living in the uk as a freelancer?

[OL7MAX]

Offshore is just a name. Isle of Man, Antigua etc., would all be considered off shore. Or just use Barclays, Jersey Branch.

[vinay shanthi]

Vinay, if I'm right poker is not the only skill where earnings are tax free. Try trading e.g. on currencies. Have you explored spread-betting?

somehow the alerts from this website keep landing in my spam folder. so dont get 2 respond in time. anyways ...

no havent explored spread betting. but do know people closely who gamble on the stock market. someone very close got a jolt when he lost $100,000 in a matter of months as he was too busy at work and didnt get time for his stocks. but thankfully he still didnt hit the red. i dont have that kind of moolah to gamble, a loss like that would give me a heart attack. but do know others who used to gamble on the argicultural commodities market with others money, as they were advisors on this topic. but he had strict rules that he wouldnt invest himself. couldnt get my head around that one though. will check out the link about making or rather losing money online

have a nice day

[vin123]

bunny80,

It's not as easy as it sounds below.

What is the base currency of your online poker account?
Though I know nothing about gambling & stuffs I know for sure that if you are sitting on top of "virtual cash" in some form from a non-UK registered trading organisation, then even if you have a UK bank account, banks here will not allow you to convert that money for your enjoyment into GBP. This is because of tight money laundering regulations in place.

For an individual to open their first UK current account(non-joint), there is need to convince the banks with documents from sources that shows a potential for positive and legitimate inbound cashflow. The common examples are letters from authorities showing employment commencement, job searches, studentship, share trading, yeild from assets. Share trading/buying assets is a chicken and egg situation in your case, so forget about that. No personal reference is required for starting a bank account.

Perhaps the most easiest thing for you is taking a UK-studentship if you are damn sure there is millions in online-poker-avtar badly waiting here for your arrival.

Good luck.

bunny80, I understand your situation. I have numerous friends who earn their substantial incomes entirely online either through selling virtual goods/services/real estate in MMORPG, betting like you, contextual advertising (Adsense/Adsonar/YPN), domaining and a million other ways. For those of you who'd really like to explore these this link may prove useful.

Now to your questions: Opening an account is a lot more difficult here after 9/11. If you have someone here to introduce you to a bank, have some forms of ID, a UK address with proof of living at that address - utility bills etc - then you'll probably get a bank account. Most rules are there for people who don't have money. I discovered this only after I started doing well. With money you can pay a landlord for a whole year in advance and you'll find that, suddenly, references don't matter anymore Getting utility bills won't take you more than a few days once you have an address. Apply to BT for a phone, apply to get the gas connection transferred to your name etc. Though those are credit accounts you should have no problem getting them as you don't have an adverse credit history in the UK (you have NO history, presumably). With money you'll find lots of people willing to introduce you to a bank as someone they've known since childhood.

Withdrawing from Paypal, moneybookers, e-gold* etc is as easy as doing a transfer to your bank account. Drawing cash from a bank is not easy even if it's your cash. They have limits of £300 a day and if you want to draw several thousand you have to give them notice, take two forms of ID etc.(till the local staff can identify you by sight)
*With egold you can transfer directly to a debit card without having a bank account!

But considering your question about how many months of rent you need to pay I'm not sure your definition of rich would match a general UK definition. A rich person wouldn't worry about whether he needed to pay 6 months @ £800 or 12 months or, indeed, the next five years.

[Sten]

as long as you can prove the money comes from the an online gambling site you are just fine and that's easy since the bank traces these things.

Hi bunny80, if you are into online gambling, you probably know that these days money do not normally come to your account from gambling sites, rather from Neteller or similar system. I am not sure Neteller withdrawals are considered as gambling income, correct me if I am wrong ...

[OL7MAX]

...there is need to convince the banks with documents from sources that shows a potential for positive and legitimate inbound cashflow

Strange, that. You're probably right but I've just realised that my bank has never asked for any such reassurances on amounts coming into my account. OK, some of it comes from companies I own, but some of it comes from abroad and could quite easily be drug money (it's not!) Hmmm. Age of account shouldn't affect money laundering precautions but... maybe it does.

[Sten]

even if you have a UK bank account, banks here will not allow you to convert that money for your enjoyment into GBP. This is because of tight money laundering regulations in place.

Never had any problems with that, no one cares if you transfer some funds from USD-Paypal, for example,to GBP bank account, tried hundreds of times, what is your source ? Sounds very odd ...

[vin123]

Thanks to pay pal for helping countries tighten their online money laundering legislation.
The legislation now is very clear and simple. The base currency cannot be changed where the account is registered (country - x)
For example, you may open a paypal-UK account and accept payments from all over the world in different currencies (GBP, USD, EUR, CHF etc)
All the currencies has to converge to GBP as paypal only allows the base currency to flow out as liquid cash ; eg: paypal account to bank account transfer.

Or in other words, if you accept a transaction from Zurich for 13000 CHF, you cannot open a paypal-swiss account and transfer the money from UK to Swiss and withdraw the money while on holiday in Zurich. That loophole used to exist 5-6 years ago, but they have closed.

even if you have a UK bank account, banks here will not allow you to convert that money for your enjoyment into GBP. This is because of tight money laundering regulations in place.

Never had any problems with that, no one cares if you transfer some funds from USD-Paypal, for example,to GBP bank account, tried hundreds of times, what is your source ? Sounds very odd ...

[vin123]

If you cash-in 10 different foreign cheques to your personal current account every month, rest assured, you are in the radar. So is the case with currency exchanges - they do not do it without a valid passport.

On airports, if you are found with $10K or more undeclared cash in your bag(even if it is genuinely yours) - customs have the right to classify that money as 'smuggled'.

The system may not be that efficient, but hey, if you catch every thief in the world at their first robbery attempt - we dont need highly trained police force, just watchman or gatekeepers will do.

Strange, that. You're probably right but I've just realised that my bank has never asked for any such reassurances on amounts coming into my account. OK, some of it comes from companies I own, but some of it comes from abroad and could quite easily be drug money (it's not!) Hmmm. Age of account shouldn't affect money laundering precautions but... maybe it does.

[davidm]

If you cash-in 10 different foreign cheques to your personal current account every month, rest assured, you are in the radar. So is the case with currency exchanges - they do not do it without a valid passport.

On airports, if you are found with $10K or more undeclared cash in your bag(even if it is genuinely yours) - customs have the right to classify that money as 'smuggled'.

I do that pretty much every month as I have bank accounts in 5 different jurisdictions and income in three different countries- never had any questions from banks or tax authorities in the past 5 years. And I have taken certified cheques (and cash on one occasion) of more than USD 10000 several times to the US as clearing a UK cheque from the US takes several weeks- as long as you declare it on the customs form there was no problem.
The only place where I had problems is Norway- where the tax authorities have asked me on a couple of occasions why I am transferring money out of the country and asked me to fill in a standard declaration.

[bunny80]

i am thinking about renting a place for a month (short let not the standard rent agreement). do i need a job or credit for this too? i would just pay for everything before i even move there so would they care? what are the short let ''rules''?


from the pics of flats i've seen so far i was thinking notting hill, pimlico or kensington... what y'all think?

[urizax]

Is it worth becoming a freelancer?

_________________
Health o meter

[OL7MAX]

No