Financial Help Needed

[jle930sl 0]

Hey. My fiance is moving here next week and I have a few questions about some things I was hoping you all could help me out with.

My biggest question, is if it is legal for my fiance to keep his German bank account open despite moving here permanently. There are several reasons he wants to do this, and he thinks it's a good idea. I'm not so sure... it makes me a little uneasy. Will the US Government care or will immigration care if he has the account open? He plans on keeping both a bank account and a credit card open in Germany. The plan is to use the credit card here in the US (or online, etc) and money in the bank account to pay it off. That way his family can easily gift us money when they want, and we can still buy items from Germany (movies, etc) easily. He is also receiving a large sum of money from his deceased grandparents' estate within the next few months, so he needs an account open in Germany to receive that money in. He would like to just leave the money in the account, then use his credit card and pay the credit card with that money. Our other option is to transfer the money to a family members' account and have them transfer it to us in the US.. which would incur a lot of fees. We aren't trying to evade any taxes or anything... but it sort of looks that way. Will doing this hurt us legally - either through taxes or immigration or some other way? Or is this an okay thing to do?

My second question involves his work. I know he's not allowed to work in the US w/o a work permit, but he has the opportunity to continue some free lance work after he moves to the US for a German company. They would pay him in his German bank account and the work would all be done from home. Is it legal for him to continue the work? My fiance thinks it's okay because it's not a US job, which makes sense... but again, the whole situation makes me uneasy and I wanted to get a second (and third/fourth/etc) opinion.

Thanks!

[Kez/JWolf 6]

There is nothing wrong in keeping open a bank account in another country. My late wife did exactly the same thing, she kept her UK account open and her UK credit card. She wanted to be able to get money to her adult childeren quickly if they needed it, it also allowed her to purchase online gifts for her family in the UK and avoid the high cost of shipping from the US.

As for taxes there is provision on the tax return to declare foreign bank accounts if you wish to do so.

Rest easy, he is doing nothing illegal.

[Rob&Dawn 1]

I will also be keeping my UK bank account open, it would only be an issue for the UK bank if i didn't have regular money going in but made withdrawals overseas.

Working freelance for a German company shouldn't cause any problems withour having a US work permit, you may just need to double check that he wouldn't be liable to pay any US taxes on money earnt...i don't think so but worth checking.

[jle930sl 0]

wow! Thank you guys for your replies!!! I feel a lot better now and am happy to hear all is well with his plans. I think my uneasiness just came from having seen too many movies with illegal off shore bank accounts, lol.

Dawn - enjoy your flight to the US and seeing your man again! My man comes.. just a few days after you come - it's so exciting!

[HighwayStar 0]

I'll add my own experience as regards foreign bank accounts. As a matter of fact, in Italy I have not one, but three accounts, which I need to keep open, since I have expenses there, and I also pay taxes on property I own. I have also been using my credit cards regularly here, and have had absolutely no problems in doing so. I even get bank statements mailed to my US address!

[Penguin_ie 5,997]

I kept my Irish bank account open also, with a credit card linked to it. Mostly because of the credit card, as we didn't know how difficult or easily it would be to get one here (neither of us have American credit histories), and because of the exchange rate.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I also have a Canadian bank account and a Canadian credit card still. No problems. It just makes things a lot easier when dealing with Canadian friends, relatives and purchases.

[jle930sl 0]

Again, thanks everyone for your replies. I'm so glad to hear that we aren't the only ones who do this - it will make it ten times easier to deal with friends, family, his freelance job, inheritance, etc etc... and he can easily do all his banking online, so that's not a problem.

I am very excited for next week. In only 4 days my guy will finally be here. I haven't seen him in over a year. Thank you all, very much, for your help! I really appreciate it and it puts my mind at ease.