Visa Guides
Money guides by visa status
Money guides organised by visa status — what to set up, estimate, and avoid in your first year on an H-1B, F-1, or green card.
Your visa status changes almost every financial question you will ask in your first year: how you are taxed, which retirement accounts you can use, whether you can work a second job, and what happens to your accounts if you leave. Generic personal finance advice skips all of it.
These guides are organised the way your situation actually is — by status. Each one covers what to set up in the first weeks, what to estimate before your first payslip, and which decisions can safely wait until you have settled.
If you are still working out which status applies to you, start with the visa library, which covers requirements, process, fees, and timelines for each category.
- Guides live
- 04
- Questions answered
- 03
- Cost
- Free · no account required
Guides in this section
- 01
H-1B financial guide
LiveMoney systems to set up in your first year of H-1B work.
- 02
F-1 financial guide
LiveBanking, taxes, and OPT money basics for students.
- 03
Green card financial guide
LiveCredit, mortgages, and retirement after permanent residence.
- 04
L-1 financial guide
LiveIntracompany transfer money decisions and dual-country planning.
Common questions
- 01What should I set up financially in my first month in the US?
- In roughly this order: a checking account at a bank that accepts your passport and visa documents, a Social Security number if your status allows one, your employer's payroll and W-4 withholding, and one starter credit card you can pay in full each month. Health coverage should be in place before any of that if your employer plan has a waiting period. Everything else — investing, sending money home efficiently, insurance beyond health — can wait until those four exist.
- 02Does my visa status change how I am taxed?
- Indirectly. Tax residency is decided by the green card test and the substantial presence test, not by your visa category — but your category determines which days count. F-1 and J-1 students exclude their early years, so they often stay nonresident for tax purposes long after an H-1B holder on the same arrival date has become resident. That difference affects which return you file, whether you pay Social Security and Medicare, and whether your worldwide income is in scope.
- 03Can I keep my bank accounts and investments back home?
- Yes, but once you are a US tax resident they may need reporting. Foreign accounts whose combined value passes the FBAR threshold at any point in the year must be reported to FinCEN, and larger holdings may also trigger FATCA reporting on your tax return. Keeping the accounts is fine; forgetting to report them is what costs people money.