Plain answers to the questions our households actually ask.

Short answer: yes. A Social Security number is not required to open an Individual Retirement Account at many brokerages. An ITIN is generally accepted, along with proof of identity and address.

What you do need is earned income reported to the IRS for the year you contribute. If you file a tax return with an ITIN and report wages or self-employment income, you can usually contribute up to the annual limit.

• Traditional IRA — contributions may reduce your taxable income now; you pay tax when you withdraw later.
• Roth IRA — no deduction now, but withdrawals in retirement are generally tax-free. Income limits apply.
• Not every brokerage accepts an ITIN. Call and ask before you fill anything in — policies differ and change.

Two things worth knowing. Money in a retirement account stays yours regardless of where you live later, and many accounts can be moved abroad or paid out internationally. And if your employer offers a 401(k) with a match, take that first — a match is the only guaranteed return you will ever be offered.

Talk to a tax preparer who has handled ITIN filings before opening anything. The rules on contributions and withdrawals are not complicated, but getting them wrong is expensive.

Every transfer has two costs. The fee is printed on the receipt. The exchange-rate margin almost never is — it is the gap between the real mid-market rate and the rate you were given.

On a $500 transfer, a $4 fee looks cheap. If the rate is 4% worse than the mid-market rate, that is another $20 gone. The cheap-looking service was the expensive one.

• Look up the real rate first. Search the currency pair — the mid-market rate is what you compare against.
• Ask what the recipient will actually receive, in their currency. That single number tells you everything the receipt hides.
• Compare three services for the same amount, on the same day. Rates move, and the ranking changes by corridor.
• Fewer, larger transfers usually cost less than many small ones, since fees are often flat.
• Check the payout method. Bank deposit, cash pickup and mobile wallet often carry different rates at the same company.

Households sending money monthly commonly lose several hundred dollars a year to the margin without ever seeing a line item for it. This is the single biggest recurring cost most of our members have, which is why negotiated member rates are the first agreement we are pursuing.

Two things drive quotes up for newly arrived drivers, and neither reflects how safely you drive.

No US driving history. Many carriers treat a driver with no US record as inexperienced, even with twenty years behind the wheel elsewhere. Some will credit foreign experience if you can document it — a letter from your previous insurer showing your claims history is worth asking for, even months after you arrive.

Thin credit file. Most states allow insurers to use a credit-based insurance score. A short US credit history can raise a quote substantially. A few states restrict or ban this — worth checking for your own.

• Get at least three quotes. For the same driver and car, they routinely differ by hundreds of dollars a year.
• Ask specifically whether the carrier credits foreign driving experience. Some do, and they rarely volunteer it.
• Ask about discounts for defensive driving courses, low mileage, and paying in full.
• Do not let coverage lapse. A gap raises your next quote more than most people expect.
• Use an agent who speaks your language. Misunderstanding a coverage question is how people end up underinsured.

Insurance is regulated state by state. Anything you are told about one state may simply not apply in another.

The most common reason people skip enrolling is a belief that they are not eligible, or that applying is risky. Both deserve a careful look with someone who knows the rules in your state.

• Marketplace plans under the Affordable Care Act are open to lawfully present foreign-born residents, and premium subsidies can be substantial. Enrolment happens in a set window each year, with exceptions for life changes.
• Children are frequently eligible even when adults in the same household are not. Rules vary by state, and several states cover children regardless of status.
• Emergency Medicaid exists in every state for emergency treatment regardless of status.
• Community health centres see patients on a sliding scale based on income, and do not require insurance.

Get help from a licensed navigator or certified assister — the service is free, and they are trained on your state's rules. Avoid anyone charging a fee to "get you approved."

Rules here change with policy and differ sharply between states. Confirm your own situation with a navigator rather than relying on what a neighbour was told.

Wage theft covers unpaid hours, unpaid overtime, deductions you never agreed to, tips taken, and a final paycheque that never arrives. In most of the United States, wage and hour protections apply regardless of immigration status.

• Write it down now. Dates, hours, what you were promised, what you were paid. A contemporaneous note in your phone is evidence.
• Keep everything. Pay stubs, texts, schedules, photos of a posted rota, names of coworkers.
• File a wage claim with your state labor commissioner or the US Department of Labor. Filing is free and does not require a lawyer.
• Deadlines apply and vary by state — some are as short as a year or two. Do not wait.
• Retaliation is illegal. If you are fired or threatened for complaining, that is a separate violation with its own remedy.

Many states have free legal aid organisations that handle wage claims and work in multiple languages. A worker centre in your community can usually point you to one the same week.

This is general information, not legal advice. Talk to a legal aid organisation about your own situation.

When someone dies far from home the family is quoted a very large number within about forty-eight hours, and the first decisions made in that window determine much of the final cost.

Consular assistance varies enormously by country. Some operate real repatriation programmes covering a substantial share of transport for families who document hardship. Others provide documentation only, leaving the full cost to the family and community.

