Cash Limit?

[scotchland5206 5]

Hi everyone, have a bit of a random question...

Does anyone know if there is a limit to how much cash you are allowed on your person when entering the States...?!

I mean I'm not in the money or anything! We're just talking wedding gift money from family & friends plus some of my savings.

I'm planning on using one of those money belts you can wear under your shirt that I always used to ridicule my mum for. LOL

If someone knows, that would be really helpful, thanks

Passport scheduled to arrive tomorrow woo hoo!

[James_and_JoAnne 7]

I believe that you can carry a maximum of 10,000 USD without declaring it. You can bring more than that (no limit) but you must file form 4790.

[* Kristin * 49]

Yep - $10,000 w/o declaring.

FYI - scotchland - I used xe.com to transfer between our bank accounts. They give a more favourable rate than our bank in the UK (HSBC) and it's pretty painless.

I believe that you can carry a maximum of 10,000 USD without declaring it. You can bring more than that (no limit) but you must file form 4790.

Edited March 22, 2011 by * Kristin *

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

They don't tax you or charge duty on amounts over $10K. They just want to keep track of large sums of cash entering the US for security, money laundering, terrorist funding type things. It's mainly to create a paper trail I think.

[scotchland5206 5]

That's good to know, thanks guys!

@Kristin, thanks for reminding me about XE. I think I'll take what I need for the wedding costs as cash, then wire the rest when I get a US savings account set up...

It probably sounds ridiculous, but I just don't like the idea of leaving all my money sitting in a UK bank account when I move to the states..! Yep, I'm weird, I know

[kutakendra 3]

Any amount $10,000 and over needs to be reported, so I would bring $9,999.

[Jojo92122 1,924]

That's good to know, thanks guys!

@Kristin, thanks for reminding me about XE. I think I'll take what I need for the wedding costs as cash, then wire the rest when I get a US savings account set up...

It probably sounds ridiculous, but I just don't like the idea of leaving all my money sitting in a UK bank account when I move to the states..! Yep, I'm weird, I know

There are banks with branches in the UK and the US. Perhaps you can deposit your money into a UK branch. Once in the US, you can have the account transferred over to the US branch.

HSBC has branches in both countries.

[SophWeb 25]

Get Travelers Checks - not cash. If you lose cash it's gone, but if your Traveler's Checks are lost or stolen, they can be re-issued and you're not out of pocket.

[scotchland5206 5]

The HSBC account and taking Traveler's Checks are both great ideas, thanks! Hadn't thought of either of those LOL

I've never used Traveler's Checks before, don't know why...