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EMI or bank accounts for Russian with a Cyprus utility bill and Cyprus certificate of taxpayer

captain9

captain9

BANNED MEMBER
Mar 19, 2022
38
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Cyprus
#1
Russian citizen and resident here but Cyprus tax resident. I have Cyprus electricity bill, certificate of taxpayer and Wise statement with my Cyprus address. I am looking for a decent EMI or a bank to send dividends from my Wise business account. I can't trust Wise anymore because they are a UK startup and account freezing is very possible because of the war. In fact my personal Wise account is frozen already and they don't accept SOF that I've sent them. I also have money in Interactive Brokers which I want to withdraw. Haven't decided what to do next, may be invest in some property if there is no nuclear exchange :)
So far all European EMIs replied that they are not working with Russian residents. That's some serious witch hunt going on out there
 
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#7
captain9 said:
can you please be more specific? I've been in Mentor group before, didn't find anything special tbh. And some guys I've contacted were immature and ridiculous, I don't want to bring names now.
I would prefer the algorithm how and where to open an account and how not to get it frozen
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Try to look into Chinese / HK options. There are a bunch of EMIs there.
 
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#10
CyprusLawyer101 said:
Are banks and EMIs located in Cyprus deny opening an account for you on the basis of your russian citizenship?
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yes, from what I heard it can drag for months. I haven't tried yet, because I just recently got my Wise suspended. Also considering the 2011 clusterf*ck when Cyprus banks took everything over 100k EUR, I wouldn't want to keep my money there

What about this Offshore Bank Account Across the World ? Do they work with Russians?
 
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#11
captain9 said:
yes, from what I heard it can drag for months. I haven't tried yet, because I just recently got my Wise suspended. Also considering the 2011 clusterf*ck when Cyprus banks took everything over 100k EUR, I wouldn't want to keep my money there

What about this Offshore Bank Account Across the World ? Do they work with Russians?
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If you are a resident in Cyprus the local banks should be able to accomodate you, altgough I havent seen their reaction to such cases yet. Of course your overall profile would be looked at. If you are looking for a personal account this ahouldnt take much to accomplish. Also haircut took place in 2013 and I do not see this as having any impact on the current banking environment.
 
#12
CyprusLawyer101 said:
If you are a resident in Cyprus the local banks should be able to accomodate you, altgough I havent seen their reaction to such cases yet. Of course your overall profile would be looked at. If you are looking for a personal account this ahouldnt take much to accomplish. Also haircut took place in 2013 and I do not see this as having any impact on the current banking environment.
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for me this is as simple as "Never trust Cyprus banks". You can have your opinion and you are free to put you wealth where your mouth is.
I am tax resident of Cyprus, I've said this pretty clear in the post
 
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#13
You can't be (exclusively) tax resident in Cyprus while actually being resident somewhere else. You're either tax resident in both, or more likely you're only tax resident in Russia and your ties of Cyprus are not strong enough to be considered tax resident there anymore.

If you are resident in Russia and non-resident in Cyprus, then any attempts to present yourself as resident in Cyprus is tantamount to fraud. Even if you manage to deceive a bank or EMI to open an account, they will close it (and probably freeze the money on it) as soon as they suspect you're actually in Russia).

Right now, Kazakhstan is becoming one of the primary spots for Russians to run money through. Collect&Pay is one of the most mature EMI-like institutions there and they seem able to onboard Russians still.
 
#17
captain9 said:
this is not the issue here. I have that under control. If I don't live in Russia for 180 days and pay my taxes in Cyprus, Russia can't claim my tax residency
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Banks in Cyprus (and I believe this is the same policy for most banks in the EU) will consider opening accounts of Russian citizens provided they either have a second passport they can use or they can show they are permanent residents elsewhere i.e. they hold a permanent residency permit. The tax residency is irrelevant for this matter.
 
#18
Maybe what @Sols is trying to say, is that you are position is rather unsettled in general for you to be looking at robust solutions. A bank's primary concern is to establish your place of residency as part of their KYC/due dilligence requirements, if what you disclose there is untrue then the likelyhood of getting some funds freezed is increasing and this would not be any bank's fault.
 
#19
captain9 said:
can you please be more specific? I've been in Mentor group before, didn't find anything special tbh. And some guys I've contacted were immature and ridiculous, I don't want to bring names now.
I would prefer the algorithm how and where to open an account and how not to get it frozen
Click to expand...
you registered 19 of Marts on the forum but have been mentor group gold member before - sounds reasonable.
 
#20
When financial institutions review applications, they take into consideration where the applicant resides. This is normally the same as tax residence, but in your case, you're probably deemed resident in Russia. So your Cypriot tax residence is no benefit for the purpose of onboarding with banks and EMIs. If anything, it's an extra complication.

If you present yourself as a Russian citizen resident in Russia, you become a huge risk right now due to the war, sanctions, and western attitudes towards Russia. The bank or EMI probably isn't going to make enough money on you to be worth the extra compliance headache. If the sanctions turn into a blanket ban on Russian residents, all the costs of onboarding were for nothing and now they have to find a way to return the funds. Average retail customer isn't worth that.

If you present yourself as a Cypriot resident, you might be able to get the account opened. But then there will always be the risk that they one day realize you actually live in Russia and close the account.

Since the invasion and the western sanctions against Russia, I have not come across any bank or EMI that openly takes on ordinary Russian residents. So unless you are a very high-value client, your options might be limited to high-risk, non-EU/EEA institutions such as Kingdom Bank, Collect&Pay, and Statrys.
 
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