The cost of moving your family’s money abroad is usually not the fee. Bank of America publishes no wire transfer fee at all on an outbound international wire sent in foreign currency, and in the same disclosure states that “markups associated with the currency conversion are included in the Bank of America, N.A. exchange rate and we make money from the foreign currency exchange” (Bank of America, checked 2026-08-26). A US-dollar outbound wire there costs $45.
The rate is the price
Every transfer has two prices: the stated fee and the exchange rate you are given. The mid-market rate is the rate at which two currencies trade between banks, the number on a currency chart with no customer attached. A provider that gives you a rate below mid-market keeps the gap, which never shows on a receipt as a line item. Rates move all day, so this guide publishes no rate table. What each provider publishes about its own pricing, checked 2026-08-26:
- Wise publishes “We only use the mid-market rate, the one you can check on Google”, and charges sending and converting as a separate stated fee, “From 0.23%”.
- OFX publishes “there are no transfer fees” on US transfers and, separately, that “Our OFX margin is based on the currency exchanged and your transaction amount.” It publishes no number for that margin, but does publish one for everyone else: “most banks could charge up to a 5% margin on the interbank rate.”
- Xe publishes “low to no fees” and that “All fees are shown upfront before you confirm your transfer”, but no figure for its own rate margin.
- Revolut could not be verified. Its US fees page and help centre both returned HTTP 403 to us on 2026-08-26, so this guide does not describe its pricing.
Compare the amount that lands, from two providers at once.
expatfamilyliving.com is paid when a reader opens an account with some of the providers named here, Wise, OFX and Xe among them, and that payment changed nothing above: every figure is quoted from the provider’s own published page with the date checked.
Why a foreign bank may decline your family
FATCA requires foreign financial institutions to “report on the foreign assets held by their U.S. account holders or be subject to withholding on withholdable payments”, and the IRS states the consequence plainly: “Unless otherwise exempt, FFIs that do not both register and agree to report face a 30% withholding tax on certain U.S.-source payments made to them” (IRS, checked 2026-08-26).
From the bank’s side, taking your family obliges it to identify you as US persons, register with the IRS and report your accounts, or accept 30 percent withholding on its own US-source income. A small bank with a few American customers can spend more on compliance than those accounts earn, and some decline. Do not overstate it: FATCA does not bar foreign banks from serving US citizens, many categories of institution are exempt, and large banks in these destinations do take US customers. Put a second bank on your list.
What a bank asks a newly arrived family for
Three banks in our destinations, from their own account-opening pages, checked 2026-08-26.
ABN AMRO (Netherlands) publishes that you can open online if you “are aged 18 years or older; have an official Dutch home address; have a Dutch ID or an international passport; are liable to pay taxes in the Netherlands.” On the tax number: “Don’t have a BSN yet? Then you can still open an account. However, you must provide us with your BSN within 120 days after opening your account.”
Millennium bcp (Portugal) lists a citizen card, identity card or cédula pessoal, or a cartão de contribuinte; proof of your morada fiscal, your tax address, no more than 12 months old; and proof of profession and employer. An applicant with no Portuguese citizen card must present a residence permit card or a passport.
BBVA (Spain) lists among the requirements for its Cuenta Online Sin Comisiones: “Ser mayor de edad (18 años o más). Tener un número de DNI (o TIE) en vigor.” A valid Spanish national ID or foreigner identity card number is the gate. A passport is not.
Each wants a local address, a local identity or tax document, and evidence that you are a taxpayer there. None of it exists on day one. The number comes from registering your residence: “Everyone who registers with the BRP is automatically given a BSN” (government.nl, checked 2026-08-26). Ireland adds an ordering rule for families: a PPS application needs address evidence no “older than 3 months”, and for a child living in but not born in Ireland, “One of the parents or guardians of the child must have a PPS Number themselves before making an application for the child” (gov.ie, checked 2026-08-26). Address, then number, then bank: a short-term rental with no registrable address stalls all three.
