Bank accounts and non eu au pairs

[maqrollelgaviero]

Hello,

We will have an Australian ap/mothers help arriving later this year and I'm trying to fathom the best way to set her up with a UK bank account, if anyone has any experience or words of wisdom I'd be very grateful!

The only things I've found so far are the HSBC passport which charges £6 per month and a gateway scheme which is done from Australia but which seems to cost rather a lot. I'd rather save her any expense and hassle if it's possible to just open a free current account as we would do.

Thanks in advance

She should be able to get a bank account in her own right with proof of identity (her passport) and proof of address (she should go on the electoral register, and do a change of address to your one on her Australian bank account).

HIJACK - maqrollelgaviero, what has been your experience of the Youth Mobility Scheme? Think you may be the first mumsnetter so far to post about getting someone to the UK under the new scheme.

Bank Accounts - why would they need a UK one? Can you not electronically pay into her Australian one? And can she not withdraw money from her Australian one?
Could she open an account with say HSBC in Australia, then access that from within the UK?
She will need to inform Australian Tax authorities with regard to her overseas income via her Australian tax return. Looks to me as though income generated in the UK is taxed in the UK. So as long as you operate Simplified PAYE, and provide payslips etc showing tax deductions made, then she won't be charged tax in Australia.

Huh, Nick?

If she used an Australian bank account, she'd be forever paying exchange rate fees.

You generally pay tax to the country where you are physically present. If Australia taxes on worldwide income, there will be tax treaties to prevent double taxation - but the country of physical presence gets first dibs.

So, why not have an HSBC account in Australia and then transfer it to the UK. Would that work?
On entry to the UK they have to show that they have £1600 in their bank account, so they will already have a bank account in Australia and have documentation with them to prove to immigration that they meed the requirements of Tier 5. So could that documentation along with a letter from their UK employer be used to open a UK account?

Hi,

Nannynick - All seems fairly straightforward with the visa, she seems not to need any documentation or invitation letters from me. As far as I'm aware she just has to prove she has the required amount of money in her bank account but she can't actually apply for the visa until 3 months before she wants to travel, which for us is Sept 09, so she'll submit the application in June. Hopefully all will still be working out as planned then...

I'm planning a trawl of the high st banks on Mon to see if they will accept her passport, tier 5 documentation and possibly some sort of 'contract' between us to prove her address in the UK. Good suggestions to check who she banks with in Australia though and see if they have branches here too, presumably this will make the transfer of funds easier too. We are a bit parochial here though so I'm anticipating lots of phoning around and consulting in the banks!

All I had to do to get my UK barclays account (2 years ago tho) was go into a branch with my passport / drivers license. I am Australian, they just asked me what my new address in the UK would be?

To join with NatWest when I came four years ago I had to take in my passport with Right of Abode sticker and a letter from my employers. It took six weeks to get it all done. The bank did say it would probably have being easier if I was joining at the bank my bosses used. I'm from NZ.

I came from Canada and opened an account no problem, just needed my passport, and some documents with my name and address on it to verify who I was. There was no problem opening the account though

Great. Thanks for all help, if I help her sort an account at the same bank I use and transfers and pay should go across like a flash and make life simple!