For Chinese people who hold green cards and settle in the United States, applying for a US insurance policy is usually not a problem. But in addition to this group, there are also a large number of foreigners holding different visas or identities in the United States. They may work, study, and live in the United States, or they may come to the United States from time to time to travel exclusively or engage in some business activities.
So can these foreigners make US dollar retirement income, children's US dollar education fund, US dollar asset allocation, and heritage inheritance planning by purchasing US life insurance policies? Today we will help readers who are paying attention to the issue of "foreigners purchase American insurance" to understand the focus of foreigner identity insurance from different angles.
How do foreigners buy American life insurance?
Foreigner insurance requirements:
- Insured person must enter the United States legally with a valid passport and visa.
- Foreigners must prove their connection with the present or future of the United States, such as family members and children in the United States, or business, or are applying for a green card.
- We learned from the industry that even if you enter the country with a tourist visa, as long as you own a property, the company or the bank issued a deposit certificate of $500,000 when applying, there are still a very small number of American life insurance companies that provide insurance.
- fills out a life insurance application form in the United States, and the insurance company will arrange for specialists to go to the door for free physical examinations (mainly blood tests, urine tests, simple electrocardiograms, etc.).
- If necessary, the insured must provide the medical records of the country.
Step 1: What are my legal visa and identity types?
Before preparing to purchase US insurance, we first need to determine which category of "foreigners" we belong to when signing an insurance policy contract in the United States. The following 26 categories of legal visas and status status lists:
- E1/E2/E3: Work visa for businessmen and investors in the country of agreement
- B1/B2: Travel/Business Visa
- EB5: Investor
- H1B: Special Workers
- H1C: Nurse
- H4: H1B spouse and children
- F1/F2: Student/student’s spouse and children
- J1/J2: Communication scholar/spouse or children
- M1/M2: Professional skills students/spouse or children
- K1/K3: Fiancé or fiancée of American citizens
- K2: Children of K1
- K4: Children of K1
- L1: Sender of multinational company
- L2: Spouse or children of L1 visa
- O1: Temporary outstanding worker
- O3: Spouse or children of O1 visa
- P1/P3: Internationally recognized athlete or internationally recognized entertainment star
- P2: Artists or entertainment who go to the United States to exchange
- P3: Artists or artists with unique culture
- P4: Spouse and children of P1, P2, or P3
- TN: Canadian and Mexican citizens from North American Allies enter the United States for business activities or work. Non-immigrant visas
- TD: TN visa spouse and children
- V1/V2: permanent resident spouse or children
- Temporary green card status (short than 10 years)
- Asylum waiting period status (holding an EAD card)
- holds a legal and valid EAD/EAC
If we have any of the legal visa or identity status in the above list and are in the United States, we have the basic requirements for applying for US insurance.
But! but! But - three important things are said - it is one thing to be able to submit an application, but whether the insurance company is willing to accept the application and whether the application can be approved depends on the next second requirement, and the following part is the most important condition.
Step 2, how strong is my relationship with the United States?
The American insurance company that opens the "foreign market" is only a small part of the more than 800 financial insurance companies in the United States. These companies have their own independent standards for reviewing and insured.
When the insured submits the application through a life insurance broker or financial advisor, different insurance companies will conduct evaluations in accordance with their respective foreign insurance review standards. In this review and evaluation process, the most core item is how strong the relationship between the insured and the United States is.
Different American insurance companies will determine the "category" of foreigners based on their respective company situations:
- Category I, foreigners with strong associations with the United States, foreigners with less associations with the United States, foreigners with almost no associations with the United States, foreigners with almost no associations with the United States,
Some American insurance companies only accept applications from Class I foreigners, while other insurance companies accept applications from Class I and Class II foreigners, and a very small number of insurance companies also accept applications from Class I foreigners.
. Different insurance companies have different conditions and requirements for the "level of association with the United States", which are unilaterally determined by the insurance companies and do not have a unified standard. Common levels of association in the United States include: Does
- own real estate in the United States? Does
- have a large deposit in Bank of America? Does
- have a financial investment account in the United States and have a large amount of funds? Does
- have a company in the United States? Does
- have legal work and stable income in the United States?
Generally speaking, the more appeal conditions are met, the more flexible the option you have, and the possibility of the insurance application being passed will also increase. If the insured has very few connections in the United States and is classified into Class III foreigners, then for the insured, they can only find insurance companies that are Class III foreigners to take out insurance.
