Irish / US Person Trading in EU

[amberdawn007]

Hi all,

I’m Irish born, currently living in Ireland but also hold US Citizenship.

I’m interested in investing but have run into an issue with DEGIRO which won’t allow me to open an account with them as I’m a US Citizen. This has happened to me before trying to open a Raisin savings account.

Wondering if there are any stock / ETF trading platforms friendly for a US person to use while living in the EU?

The last thread I can find on this is two years old, so I’m guessing some new players might have entered the trading market https://www.reddit.com/r/irishpersonalfinance/s/yZQRXFvNB9

 

[samsonii]

@amberdawn007 I've no insight into what platforms might accept you as a customer, but just to note as a US Citizen investing in Ireland you'll be walking a tightrope of what investment options are available to you (US ETFs are not due to PRIIPS) and US tax friendly (EU ETFs are not as they fall under the dreaded PFIC treatment).

Suspect you'll find that individual stocks are the only option that works on all fronts.

 

[thenorwegian]

@samsonii I'm going to run into this type of problem next year when I go home, right now I'm in the US & my Fidelity guy is basically indicating don't ask don't tell, which maybe I'll do for 1st year but thats not going to be viable longer term. I have recently just come to that conclusion that EFTs are a problem as treated very differently, for other items i could work out the calculations & reporting. The other side of it is the reporting requirements imposed on the Bank / Brokerage - EU firms just don't want have to deal with the IRS.

 

[groll2000]

@thenorwegian Schwab International can take care of you. I moved everything from Fidelity to them recently and can now trade normally again. Their international support is also so good.

 

[ninetyspades]

@amberdawn007 I also hold dual Irish/US citizenship and couldn't open an account with Trade Republic, so that's out too unfortunately

 

[mayne70]

@ninetyspades what are the consequences of setting up an account such as N26 without saying you are a dual citizen on the application?

 

[ninetyspades]

@mayne70 I don't know but I had to prove my identity with my passport which had my place of birth (USA) on it, so not sure how it could be done.

 

[mayne70]

@ninetyspades yeah, I hit the same roadblock with Trade Republic. Doesn’t seem there’s any way around it. I recently set up an N26 Metal account and that seems to have worked. I said that I was an Irish citizen but born in US. I did not tick the box to say I was a dual citizen. I just hope there isn’t any negative implications for this. For now it’s working, at least.

 

[groll2000]

@amberdawn007 Yes this is possible using Schwab international. Their international team is super helpful and responsive. The only other option is with IB but I could never get them to call me back.

https://international.schwab.com/

 

[amberdawn007]

@groll2000 Thank you !