Carrying cash across the border
US law here is a reporting rule, not a limit. CBP publishes that “Anyone who brings, sends, or receives currency or monetary instruments totaling more than $10,000 at one time, either into or out of the United States, must report it” on FinCEN Form 105, plus the sentence families miss: “When families or groups are involved, the $10,000 threshold applies to the total amount they are carrying or sending collectively, not per individual” (CBP, checked 2026-08-26). Bearer instruments count too, and failing to file risks the money being “forfeited and seized”. The EU mirrors it: under Regulation (EU) 2018/1672, “All travellers entering or leaving EU territory with EUR 10 000 or more in cash (or its equivalent in other currencies, bonds, shares or traveller’s cheques) must complete a cash declaration” (European Commission, checked 2026-08-26). Two parents splitting $6,000 each trip both rules.
Getting paid abroad
For a retiring parent moving with you, SSA publishes that it deposits benefits “into your account at a U.S. financial institution no matter where you live”, or into a bank “in any country that has an international direct deposit agreement with the U.S.” (SSA Publication 05-10137, April 2026 edition, checked 2026-08-26). All eight destinations this site covers are on that list (SSA Country List 6, checked 2026-08-26).
Two limits matter before anyone signs a lease. Treasury “prohibits making payments to persons residing in Cuba or North Korea”, and SSA “generally cannot send Social Security payments to persons in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, or Uzbekistan”, with exceptions for certain eligible people. SSA also calculates benefits in US dollars and does “not increase or decrease your benefits because of changes in international exchange rates”, so the currency risk on that income sits with your family.
Your US accounts after the address changes
We could not verify one US retail bank or brokerage publishing, in its own words, that it closes an account or cancels a card when the address of record moves abroad. Fidelity, Vanguard, Wells Fargo and Ally returned errors or missing pages to us on 2026-08-26, and we will not repeat what others say.
What Charles Schwab publishes is instructive. Its separate arm, Charles Schwab International, publishes that “Schwab’s account solutions allow expats to invest in U.S. markets while living abroad”, and its application opens by asking for “your country/region of residence”, then a passport and “a recent utility bill (gas, electric, water, cable) or proof of residency” (Charles Schwab International, checked 2026-08-26). The foreign address is not ignored; it routes you to a different product. Ask your institutions in writing what happens when your address changes, before it does.
The first 90 days, in order
- Before departure, open the multi-currency account. It is the only one you can open while your address is still American. Fund it and send a test amount.
- Keep one US account open and funded. SSA can deposit to a US institution “no matter where you live”, and US bills rarely stop.
- On arrival, secure the registrable address first. Registering in the Netherlands produces the BSN; an Irish PPS application needs address evidence under three months old.
- Then the tax number, adults before children.
- Then the local bank. ABN AMRO allows 120 days to supply the BSN, so there the account can lead the number. BBVA’s DNI or TIE requirement means in Spain it cannot.
- Move the cash in tranches. One conversion, on one day, at one provider concentrates rate risk, counterparty risk and any fraud hold in a single moment. Three or four transfers across the quarter, split across two providers, remove that concentration.
- Never hold the whole buffer in one currency. Rent, school fees and deposits fall due locally; US obligations fall due in dollars. Keep three months of committed local costs and leave the rest in dollars.
Who should not
Families keeping US income and paying US bills who do not need a local account immediately. If your salary is paid in dollars, your loans are in dollars, and your destination lets you pay rent by transfer, you may not need a local bank in month one. Applying before you have an address and a tax number wastes the trip and leaves a rejection behind you.
Anyone about to move a large lump sum without a tax preparer’s input. The size, timing and direction of a transfer can change what is reportable and when you become tax resident somewhere. This site publishes what each authority publishes, not your basis or your treaty position. Speak to a preparer who handles expatriate returns before the money moves, not the following April.