Hello,

My husband and I are trying to figure out the best way to transfer/take our money from India to the US. We are not really comfortable with carrying cash or even traveler's checks, and unfortunately, the www.XE.com does not do transfers on rupees to dollars.

What experiences can anyone share with us about taking over $10,000 out of India to the US? Oh yes, another glitch, my bank account in the US is not active anymore, so I can't transfer money directly...

Thanks,
C

You can try this idea: Open a repatriable Non Resident account in Citibank and ICICI. These accounts are designed for non-resident Indian but money can be taken out of India. My understanding is that you can take more than 10K USD out of India via these means. Please call ICICI or Citibank. They can assist you further.

Thanks Bengalilover! Ritesh has an account with them and asked about the NRI accounts - depending upon who he talks to at Citibank it is a different story as to what he can do - the usual run-around. Everything we do is so frustrating! We have a joint account there, and I have another account at Axis (formerly UTI) and they are no better.

Do you know what kind of forms we have to fill out for FEMA regulations/what documents are necessary to take money out? It looks like there is a higher cap on funds you can remove if you are emigrating than for other travel, but I am just not sure how many stacks of paperwork/red-tape we will have to go through in this process.

You can also try Western union money transfer...check their website!

hi,

Hey carolyn you can do a wire transfer from ritesh's account to your account in the USA.. Thats the best way I feel.

I agree...wiring the money is much better than Western Union....Don't think you have to fill out any forms if you are wiring money!!!

hey! you can ask your bank (any bank) to make a SWIFT transfer of fund from India to US.

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for all your responses, we think we have it all sorted out - all I can say is if you have access to USAA insurance and banking, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!

can you please share your approach once you have got it done.

Yes please share how you did it.

I was also thinking that if you do not have an active bank account in USA, you could maybe transfer funds to, say, your parent's account in USA and they could transfer into your account once you arrive and open an account here. However I suppose your parents would have to declare the money as income for tax purposes?

Fortunately, I have been a member of USAA for about 17 years (no bank accounts, just insurance!) and that enabled me to set up an account on-line with them. They are pretty accustomed to working with people who are overseas since they do a lot of business with military members, so they did not seem fazed by the fact that I am in India right now.

My guess is that because I am a long term member and they already have my parents address on their files, have all my documentation from previous interactions, etc. that it is not a problem. Ritesh can't be added to the bank account until we are in the US and he has a SSN, but he was easily made a member of USAA.

USAA really has great customer service, great rates for auto insurance, home insurance, etc. - when I first joined, I think it was for officers or former officers in the military and their children/spouses. I think they may have broadened it to anyone in the military or related, but I am not sure. If you can, get on board!

Now that we have that account, we are wiring money into it from our accounts in India. Just did a test run today, if all goes well, we will start sending bigger chunks.