Foreign-born workers with work visas face a unique set of financial challenges that most native-born U.S. citizens never need to consider. Retirement plans, Health Savings Accounts, child education, and many more issues are significantly more complicated due to complex regulations and laws, both in the United States and in their home countries.
MQ Partner (and 2021 Ken Gillaspie Legacy Fund Scholarship recipient) Jane Mepham, CFP®, the founder of Elgon Financial Advisors (a fee-only planning firm working with this population), understands and explains these difficulties in a recent article for Michael Kitces’ Nerd’s Eye View blog, Investing for Nonimmigrant Visa Holders: Understanding Visa Types, Investment Challenges, and Tax Implications.
Ultimately, when it comes to working with foreign nationals, the unique challenges they face often call for more flexibility from their advisors in comparison to advising U.S.-born clients on investments … Additionally, these clients require frequent assessment of their visa status coupled with ongoing evaluation of (and potentially frequent changes to) their investment vehicles to ensure that the right savings and investment strategies are being implemented for them. They also benefit from advisors who are able to act very proactively and who stay up to date on the changes in both the immigration and the tax landscape as they pertain to foreign nationals.