• Do not sign anything or pay a deposit yet. Nothing is lost by waiting two hours.
• Call the consulate before you hire a funeral home. Some programmes will not help at all if you have already engaged one or paid in advance.
• Get three written, itemised quotes. Identical shipments are quoted thousands of dollars apart in the same city.
• Nobody needs to be paid to "handle the consulate." Consular documents go to the family and to licensed funeral directors.
• Budget past the arrival airport. Transport from the capital to the home town is a real cost that budgets routinely omit.

Our Consular Liaison Desk is written in English, Spanish and French, and we will help you in any language. It is free to everyone.

Hometown associations, federations, congregations and unions already hold the two things that are hardest to build: trust and a membership list. What most lack is anything concrete to give those members between meetings.

Before your association joins any network, insist on all of these:

• No fee, and no dues from your treasury. If joining costs money, ask hard why.
• You keep your own bylaws, officers, bank account and members. A network should never become a parent organisation.
• No obligation to contribute to any case or campaign. Voluntary means voluntary.
• Withdrawal on short notice, with no penalty. Get it in writing.
• A vote. If your association has no delegate and no say, you are a mailing list, not a member.
• Nobody collects immigration status. Not the network, not your association, not for any purpose.

Our Mutual Aid Compact is written to satisfy every one of these, and it is published in full so you can check rather than take our word for it.

With no US credit history you will be quoted worse rates on car insurance, turned down for apartments, and asked for large deposits by utilities. It is one of the quiet, expensive costs of arriving.

• Secured credit card. You deposit a few hundred dollars and that becomes your limit. Use it for one small recurring bill and pay it in full every month.
• Credit-builder loan. Offered by many credit unions. You make payments into a savings account and the payment history is reported.
• Become an authorised user on the card of someone with a long, clean history. Their record can help yours.
• Rent and utility reporting. Some services report on-time rent and utility payments to the bureaus.
• Pay every bill on time. Payment history is the largest single factor, and one missed payment undoes months of work.
• Keep balances low — under about 30% of your limit, and ideally much lower.

Check your reports free at annualcreditreport.com. Credit unions are often more willing than large banks to work with thin files, and many serve specific foreign-born communities.

Avoid anyone charging a fee to "repair" or "boost" your credit. There is nothing they can legally do that you cannot do yourself for free.

Sending money home is an obligation most people take on gladly, and it can still become a source of pressure that nobody in either country talks about openly.

• Agree an amount and a rhythm rather than responding to each request as it comes. Predictability protects both sides.
• Be honest about your costs here. Families often have no picture of rent, insurance and childcare in the United States, and assume more is available than is.
• Separate emergencies from regular support. Most strain comes from treating everything as an emergency.
• Talk about what the money is building — a house, a business, school fees. Money with a purpose attached generates less resentment on both sides.
• Keep something for yourself. Retirement savings and an emergency fund here are not selfishness; they are what keeps you able to send anything at all in ten years.

If you are supporting family in two countries, a tax preparer who understands both situations is worth the fee. Some support may affect your filing, and some may not.

The single most important fact: in California, labour law protects every worker regardless of immigration status. The Labor Commissioner does not ask. Cal/OSHA does not ask. A court will not deport you for filing a wage claim, and an employer who threatens to report you for claiming what you are owed is committing a separate crime called retaliation.

What counts as exploitation. Being paid less than minimum wage. Not being paid for overtime, or being told you are "salaried" to avoid it. Tips taken by the owner. Being paid in cash with no record and then shorted. Being made to work through breaks. Being charged for uniforms, tools or "training". Working on a site with no safety equipment. Being told you are an "independent contractor" when you are told when, where and how to work. And at the extreme: someone holding your passport, controlling where you live, or telling you that you owe a debt you can never pay off. That last one is trafficking, and it is a federal crime.

• Start writing things down today. Dates, hours started and finished, what you were paid, and how. A notebook or your phone. Photograph every pay stub, text and schedule. This record is worth more than any witness.
• Wage claims go to the California Labor Commissioner. Free, no lawyer needed, and you can file in your language. Unpaid wages, overtime, tips, breaks and expenses can all be recovered, often with penalties on top.
• Unsafe work goes to Cal/OSHA. You can report anonymously.
• Retaliation — being fired, cut, or threatened for complaining — is its own claim, and a strong one.
• Worker centres exist in most cities, organised by industry and often by community: day labour, restaurant, domestic, garment, car wash. They know your employer, your industry and your language. They are the first call.
• Legal aid handles the larger cases free. Never pay anyone who promises to "recover your wages for a fee" — that is a scam we see constantly.

If you cannot leave, or someone is holding your documents: call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, or text 233733. It is confidential, it is in your language, and it is not immigration enforcement.

Tell us, too. Every report through Scam Watch is confidential, and a pattern of complaints about one employer is what gets an industry inspected.