Best residency to get for personal banking options

[MoeHassan6832]

I’m a non-EEA freelancer (from Egypt), I work on upwork and receive about $5k a month.

I’ve been looking for banking solutions that has ACH and also a card to spend from with low FX, I don’t mind if these are 2 different EMIs.


Anyway, since most good EMIs don’t support my residency, I am willing to try and get a freelancer visa and live in another country for a year or to in order to be able to get a few accounts opened both in real banks there and EMIs.

What would be the best freelance visa to get? A few EU countries offer it, not sure which one to go with, also any alternatives would be appreciated

EMIs I have in mind are: N26, Wise, Revolut, BlackCatCard, lots others.

Happy to hear your thoughts thanks.

 

[aniglo22]

Did you try payoneer ? I think they support egypt

 

[MoeHassan6832]

Did you try payoneer ? I think they support egypt

They do, but they have business bank accounts not personal, so I can’t use the account for funding IBKR where I invest.

But I can look into their card, may be it’s good.

 

[aniglo22]

They do, but they have business bank accounts not personal, so I can’t use the account for funding IBKR where I invest.

But I can look into their card, may be it’s good.

Dont bother with the card , i heard its getting confiscated by customs

 

[MoeHassan6832]

Dont bother with the card , i heard its getting confiscated by customs

I would do like I did with the swiss travellers card (got it from dukascopy). Send it to an address in Europe and have someone would deliver it to me.

But in any case, I reviewed their fees page and I really don’t like it. I won’t use them anyway.

Zenus would come out cheaper than them.

 

[mud]

I’m a non-EEA freelancer (from Egypt), I work on upwork and receive about $5k a month.

I’ve been looking for banking solutions that has ACH and also a card to spend from with low FX, I don’t mind if these are 2 different EMIs.


Anyway, since most good EMIs don’t support my residency, I am willing to try and get a freelancer visa and live in another country for a year or to in order to be able to get a few accounts opened both in real banks there and EMIs.

What would be the best freelance visa to get? A few EU countries offer it, not sure which one to go with, also any alternatives would be appreciated

EMIs I have in mind are: N26, Wise, Revolut, BlackCatCard, lots others.

Happy to hear your thoughts thanks.

What about setting up a (tax free) US LLC with full US banking.

Then using digital nomad visas for your travels?

 

[MoeHassan6832]

hmm, that's a very good idea honestly, but IDK if I can (or want to) use business banking for my own personal banking, but it'll definitely be an option now. Thanks.

 

[mud]

Once you get a digital nomad visa, which is a form of residency visa, in a new country you can then look to see what banking options are available to your personal expenses.

Eg Bunq is only available to EEA residents

 

[Mimimel]

Are you looking for tax residency (living for more than 183 days in the country) or just a residence permit so you can have documents and open bank accounts? Because I have two totally different things.

 

[Don]

I’m a non-EEA freelancer (from Egypt), I work on upwork and receive about $5k a month.

I’ve been looking for banking solutions that has ACH and also a card to spend from with low FX, I don’t mind if these are 2 different EMIs.


Anyway, since most good EMIs don’t support my residency, I am willing to try and get a freelancer visa and live in another country for a year or to in order to be able to get a few accounts opened both in real banks there and EMIs.

What would be the best freelance visa to get? A few EU countries offer it, not sure which one to go with, also any alternatives would be appreciated

EMIs I have in mind are: N26, Wise, Revolut, BlackCatCard, lots others.

Happy to hear your thoughts thanks.

Digital nomad visas tend to open up new opportunities to open EMI accounts in EU.

 

[Marshal]

Dont bother with the card , i heard its getting confiscated by customs

Customs confiscate bank cards? In which country is that?

