Transferring an ISA from one provider to another whilst living abroad

WestSA

Hello all, has anyone had any success in transferring an ISA from one provider to another whilst abroad? 

Legal & General will no longer be offering ISA's and I'm thus looking for an alternative provider. 

The challenge I'm having is that all the providers that I've reached out to thus far are not willing to accept a transfer

Thanks and regards 

badger09

WestSA said:

Hello all, has anyone had any success in transferring an ISA from one provider to another whilst abroad? 

Legal & General will no longer be offering ISA's and I'm thus looking for an alternative provider. 

The challenge I'm having is that all the providers that I've reached out to thus far are not willing to accept a transfer

Thanks and regards 

Although HMRC rules do not prohibit this, I don’t know of any provider who will accept an ISA application from a non UK resident. 
I searched for one several years ago when my son was working abroad. 

xylophone

Although HMRC rules do not prohibit this,

True

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/if-you-move-abroad#:~:text=However, you can keep your,to the annual ISA allowance).

You can transfer an ISA to another provider even if you are not resident in the UK.

But finding a new provider ......

OP, presumably Fidelity will not accept the transfer?

https://www.legalandgeneral.com/existing-customers/investment-support/lg-announces/

owitemisermusa

Hey, if you have a UK address, are you allowed to simply transfer ISAs using that address?

eskbanker

owitemisermusa said:

Hey, if you have a UK address, are you allowed to simply transfer ISAs using that address?

You're not allowed to pretend that you live in the UK when you don't, if that's what you mean - falsely declaring UK residence when applying for an ISA would be fraudulent....

juw8e7

What would they do if he did? Seems unfair how the Banks haven't yet caught up to what the Government deem is ok. 

eskbanker

juw8e7 said:

Seems unfair how the Banks haven't yet caught up to what the Government deem is ok. 

That's not an accurate characterisation of the situation at all!  I don't know exactly when the relevant provision about moving abroad was included in ISA legislation, but it was long before ever-increasing regulation made it practically impossible for UK banks to offer services to those who are overseas, so the situation has arisen from the government introducing more restrictions on the banks rather than the banks failing to keep up with something the government wanted to allow.

Having said that, it is still permitted to transfer between ISAs when abroad, as envisaged in the rules, but effectively this can only be done between accounts that are already open....

Albermarle

WestSA said:

Hello all, has anyone had any success in transferring an ISA from one provider to another whilst abroad? 

Legal & General will no longer be offering ISA's and I'm thus looking for an alternative provider. 

The challenge I'm having is that all the providers that I've reached out to thus far are not willing to accept a transfer

Thanks and regards 

I thought all L&G ISA's were transferred over to Fidelity in 2021, as L&G pulled out of most of its personal investing business.
Are you saying that yours did not transfer for some reason ?

juw8e7

A moot point on the whole then as those existing accounts would more than likely be yielding just as terrible a return hence the need to find a transfer offering better. I see how it could be confusing for someone living abroad to see that a new ISA account opening for the sole purposes of transfer-in would be impossible regardless of how HMRC words it. So in a nutshell if you are abroad then opening a new account to only transfer in what you currently have is impossible?

juw8e7

Are you really a Banker?

eskbanker

juw8e7 said:

A moot point on the whole then as those existing accounts would more than likely be yielding just as terrible a return hence the need to find a transfer offering better. I see how it could be confusing for someone living abroad to see that a new ISA account opening for the sole purposes of transfer-in would be impossible regardless of how HMRC words it. So in a nutshell if you are abroad then opening a new account to only transfer in what you currently have is impossible?

Yes, the subtlety may confuse some - HMRC (and the associated legislation) say that transfers are permitted when abroad, but nobody (on this thread at least) has identified any institution willing to open a new account for non-residents, so the only viable transfers are to existing accounts.