International tranfers

[kvitkrull]

Hi there,

I have a question. I'm Australian and I have received a placement for post graduate studies in Norway. To get the student visa I must have $30,000.00 transfered into a Norwegian bank account to then get a statement to prove the funds exist. (the 30 thousand is for living costs for the 2 years of studies.) Basically, I don't have 30 thousand right now, but I need to get the visa.
So my question is, what is the best way to get 30 thousand into a Norwegian account for a short period of time? I have considered taking a loan in Australia, transferring the money using a broker and then transferring it back to repay the loan, but is there a smarter way?

Any advice is appreciated!

[lorraineb]

I'm not sure this would be the best place to seek such advice since the majority of people here are from the US. There are certainly risks to doing it the way you are including the fees that the banks would take with the transfers, the exchange rate fees and the fluctuation in currencies.

[cooliemae]

Why don't I put you in touch with my business associate from Nigeria. He has a great deal of experience with wire transfers.

I agree with lorraineb and don't know how much help we can offer....

[kork13]

Any bank (at least any worthwhile bank) can set up a wire transfer of any amount from your Australian account into pretty much any other account in the world. There will be wire transfer fees (varying from $15-$50), but it's totally doable and honestly pretty easy. Get in touch with your current bank, and request help setting up a wire transfer. They may send you into a back office to get the right person to help you, but it should be no problem whatsoever.

As for the "fantastic" idea of getting a short term loan to cover the required asset holdings in Norway for your visa....... That's probably not very wise. First, if it becomes clear that you intentionally side-step the visa requirement and the Norwegian government discovers this fact, you could easily have your visa revoked and be deported. I honestly don't know how strict Norway is about visas or how closely tied banks are to the national government (in some countries, the banks ARE the government -- they have state-run banks). It seems to be inherently risky to propose such an idea. As you're going for graduate studies, can you get actual student loans for your use while attending school, and that you would have access to for the duration of your studies? That would be a far safer option for you.

[elessar78]

You can't be the first Australian studying abroad from your University. Or the first incoming one from norway. Ask your university and ask the Norway University what to do.

We tried to set up bank accounts in a foreign country in which to deposit some regular cash assistance for my father and it wasn't easy, because of anti-money laundering restrictions.

[kvitkrull]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated...