Plan the move before the move.
Becoming a US permanent resident changes how a family is taxed, wherever its assets sit. The decisions that matter most are taken before residence begins, not after.
Residency is a tax event.
The United States taxes its citizens and permanent residents on worldwide income, and its estate and gift tax rules reach worldwide assets. For a family with a business in India, property in the Emirates and investments held through structures in several jurisdictions, the moment residence begins is the moment those rules apply.
Pre-immigration planning is the work of organising a family's affairs in the period before that moment: understanding how existing companies, trusts and holdings will be treated; considering the timing of income, disposals and gifts; deciding when residence should begin for each family member; and arranging reporting so that the first US tax year is orderly rather than a scramble.
None of this is exotic. It is careful sequencing, done early, by people who do it regularly.
The questions a family usually faces.
Timing of residence
When each family member's US residence begins, and what that means for the treatment of income and assets in the year of the move.
Existing structures
How companies, trusts, foundations and partnerships established outside the US will be characterised and reported once the family is resident.
The family business
Ownership, control and succession in an operating business that will remain abroad while part of the family lives in the US.
Gifts and estates
The reach of US estate and gift rules over worldwide assets, and what can sensibly be arranged before residence begins.
Investments and reporting
How existing portfolios and accounts are held and reported after the move, and what a US-resident investment approach looks like.
The other jurisdictions
Exit and continuing obligations in India, the UAE and elsewhere, so that the family's position is coherent across every country that matters to it.
Planning is available through affiliated entities.
Kingsley Group does not provide tax, legal or investment advice. Wealth and tax planning for families moving to the United States is available through affiliated entities of the Swiss Finance group, including Swiss Finance Private Wealth Management, an independent investment adviser registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that offers financial planning, wealth management and family office services to individuals and families.
That work is carried out under a separate, written engagement with the entity concerned, together with the family's own tax and legal advisers in each relevant jurisdiction. We make the introduction and keep the immigration timeline aligned with the planning; we do not do the planning ourselves.
Sequencing with the residency process
The planning window opens at the fit assessment and closes when residence begins, which for most families is at the consular interview or on approval of adjustment of status. Between those points there is usually time to do this properly. There is rarely time afterwards.
The five-step processImportant information. This page is descriptive. Kingsley Group is not a law firm, an investment adviser or a tax adviser, and nothing here is legal, tax or investment advice. Any advisory relationship with Swiss Finance Private Wealth Management LLC or any other affiliated entity is established only by a written agreement with that entity, on its own terms and subject to its own regulatory disclosures. Registration of an investment adviser with the SEC does not imply any particular level of skill or training. Tax outcomes depend on individual circumstances and on the law as it stands at the time.