I did not use my bank for transfers but an alternative transfer service. (Worldfirst - but they just quit business in the US this week)
Look into that, they have two advantages in my point of view:
Transparent fees (none) while my bank in Europe was not able to give me a clear statement on fees and cost, neither the exact rate of transfer.
Their model was very straight. They show you a transfer rate, that already deducted their margin. That was what you got. No additional fee.
You can take advantage of course fluctuations. It worked in the way that you send them the money. Once it is on their account you can pull the trigger for the transfer anytime.
They transfer the money and send it to an account in the target country.
Because the question came up: At least Worldfirst did the reporting as required. When initiating the transfer, I had to confirm that I am the sender and beneficiary of the transfer plus answer a question what the source of the money is.
Furthermore they clearly stated that you will be flagged in their system if you try to do multiple transfers <$10k.
Transferring foreign money legally into US before immigrating
in Tax & Finances During US Immigration
Posted
I did not use my bank for transfers but an alternative transfer service. (Worldfirst - but they just quit business in the US this week)
Look into that, they have two advantages in my point of view:
Their model was very straight. They show you a transfer rate, that already deducted their margin. That was what you got. No additional fee.
They transfer the money and send it to an account in the target country.
Because the question came up: At least Worldfirst did the reporting as required. When initiating the transfer, I had to confirm that I am the sender and beneficiary of the transfer plus answer a question what the source of the money is.
Furthermore they clearly stated that you will be flagged in their system if you try to do multiple transfers <$10k.