 

[MoeHassan6832]

Egypt, customs confiscate anything they desire lol

 

[jafo]

Egypt, customs confiscate anything they desire lol

Not just Egypt. I had several cards confiscated by several customs agencies when traveling. They do NOT allow foreign cards into the country. This has happened to me two dozen times in ~4 decades

PS. For example, let's say one of my AMEX cards expires on 07/24, but I'm in Country X, and my next trip is to Country Y. My choices are to fly back to Monaco or CH and get my card or wait till I get back home. Country Y will NOT allow its residents to have a foreign card.

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

Not just Egypt. I had several cards confiscated by several customs agencies when traveling. They do NOT allow foreign cards into the country. This has happened to me two dozen times in ~4 decades

PS. For example, let's say one of my AMEX cards expires on 07/24, but I'm in Country X, and my next trip is to Country Y. My choices are to fly back to Monaco or CH and get my card or wait till I get back home. Country Y will NOT allow its residents to have a foreign card.

Can confirm, also tried to mitigate this by asking a friend to forward me the card by express shipping. In an envelope this resulted into RTO, but if packed a bit discretely nobody will notice.

Also in almost all countries, 'cash' payments (aka no company account) for express shipping will prompt in physical inspection by courier. And most of them RTO the card, since the TOS does not allow bank cards to be shipped.

 

[jafo]

Can confirm, also tried to mitigate this by asking a friend to forward me the card by express shipping. In an envelope this resulted into RTO, but if packed a bit discretely nobody will notice.

Also in almost all countries, 'cash' payments (aka no company account) for express shipping will prompt in physical inspection by courier. And most of them RTO the card, since the TOS does not allow bank cards to be shipped.

Exactly!
Even though AMEX claimed otherwise in their 1990s commercials:

The world has indeed changed, and the OCG has "evolved."

 

[cryptofriendly]

Can confirm, also tried to mitigate this by asking a friend to forward me the card by express shipping. In an envelope this resulted into RTO, but if packed a bit discretely nobody will notice.

Also in almost all countries, 'cash' payments (aka no company account) for express shipping will prompt in physical inspection by courier. And most of them RTO the card, since the TOS does not allow bank cards to be shipped.

There are always ways.

About 20 years ago, my only bank card expired when I was in Chennai, India, and I had to ask my family members to send the new one to me.
At that time, using a birthday card and hiding the the bank card inside was enough to fool the customs and receive it with no issues
(well, beside of the worries and going to the local Indian post office every day to ask if it arrived - and to make myself so present every day, not giving any time or chances to the staff to steal it.)

 

[jafo]

There are always ways.

Absolutely!
I can ship almost anything to anyone; even the receiver may NOT find it unless I tell them where to look and how to look. The problem is that I can't disclose the method; otherwise, I lose my edge.

I don't even trust the people around me with this knowledge. I only trust my buyers, and only them personally. I tell them to treat it like their "wife"—don't share it with others, much less their employees.

There are NO mutes in prison! Ever!

 

[Marshal]

Not just Egypt. I had several cards confiscated by several customs agencies when traveling. They do NOT allow foreign cards into the country. This has happened to me two dozen times in ~4 decades

That's just idiotic. Thank goodness I never need to visit such countries lol

P.S. I have been to Egypt a couple of times and never heard of cards being confiscated. They can be stolen by locals, but by officials, that's strange. How do you suppose to pay without bank cards in a foreign country if you don't carry cash? That's plain stupid.

 

[jafo]

That's just idiotic. Thank goodness I never need to visit such countries lol

P.S. I have been to Egypt a couple of times and never heard of cards being confiscated. They can be stolen by locals, but by officials, that's strange. How do you suppose to pay without bank cards in a foreign country if you don't carry cash? That's plain stupid.

@Marshal, I realize my error of omission now.
I apologize.
We meant cards sent by mail or courier. For example, you are vacationing in Egypt and the fraud dept. of your bank issues you a new credit card (for whatever reason). It ain't going (easy) through Egypt's customs unless you can "hide it in plain sight."
That's what we meant. Sorry for the confusion.