While opening an offshore bank account is relatively easy, Americans must still clear certain hurdles. Vrijhof says his bank likes to meet all of its potential clients in person. “They have to convince me that the way they made their monies was done in a decent manner and fashion.” But larger private banks may not require face time. “An account can be set up in a matter of a couple of days,” Fischer says. “The client doesn’t have to come to the country. They can do it all by mail or email via an opening application form. We require a certified copy of the passport and a utility bill verifying the residential address.” He adds that Jyske Bank’s entry level is just $35,000, “and with that you get an account manager.”

As with other offshore protection tools, U.S. citizens must still pay taxes on any income that is derived from their offshore-based investments.

Offshore Trusts
Offshore trusts do not completely protect assets from creditors, but they do shield money from the gaze of perfunctory investigations while providing jurisdictional immunity. “The offshore trust is the [investment vehicle] that the fewest number of creditors are going to go after because they know it’s going to cost time and money,” says Vernon Jacobs, a Prairie Village, Kan.-based advisor and publisher of the newsletter International Wealth Protection Monitor.

With these instruments, a grantor directs a trustee based in an offshore haven to take legal control of his assets and manage them for the good of his beneficiaries. “With a trust,” Bauman points out, “you really do have to surrender control of your assets to the trust and the trustee, but it is a very good offshore asset protection tool.”