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DV 2016 OC Selectees

s362596 said:
Hi all I was wondering how some of you are transferring money to the States.

I was going to use Citibank global transfers (free instant transfers to overseas Citibank accounts) from a Australian USD account but I learned yesterday this is not possible. So will most likely just swift it. Citi has great rates so might use them anyway but was interested in what others are doing. Thanks.

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/investments/forex-rates/AUD.htm
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I used XE Trade and TransferWise to convert AUD to USD and send it to my Bank of America account once I opened that up here. Both sites have great rates. I also had some US currency stored in a Commonwealth Bank foreign currency accounts which I just wired over.
 
For any significant amount you certainly want to use a forex broker. The banks may not charge you, but the conversion rates they offer are not good - so you can lose quite a bit....
 
^^ Agree with this. We are HSBC Premier customers, so our rates are as good with no fees but, for the most part, you will get scr*wed by the banks' exchange rates.
 
Thanks guys. I looked into it a bit and XE Trade seems good but the Citibank rates are pretty tough to beat.

XE Trade quote it as follows:
Quote as of Mar 25, 16 4:01:46 GMT -07:00
1 AUD = 0.7216 USD

Citibank are doing 0.7414

The Citibank spread is the lowest I have seen of any of the banks. I am doing a bit more digging to confirm if the Citibank Australia USD account is not compatible with their global transfer network. In any event moving to USD here and paying the $25 AUD swift fee is still a good outcome if that rates are that good.

Will let you all know how I go.

I am moving at the end of April, got a job in NYC which is exciting. Wanted to thank you all again for the advice and support over the last few months I really appreciate it.

Cheers
 
s362596 said:
Thanks guys. I looked into it a bit and XE Trade seems good but the Citibank rates are pretty tough to beat.

XE Trade quote it as follows:
Quote as of Mar 25, 16 4:01:46 GMT -07:00
1 AUD = 0.7216 USD

Citibank are doing 0.7414

The Citibank spread is the lowest I have seen of any of the banks. I am doing a bit more digging to confirm if the Citibank Australia USD account is not compatible with their global transfer network. In any event moving to USD here and paying the $25 AUD swift fee is still a good outcome if that rates are that good.

Will let you all know how I go.

I am moving at the end of April, got a job in NYC which is exciting. Wanted to thank you all again for the advice and support over the last few months I really appreciate it.

Cheers
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I have used a forex broker in the UK called Moneycorp. Right now, Moneycorp is quoting that at 0.75 - that is the online rate. If you have a large trade it is worth calling them, because they will usually do better than the online rate - so I would say you can gain at least 1% or even 2% by using a decent forex broker and taking a bit of time. If you are moving a large sum - that can be a significant amount.
 
Britsimon said:
I have used a forex broker in the UK called Moneycorp. Right now, Moneycorp is quoting that at 0.75 - that is the online rate. If you have a large trade it is worth calling them, because they will usually do better than the online rate - so I would say you can gain at least 1% or even 2% by using a decent forex broker and taking a bit of time. If you are moving a large sum - that can be a significant amount.
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Thanks Britsimon I will contact them.
 
Hi guys,

Really happy over here as we got yesterday our 2NL. It's all set for May 10 :):)

Couple of quick questions:

1) What is next in terms of communications? shall we be expecting to hear something from the embassy o no need as the 2NL states date/time of the interview....
2) I'm checking vaccines with local GP in Sydney (Hornsby) and 1 of them is not available in any pharmacy (out of stock), could that be an issue? trying to get as many as possible before going to the medical appointment...
3) How long does it take for the medical results to be received by the embassy? just wondering when is the latest I should be undertaking the medical exams to allow enough time for the them to arrive to the embassy.

I hope more people have gotten their 2NL.....

Thanks
 
Holy moly, my green card arrived already! I'm back in Los Angeles and had a stack of mail waiting for me at my friends house from the bank, social security office and another priority letter and I had no idea what it was. He said it got here last week! Only three weeks since activation!

I'm official! I'm a real person now! :D
 
violetion said:
Holy moly, my green card arrived already! I'm back in Los Angeles and had a stack of mail waiting for me at my friends house from the bank, social security office and another priority letter and I had no idea what it was. He said it got here last week! Only three weeks since activation!

I'm official! I'm a real person now! :D
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Wow, I think that's a new record! Yay!
 
violetion said:
Holy moly, my green card arrived already! I'm back in Los Angeles and had a stack of mail waiting for me at my friends house from the bank, social security office and another priority letter and I had no idea what it was. He said it got here last week! Only three weeks since activation!

I'm official! I'm a real person now! :D
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Congrats! Wow that's fast!!
 
violetion said:
Holy moly, my green card arrived already! I'm back in Los Angeles and had a stack of mail waiting for me at my friends house from the bank, social security office and another priority letter and I had no idea what it was. He said it got here last week! Only three weeks since activation!

I'm official! I'm a real person now! :D
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You're smashing it! Thanks for the updates matey :)
 
gemka said:
So, we got back from Hawaii yesterday, and my friend in NY tells us there are already envelopes at her place for us (I'm guessing SSN). That's about four working days since we activated, given Easter. Crazy!
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Wow this is quick. Did you change your address at POE?
 
gemka said:
So, we got back from Hawaii yesterday, and my friend in NY tells us there are already envelopes at her place for us (I'm guessing SSN). That's about four working days since we activated, given Easter. Crazy!
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There are no working days off for Easter in the US... So it sounds about right.
 
SusieQQQ said:
There are no working days off for Easter in the US... So it sounds about right.
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Someone is going to be confused by this - so I'll be pedantic.

Easter does not have a Federal holiday (and therefore most government agencies are working), BUT quite a number of companies large and small give at least one day holiday over the Easter weekend. About half of the 20K companies in my "day job" database call it a holiday.
 
Britsimon said:
Someone is going to be confused by this - so I'll be pedantic.

Easter does not have a Federal holiday (and therefore most government agencies are working), BUT quite a number of companies large and small give at least one day holiday over the Easter weekend. About half of the 20K companies in my "day job" database call it a holiday.
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But not the government... So it won't affect SSN card issuance... and not schools. My understanding of the word "holiday" is one that everyone takes ;) It does get confusing when there are some that schools are closed on but most companies not, etc - that happens with some of them. And like you said ...half the companies in your database - certainly not something that can be taken for granted then!

I spent my first year being taken unawares by the strange US holidays and missing long weekend bookings because of not realizing when they were in time!!!
 
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