So I'm moving to the US in august porting a J-1 visa for a year long exchange program. I need to take money with me and currently, all I have is a Brazilian banking account and an international credit card; the problem with using Brazilian credit cards or prepaid cards like VTM for currencies other than BRL is that you pay a shitload of fees (6.38% per transaction plus usual ATM fees), so I'm not considering that as an option.
Another option I think I'm discarding is an international transfer to an US account. I currently don't own one and I'm not sure I can get quick access to on once I arrive at the States (so I could ask for some relative to make the transfer).
So I'm searching for better options for taking money around and I'm considering these:
- Take cash with me and hold until I can get a bank account (or try using something like simple.com);
- Take cash with me and deposit it to a prepaid card with low fees (like Bluebird, GoBank, T-Mobile, etc);
- Try to get a student deal on a Brazilian VTM issuer in order to get lower taxes (heard it's possible, but not sure about it).
Is there any good option in this case? I got to keep in mind that I need a solution that's sustainable for a whole year (so some fees that would be acceptable on a short trip may be out of question, since I'll be living on budget).
Disclaimer: I did a quick search and didn't find any question with the same premises as mine so I'm creating a new one. If I missed something please point me to the answer.