Non-resident alien wants to save $$

[aliensavers]

Hi all, I'm new here but have found lots of great advice from reading your posts lately! So, i'm looking for some advice and/or comments.

My husband and I are both non-resident (employed) aliens in the USA and we would like to open one of these sexy internet high interest savings accts. However, most of them require that you are either a US citizen or a resident alien. Has anyone out there found a way around this and/or a great online acct with a decent interest rate that will allow non-residents to apply!?!

Grateful for any advice!!
k.

[Russell]

Re: Non-resident alien wants to save $$

Welcome to the forums.

There are a few different kinds of non-resident 'aliens' (that term cracks me up ). As long as you pay taxes in the US and you have a regular checking account I don't see how an online account would be any different ? However, they may need more info from you like your passport# or the alien # so your best bet is to call them up. Emigrant Direct is actually a real bank in NY so I'm sure they manage regular accounts for many non-residents.

Let us know how it goes.

[weiwentg]

Re: Non-resident alien wants to save $$

there's residency for immigration purposes (you are presumably non-resident aliens immigration-wise) and for tax purposes. if you are working under an H1B visa, I think you are considered a resident alien for tax purposes. anyway, as an NRA under an F1 student visa, I opened accounts with EmigrantDirect and MyBankingDirect, both of which now offer 4.0% APY.

FYI, as an NRA for tax purposes, bank interest (money markets, CDs) is tax exempt. ditto for obligations of the US government or its agencies - if I were to buy municipal bonds or a municipal bond fund, the dividends would be tax exempt (the capital gains on the bond fund would not be). however, NRAs can't own US savings bonds; you can buy the other treasury instruments from your bank or from TreasuryDIrect (the website), but they are a bit less practical for small investors. here's a summary of the rules for NRAs if it interests you: http://invest-faq.com/articles/tax-non-us-nat.html

it sounds like you are resident aliens (for tax purposes), though, so you pay tax just like a US citizen. check with your banks again, sometimes they don't know the difference between residency for tax and for immigration. you should have absolutely no problems opening an account. you should also be able to open an account with most brokerages as well. I highly recommend opening a Roth IRA for your retirement; the earnings will be tax free when withdrawn (unless the tax code changes radically), and you'll only have your own country's taxes to deal with, unless you have migrated here by then.

[weiwentg]

Re: Non-resident alien wants to save $$

Hi, there!
I understand that non-US residents have problems in order to open a US bank account or to start a US merchant account.
I strongly recommend (URL deleted by admin)
A friend of mine used it and he is very satisfied now.

quite frankly, I think this is like one of those websites where you pay them to help you apply for the Diversity Visa lottery. they're scams. the DV lottery is free, and it is very easy to apply. similarly, you don't need to pay $47 to find out how to open a bank account over the internet. you do NOT need to do anything too complex. just have your documentation in order and you are set. I repeat, I am a non-resident alien and I have an account with Emigrant Direct and Mybankingdirect. the setting up process was no more involved than for a regular US citizen applying for a similar account. besides this, the product advertised is aimed at people opening an account in the US from outside the US. the original poster is already in the US and is working here.

[Snoopy2645]

Re: Non-resident alien wants to save $$

Kinda funny how they answered their own posts too this looks like an advertisement to me just trying to get around what they are advertising so its not erassed!!!