Carrying Your Portfolio Across Borders
The Expat Investor’s Guide to Moving Securities
There’s a moment that comes to anyone who has decided to leave their country of residence. The papers are filed, the new visa is approved, your apartment lease is ended. You’ve packed your bags and boarded the flight to your next chapter — Singapore, Dubai, Texas, or wherever opportunity calls.
And then reality hits: your brokerage account is still rooted in the country you left. Your stocks, ETFs, bonds — the wealth you’ve built — are still sitting under the custody of a bank or broker back home.
So you ask yourself: How do I move my shares to my new country?
At first glance, it seems like it should be easy. After all, money flies around the globe in milliseconds. Why not securities? But here’s the truth: securities aren’t like cash. They live in vast digital vaults called custody systems, and moving them is more like relocating a prisoner from one fortress to another than sending a wire transfer.
Why This Matters
This is not some boring administrative detail. It’s about freedom.
If you leave your country of residence for a new life, but your wealth remains trapped in a foreign brokerage account, you haven’t really left. Your investments remain under the rules, taxes, and bureaucracy of the place you wanted to escape.
To live as a true expat investor, your capital has to be just as mobile as you are.
The Fortress Model of Modern Finance
Every country has a central securities depository (CSD) — the hidden vault where all shares and bonds legally “live.”
In Germany, it’s Clearstream Frankfurt.
In the US, it’s the Depository Trust Company (DTC).
In Singapore, it’s the CDP (Central Depository) for local shares, while global shares are held through custodians like Citibank, HSBC, or BNP Paribas.
Your broker doesn’t literally hold your shares; they hold a claim on them inside these vaults. If you want to move your shares abroad, your old broker’s vault and your new broker’s vault have to talk to each other. And many simply don’t.
Four Paths for the Global Investor
When you move countries, you essentially face four options for your securities:
Option 1: Sell and Rebuild
The bluntest tool. You liquidate your portfolio, wire the cash abroad, and buy back your positions in your new brokerage account.
Pros:
Fast and simple.
Your assets are immediately integrated with your new life.
Cons:
If you sell before changing tax residency, your old country may tax your gains.
You face timing risk: markets might move between your sale and repurchase.
Key insight: in many countries, if you first change your residence abroad and update your address with your old broker, then sell later, you pay no capital gains tax at all — because your new country (think Singapore, UAE, etc.) doesn’t tax them.
Option 2: Keep Your Old Account Open
You don’t move the securities at all. You simply update your address with your old broker and keep the account running.
Pros:
No sale required.
No complicated transfer procedures.
Cons:
You remain tied to your old country’s tax rules on dividends, withholding tax, or reporting.
Some brokers may restrict trading for foreign residents.
This can be a temporary solution — but it doesn’t feel like a clean break. Your new life abroad is real, but your wealth remains tethered to your past.
Option 3: Transfer Directly Abroad
The holy grail: your securities are transferred directly from your old broker to your new one abroad, with no sale in between.
Pros:
No taxable sale event.
Your cost basis and holding period move with you.
Cons:
Many retail brokers simply refuse to transfer internationally.
Fees can be high (€50–150 or equivalent per security).
Transfers may take weeks or even months.
This only works if your new broker’s custodian has connectivity with your old depository (Clearstream, Euroclear, DTC, etc.). Global platforms like Interactive Brokers or Saxo often can — but the bottleneck is usually your old broker, not your new one.
Option 4: Use a “Bridge Broker”
Here’s a little-known trick: if your current broker won’t transfer abroad, you can first transfer your portfolio to another domestic broker that does — typically a full-service bank. From there, you instruct an international transfer to your new broker overseas.
It adds a step and usually some fees, but it avoids forced liquidation. Think of it as changing trains on the way to your destination.
The Tax Angle
This is where many investors get tripped up.
If you sell while still resident in your old country, capital gains tax applies.
If you wait until your residence is established abroad, and your new country does not tax gains, you can sell tax-free.
Dividends may still suffer withholding tax from the country of origin (e.g., US dividends taxed at 15% for treaty residents).
The big exception: some countries impose exit taxes if you hold large stakes (often ≥1% of a company). But for ordinary retail investors, this doesn’t apply.
The point is: tax doesn’t have to be a problem. If you plan your residency shift correctly, you can restructure your portfolio abroad with no unnecessary tax burden.
Real-World Stories
A French engineer moving to Dubai: He held large gains in French ETFs. By waiting until his UAE residency was active, then selling, he avoided France’s capital gains tax completely. He rebuilt his portfolio at Saxo Dubai, tax-free.
A Canadian family relocating to Singapore: Their local broker refused to transfer US-listed ETFs abroad. They used a Canadian bank as a bridge broker, then moved the positions to Interactive Brokers Singapore. The process took months, but no tax was triggered.
A German entrepreneur emigrating to Portugal: He kept his German depot open for a year while his NHR residency settled. Later he liquidated and re-invested in Portugal, paying no German capital gains tax thanks to his updated residency status.
A UK PLC with euro-denominated shares: Here’s a little-known trap. A UK-listed company may issue shares in euros. These can be held either in CREST (the UK’s settlement system) or in Euroclear. Some brokers even use both systems through different custodians. If your broker holds them in CREST and you later want to transfer them to a non-CREST account overseas, that transfer is literally impossible. The plumbing between systems doesn’t exist. The only way out is to sell and repurchase abroad.
Each story proves the same point: with planning, your securities can move as freely as you do.
The Emotional Reality
Selling everything and starting fresh is bold, radical, liberating. It’s saying: I am done with my past, and I am planting my wealth in new soil.
Keeping your old account open feels safer, but also leaves you with one foot in the old world. You remain bound by the systems you left behind.
Fighting for a transfer is stubborn and proud. It’s the refusal to liquidate, the insistence that your wealth will cross the border intact.
Each option is more than a financial choice. It’s a statement about how you see your new life abroad.
A Checklist for the Expat Investor
If you’re preparing to move your securities across borders, ask yourself:
Where will I be tax resident when I sell? If abroad, in a country with no capital gains tax, selling might be cleanest.
Will my new broker accept international transfers? Ask if their custodian connects to Clearstream, Euroclear, or DTC.
Will my old broker allow international transfers? Most retail platforms won’t — but big banks may.
If not, can I use a bridge broker? Transfer domestically to a bank that supports global moves, then onward abroad.
What about dividends? Know how withholding tax will apply once you’re abroad.
What do I want emotionally? A clean break? A cautious hedge? A proud cross-border march of my portfolio?
Why It Matters
Because wealth that cannot move is not true wealth.
The entire reason you left your old country — whether for lower taxes, more opportunity, or simply a better life — is undermined if your capital remains trapped.
Freedom is not just about visas and passports. It is about ensuring your wealth moves with you, on your terms.
Ready to Move Your Portfolio? Let’s Talk
If you’re reading this and nodding along, you’re not alone. I’ve seen this exact scenario countless times with clients: they’ve moved their lives abroad, but their portfolios remain stuck.
Here’s how I help:
Mapping out your residency status to see if selling can be tax-free.
Identifying which brokers allow international transfers and which don’t.
Using the “bridge broker” strategy when needed.
Optimizing dividend taxation once you’re abroad.
Every case is different. The wrong move can cost you thousands in unnecessary tax or months of wasted effort. But with the right plan, your capital becomes as mobile as your new life.
👉 If you’re serious about moving your portfolio abroad, book a consultation with me. Together we’ll design the path that frees your wealth and plants it firmly in your new home.
Because leaving your old country isn’t just about changing your address. It’s about cutting the last chains, moving your capital, and living your freedom in full.