The four major advantages of purchasing US insurance
The first major advantage, tax exemption for new immigrants in the United States
US IRS provisions that in the US life insurance contract, the interest income at the cash value is exempt from capital gains tax, and the death compensation is exempt from income tax. Therefore, if you want to find natural tax avoidance tools for US green card and passport holders, life insurance is a very good choice.
When the deceased takes insured and designates the beneficiary, the death compensation left to the beneficiary after the deceased dies is protected by law and will be included in the scope of the deceased's estate. Compared with China Insurance and Hong Kong Insurance, the United States has very strict regulations on insurance.
According to the US tax law, each life insurance has a capped premium amount, called MEC. Within this amount, the income generated by policy investment will be exempt from profit income tax. If the premium you put in far exceeds the maximum amount specified by the IRS, then your insurance will be considered an investment tool rather than a guarantee, and therefore the cash appreciation part of the policy will be taxed.
has the second largest advantage. For foreigners with assets in the United States,
Can foreigners purchase US insurance? The answer is yes. However, the following conditions must be met:
has a certain connection with the United States: for example, owning real estate, company or certain assets. In this case, once you own real estate in the United States, if you are inherited in the United States in the future, you will need to pay a 40% inheritance tax, and the tax exemption is only US$60,000.
The US Taxation Bureau stipulates that 9 months after the deceased dies, taxes must be filed and paid, otherwise the assets cannot be inherited.
At this time, the US life insurance products will play a very critical role.
Heirs can use the death compensation of the deceased's life insurance to pay this part of the inheritance tax to achieve the purpose of wealth inheritance. The index life insurance (IUL) in the United States has a leverage of up to 10 times, and can obtain a high coverage with very little funds. Whether the insured dies unexpectedly or naturally dies, he will compensate, which is equivalent to using this product to reasonably avoid taxes.
The third advantage is judicial exemption, American insurance can effectively help you isolate business or marriage risks
In China, the model of family finance and corporate finance is not separated is a model commonly adopted by many small and medium-sized enterprises. The so-called "one prosper and one prosper" means "one loss and one loss". However, such a model has considerable risks. If the business is not properly operated or even went bankrupt, it will have great destructive power to the finances of the individual family. In addition, once married and a legal marriage relationship is shared, the property is shared. If you divorce, you will have to bear the risk of property division.
US life insurance products effectively solve these problems. Because the cash value of American life insurance is protected from lawsuits and is protected by judicial exemptions. In other words, even if the insured goes bankrupt, is debt-chased or goes to jail, no one, even the government, cannot move the money on the insurance.
Even if it is a divorce, the large-cap insurance policy will not be divided. However, if the insurance policy is purchased in the mainland, once the parties activate judicial exemption, they must prove the innocence of the source of funds. If a criminal crime is involved, the court has the right to freeze, seize and seize the insurance of the person involved. Large amounts of insurance purchased in the United States are subject to the US insurance law and security, and it is difficult for other people or countries to reach this part of the property.
The fourth advantage is that the US insurance price is cheap, the US insurance system is extremely creditworthy
Life insurance industry is a mature and developed market in the United States, and the full market competition brings the benefits of low-cost and high-service to policyholders. The premium level in the United States is considered cheap worldwide. Under the same protection conditions, we have made special comparisons and found that buying the same insurance in the United States, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan is only 1/5 of that in mainland China, 1/3 of Hong Kong, and 1/2 of Taiwan.
The main customers of American life insurance are North American residents, and North America has improved medical care, with an average life expectancy of about 85 years, which is far beyond the rest of the world. The life insurance product with the greatest impact on life table is life insurance products with the conditions for death. The longer the life expectancy, the later the insurance company's compensation period is, the lower the cost of insurance.
There are nearly 1,000 insurance companies in the United States, and many insurance companies have a business history of hundreds of years. They rarely hear news about insurance companies refusing to pay compensation. Once a claim dispute occurs, US law often stands on the consumer side according to the principle of maximizing consumer interests and is highly satisfied with customers. In addition, insurance companies in the United States value credibility. When the insured dies (except for suicide in the previous two years, of course), the insurance company will not deliberately make excuses to not compensate or deliberately delay.
In terms of disclaimer clauses, life insurance in the United States has great advantages compared with domestic regulations. Large-scale insurance policies can be compensated even if they are drug-related deaths, natural disasters, wars, drunk driving or even force majeure.
