Banking in UK and US

Hello,

Quick backstory: I have been temporarily hired to go to the UK in January for about 10 weeks to work with one of our clients (I work for a Marketing Firm). During that time, I will be getting paid by a) the client (in the UK) and b) the marketing firm (in the US).

I was hoping that my bank (Chase) would be over in the UK, but upon some research I have discovered that it's not.

For those of you who may have been in similar situations, I wanted to see what advise you could give? Should I set up a bank account in the UK for only 10 weeks? How would it work with paychecks coming from two different countries? What would be the easiest way to go about this?

Any advise is well appreciated!

Ensure that you have the legal right to work in the UK.

I was just looking at a similar banking issue. Citibank has branches in both the UK and US, but you might need to open separate accounts in each location. Opening a bank account may be difficult if you don't have residence in the UK...

Some US banks have "partner" banks in the UK.  For example, Bank of America is partners with Barclay's in the UK.  If your bank has a partner that may help.  Also, I think you can cash a check at the bank where the check was issued without an account.  I'm not certain, though.  Gee, it would be nice if the UK employer could help simplify these things for you.

A salary check would most likely be marked A/C Payee only and would have to be deposited in an account - then wait for 3 to 5 days for it to clear.

Hi,

You'll need to speak with the company hiring you in the UK to see how they'll handle paying you. If they've hired like this previously then they'll have a procedure in place. If they haven't then you need to talk to your US employer and have them talk to the UK one so that they properly pay you given the situation is only going to be for 10 weeks. T

There's no point in opening up a bank account for such a short period of time and no one here knows who you are working for etc so it's best to speak to them about your pay.

I can only think that there's some regulations and guidelines for employers to follow in situations like this - at least I remember this from the 3 USA companies I worked for at UK wholly owned subsiduaries and the many many US staff over here for 'short' stints.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

There's no "same bank" transparency/recognition of bank accounts between the US and the UK.

i.e. Santander exists in both of our countries, but a US account will not be acknowledged in the UK, and vice versa.

I know it stinks, but that's the way it is.

Keep Chase for the US funds and open the UK bank account for the GBP.  There are banks that do multi-currency accounts (Lloyds) but there are minimum requirements to be met.

To open a UK account, you'll need a bunch of paperwork to do it, but since you will need UK funds whilst you are here, why not keep it simple. Besides, if you were to do this every year, the account will be open. Easy. And no you can transfer back and forth as needed.

Good luck in opening a bank account in the UK if you are not a resident! It's almost impossible. You would have better luck with opening a British pound account in Jersey, Channel Islands and then transferring your money to your US bank account.

I just went down to our local Barclays Bank and the manager told me they would be happy to open an account for me if I provide a bank statement from my US Bank with my UK address. I emailed my Wells Fargo bank manager and she changed my address over email. I just have to wait until new statements are made and she will send it over to me.  I don't have a job here but my husband does already have an account there but this inquiry was to just open my own account. It didn't seem like a problem. 


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I spent some time on the phone with a international banker with HSBC.  He was very helpful and my regret was I didn't call earlier. I am going to open an HSBC account here in the US and I will eventually be able to link it with my UK HSBC account - using one login to access both accounts and ability to transfer money between them with no wire transfer fees. If I had enough time he said I could have opened a UK HSBC account from US but I need more than 14 business days as there is multiple verification steps and I would need to return to the US branch at least 2x before the account would be valid in the UK.     I wish I had more time to do this but I waited to follow up on this. So once I am able to open the UK HSBC account he said it might be 3 months before they are linked. If you have the time this could be an option for you.


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