Hi everyone,

I would like to hear from those who for whatever reason decided to leave the country and not go through the immigration process; what did you do with your financial accounts? I am an out of status student with a pending green card application and just planning for a worst case scenario.

I used my time wisely and have been running my own online business for six years now. Everything I do is online; I run my own payroll through Gusto and pay into social security.

Now, even though I have worked without authorisation, I have paid into social security for ten years and I am eligible for benefits. If I have to leave the country, what happens to this money? Will I be able to claim it when I reach retirement age? I can continue running payroll after I am gone as I do not need to be in the US to run my business and I’d rather use US infrastructure than my home country’s.

Secondly, I’m worried about my bank accounts, credit cards and investment accounts, will I be able to keep these? I haven’t had issues opening accounts with just my passport and SSN but there are a few institutions where I have been denied cause they specifically asked to see a green card.

My concern is if I leave and keep investing, could I have trouble accessing my money in the future? I use a virtual mailbox service with a US address that can forward my mail to me anywhere in the world so I have my bases covered but just want to know if I have overlooked anything?

Looking forward to hearing from you all.

Thanks!