Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sillyboy]

I'm leaving soon and with some property investments will have more money to transfer home than I can show I legally earned. So I'm wondering if any of you clued-in expats have ever set up an offshore bank account? You know, like in Switzerland, though apparently there's more money now in the Carribean than in Switz. Any advice as to how to go about it, what to watch out for, etc.... We're basically just looking for a place to rest the money for a while w/o having to pay taxes on it.

Thanks in advance,
S-boy

[whatthefunk]

Or you could invest your money. I hear Nigeria is a good place....

[sillyboy]

that's actually how I made a good portion of my coin here. Those guys in the fish alley area of Itaewon, behind burger king were quite helpful in moving things along. Now I need help getting my $ to a safe, accessible place, which was the original question. Por favor ayuda me>>>>

SB

[beast]

Hey Sillyboy,
I did a ton of research on the subject. Setting up an account can be quite a process however. Setting up an offshore corporation can be costly and also most places require notarized bank letters of reference and proof of residency such as monthly utility statements. Set up costs can be anywhere from $500 to $5,000. Minimum investment requirments are usually between $5,000 to $25,000.

It is simpler and sometimes more practical therefore to simply open a personal savings account in a foreign country that is stable and has bank secrecy laws. For example, you have your bank account here in Korea and most likely maintain a balance in Korean Won. You can do the same thing in many other countries without actually residing or working there. I have opened bank accounts in the Philippines, Costa Rica and Panama simply by walking in off the street, showing my passport and filling in some forms. Not all countries will allow this, but the above mentioned countries do, or at least they did for me at the time. These bank accounts are all in U.S. dollars and earn local rates of interest. Banks in the Bahamas and Grand Cayman have more stringent account opening procedures, but I'll be looking into that next year. (Anyone out there with experience with Bahamian or Grand Cayman banks? Your advice would be appreciated.)

The other thing you could do is look into internet banking. Check out www.swissinvestmentbank.net and www.griffonbank.com They both offer to set up offshore accounts and also offer debit cards and term deposits.

I'm no expert on banking and would welcome advice from anyone else who has experience on the subject.

[funplanet]

easy to do!! I opened up an account with SwissPost by mail last year and simply wire my $ to it every month and convert to CHF (swiss francs)..try www.swisspost.ch...i think...and go from there...got a gold credit card with the swiss label and all...koreans eyes light up when they see that..

also try hong kong...i opened an account there with just a passport and walked out in 15 minutes with a new account full of chinese yuan..why? china has joined the wto and one of the requirements is that they must float the yuan at some point...before they fixed it the yuan was at about 5.5 per $ but i will be happy to see it at 6.5-7 per $...nice profit in the long run...but be careful and keep an eye on it...you can always go online or pick up the telephone and convert it to something else quickly if it all goes to sh*t in a handbasket

another option...get a camoflauge passport and open an account with a different name...no taxman will ever find you!! some banks in HK, Bangkok, Singapore will open an account with a British West Indies or even an old USSR "passport"....

either way, you have plenty of options...just don't let the taxman get their grubby hands on it!!!

[chronicpride]

Check out http://www.expat.ca/ ....they are a great contact for non-residency advice and offshore accts.