Opening a savings account for a non-resident UK citizen.

Purple_Bladder

My son is a UK citizen but lives and works in New York and is married to an American. He has a UK bank account (zero interest) and wanted to transfer some inheritance money in his current account into a savings account to attract interest. As he is non-resident, he cannot open an ISA or most UK based savings accounts. International accounts are available but seem to want large sums transferred and pay low rates. Any advice?

eskbanker

Access to UK financial products tends to be determined by residency rather than citizenship - is his UK bank aware that he longer lives here?  Is saving the money in the USA viable instead?

Purple_Bladder

Yes, he told his bank he was moving to UK and they do not have a problem with that. He is taking advice about moving it to the USA.

eskbanker

NS&I may be an option while he has the UK bank account:

https://www.nsandi.com/help/join-nsandi/using-nsandi-outside-uk

Bostonerimus1

Use American accounts. Owning foreign investment accounts and even bank accounts can get complicated when it comes to taxes for US residents. For long term investing he can open IRAs and his employer should offer some sort of tax deferred DC plan like a 401k or he can just use US saving accounts, CDs or money market accounts. Transferring money from UK to US is easy by wire transfer.