have to mail checks to the US but I'll keep my US account with them.

i'll have to stop by this weekend, i'm at work now so I can't spend the time dealing with the bank.

i'll be paying my student loans foreverrrrrrrr. lol

thanks again for your input!

 

[jwnmm]

Don't know if this will be helpful, but my husband (Canadian) has an American Express credit card and it's really useful when he visits the U.S. or makes online payments. It seems to be pretty widely accepted now-days.

 

[CDNPR2014]

Don't know if this will be helpful, but my husband (Canadian) has an American Express credit card and it's really useful when he visits the U.S. or makes online payments. It seems to be pretty widely accepted now-days.

the bills i am paying can't be paid by credit card. my bills require a us bank account to pay them online. i don't have a way to put money in my us bank account from canada, and they do not recognize canadian bank accounts to pay bills. the bank and routing numbers have different amount of digits.

 

[setec-astronomy]

the bills i am paying can't be paid by credit card. my bills require a us bank account to pay them online. i don't have a way to put money in my us bank account from canada, and they do not recognize canadian bank accounts to pay bills. the bank and routing numbers have different amount of digits.

Yeah, it really sounds like your best bet is going to be to get set up with a cross-border set of accounts with a bank that has a presence in both countries. I've been fairly happy, as others have mentioned in this thread, with RBC's offerings. The web interface isn't the greatest, but the transfers happen very quickly, and provide good options for both accounts.

 

[CDNPR2014]

Yeah, it really sounds like your best bet is going to be to get set up with a cross-border set of accounts with a bank that has a presence in both countries. I've been fairly happy, as others have mentioned in this thread, with RBC's offerings. The web interface isn't the greatest, but the transfers happen very quickly, and provide good options for both accounts.

thanks, yeah i'll be checking with rbc if td doesn't offer anything helpful.

 

[krishnalynn]

I used to Paypal myself money from my Canadian account to my American account but the conversion fees and exchange rate were awful. My bank (TD) wouldn't approve me for a US dollar banking account because they kept insisting it was for Canadian citizens only and made me bring in a Canadian passport to open one.

 

[CDNPR2014]

I used to Paypal myself money from my Canadian account to my American account but the conversion fees and exchange rate were awful. My bank (TD) wouldn't approve me for a US dollar banking account because they kept insisting it was for Canadian citizens only and made me bring in a Canadian passport to open one.

so you get my pain!!!!! good to know about the fees on paypal. it's not letting me transfer from my bank account and is prompting me to use only a credit card. very annoying. i found an exchange place that has no fees so i take the extra step to go there to avoid the bank fees. my husband loves td. they have been nothing but frustrating for me. if i can't get a us account or get us checks issued from here, then i'm going to rbc!

 

[ktorva]

My husband has the RBC bank account that was mentioned. It's basically two connected accounts, one American and one Canadian. He can transfer money easily at a decent exchange rate as needed. It will be handy for paying those pesky American bills and I will be setting one up too - I'll also be paying my student loans forever!

 

[feelings]

Looking for any suggestions at all as I have not heard anything from CIC since February.

I filed back in January, received request for documents which I sent but have not received an AOR yet. All I was assigned was a File # which I cannot track. I see a lot of others have received their AORs and SA.

I'm concerned at this point and feel stuck

 

[KelseyTVS]

Looking for any suggestions at all as I have not heard anything from CIC since February.

I filed back in January, received request for documents which I sent but have not received an AOR yet. All I was assigned was a File # which I cannot track. I see a lot of others have received their AORs and SA.

I'm concerned at this point and feel stuck

Sometimes they do not send AOR. If you have not received SA and have been waiting longer than the SA time (I think it's currently 39 days), you should send a case inquiry o call them, they'll let you know what's going on.

 

[amuricanuck]

Don't know if this will be helpful, but my husband (Canadian) has an American Express credit card and it's really useful when he visits the U.S. or makes online payments. It seems to be pretty widely accepted now-days.

Does it say you got DM within 2 months of your application being filed? Wowzer! That is so fast!

 

[amuricanuck]

Paypal works great for transferring money between two accounts from different countries. My wife and I use it quite a bit when we see each other.

 

[setec-astronomy]

Paypal works great for transferring money between two accounts from different countries. My wife and I use it quite a bit when we see each other.

This has a non-trivial overhead in delay and fees, though. A good two-country bank solution should involve neither, and that's why long-term it's the only really tenable solution.

 

[CDNPR2014]

Paypal works great for transferring money between two accounts from different countries. My wife and I use it quite a bit when we see each other.

yeah, it's not working for me yet. it's prompting me to only use a credit card for transfers and won't allow me to transfer from my bank account ('im not sure if this is because one of the accounts is new or what). also, others are suggesting the fees are high, so i'm going to investigate dual bank account options. thanks for the input!

 

[screenguy80]

Silly question, but in another thread I read something about the person writing "Outland Application" on the outside of the envelope, for their PR package.

I'm not sure at all that I did this.

Is there a way for me to check with certainty that the application is being processed as an outland application and isn't in the inland stream?

Thanks