Laid off on an H-1B? Move your money to India first.

Start in the first week, before you have decided anything. Open and verify a transfer account, add your Social Security number to raise its limit, link your US checking account, and send a small test to your own account in India. None of it commits you to leaving, and all of it is slower to do later.

Workers on an H-1B generally have up to 60 days after their employment ends, or until their authorised stay runs out if that is sooner, to find a new sponsor, change status or leave the country. Sixty days sounds generous until a lease, a car, a 401(k) and a job search share it.

Money is the one part you can prepare without choosing. If the next job comes through, you have lost an evening. If it does not, the slowest steps are already behind you.

Plan on a few business days per transfer. Collecting from a US bank account takes one to three business days, and funds are typically delivered in India within 48 hours of that debit clearing. ComplyRemit customers may become eligible for instant transfers, under ten minutes, once they have enough transaction history.

That is why the test transfer matters. It starts your history, proves the Indian account accepts the credit, and shows you the real timeline on your own bank before the large amounts follow.

Send early in the week. A bank debit settles on business days only, so a transfer started on a Friday afternoon waits out the weekend.

Your limit depends on how far you have verified, and it is shown under the amount field before you send. Adding your Social Security number raises it in about two minutes. An enhanced review can raise it further, up to $50,000 per transfer, and a person usually decides within about two business days.

The enhanced review asks for a recent pay stub and a bank statement from the last ten days. Ask for it while your final pay stub is still recent: it is the document the review wants, and it is easier to produce in the week you are laid off than two months later.

Approval is not guaranteed, and larger requests can also ask where your wealth comes from. If a review is not approved, your account keeps working at the limit you already have.

Not with a provider that sends at the mid-market rate. ComplyRemit converts at the mid-market exchange rate, the one Google shows, with any fee disclosed on the review screen before you confirm. The rupee amount on that screen is what arrives, so a rushed transfer costs the same as a planned one.

Where people lose money in a hurry is on a marked-up rate they did not have time to compare. With a hypothetical provider quoting half a rupee per dollar below the mid-market rate, $40,000 arrives 20,000 rupees short, and no receipt shows it.

Yes. The US does not cap how much of your own money you send abroad, and India does not cap personal remittances coming in. Sending your own money to your own account is not a gift and is not income. Regulated providers verify who you are, which is why a transfer leaves a clean record.

That record is worth having. A bank or tax office that later asks where a large credit came from is answered by a confirmation showing your US account, your Indian account, the date and the amount.

Reporting can still apply. Foreign accounts above $10,000 combined mean an FBAR for as long as you are a US filer. This is general information, not tax advice.

No. Keep at least one US checking account open after you go. Final paychecks, severance, tax refunds and security deposits all arrive after your last day, and every ComplyRemit transfer is funded from a US checking account in your own name. Closing it strands money that is still on its way to you.

Tell the bank you are moving and ask what it needs to keep the account in good standing with a foreign address. Set up your transfer account while your US address and phone number still work.

Then nothing is wasted. A verified account with a raised limit is the same account you would use to send money to your parents, pay a bill in India or invest there. The account stays ready, and the money you did not move is still in your US bank.